Dons End Regular Season Saturday Night With Crucial Home Game Against LMU

Feb. 27, 2004

USF ENDS REGULAR SEASON VS. LMU SATURDAY

DONS NEED WIN FOR 1ST ROUND WCC BYE

*    Dons defense fails in loss to Pepperdine at home

*	USF loses for the first time when scoring 70 points

SIX SENIORS MAKE FINAL HOME APPEARANCES VERSUS LMU

SAT., FEB. 28	LOYOLA MARYM.	MEMORIAL GYM	7:00 PM

Mar. 5-8        WCC Tournament	at Santa Clara	TBA

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San Francisco, CA- The USF Dons (16-13, 6-7 WCC) face a suddenly resurgent Loyola Marymount (14-12, 5-8) team with a probable first round WCC bye on the line. Assuming that Santa Clara does not win at fourth ranked Gonzaga in the final game to be played at the Kennel in Spokane, USF would earn a first-round bye. Only if Gonzaga (winners of 17 straight) stumbles at home against Santa Clara can USF not finish in at least a tie for fourth place, win or lose.

USF has already beaten both Pepperdine (81-69) and LMU (64-52) in Loa Angeles in late January and will be looking to earn sweeps over these teams for the second straight season. With a sweep of the last two games USF can guarantee themselves an upper four finish and will avoid a first round WCC tournament game on March 5.

USF has won nine of 12 home games this year, but has lost three of its last four. The three losses came against the three top teams, Gonzaga, Pepperdine and St. Mary's.

FINAL HOME GAME: Saturday's game ends the home careers of seniors James Bayless, Alvin Broussard, Mamadou Cisse, Jovan Harris, Eamon Sylvester and Herbert Gracia.

DONS TIED FOR FOURTH PLACE: USF is tied for fourth place with Santa Clara at 6-7. Santa Clara has to play #4 ranked Gonzaga, who has won 17 straight. A USF loss or a Santa Clara win are the only things that can prevent USF from getting the fourth seed and a first round bye.

HEAD COACH Philip Mathews a 1972 graduate of the University of California at Irvine is in his ninth season at USF (138-122) and 19th year of collegiate coaching after recording a 298-56 record in 10 seasons at Ventura JC. He led the Dons to the NCAA tournament in 1998. Phil has 63 career WCC wins, third among active coaches, trailing just Dick Davey (SCU) and Brad Holland (USD).

WE PLAY HARD: Coach Mathews has been pleased by the team's commitment to defense since dropping their first three road games. At that point, Mathews took away all the warm-ups and signs that say "We Play Hard!!" from the team and asked them to earn them back. USF went on a four-game winning streak after the WPH items, then lost three straight before topping Portland and San Diego. The gear has not returned.

DONS AT HOME VERSUS AWAY: The Dons schedule has not been kind to them early this season as it has seen them play just 11 games at home and 17 contests away from home. Here is the difference in the Dons play at home and away from Memorial Gym:

Games Home USF Games Away 9-3 Record 7-10 70.3 Points 60.6 64.2 Opp. Points 69.9 44.5% / 45.5% FG%/Opponent 42.0% / 45.7% 32.4% / 32.7% 3pt Pct. 31.1% / 40.1% 34.0 / 33.2 Rebounds/Opp 33.2 / 32.6 +4.6 Turnover margin -3.2

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TYRONE: USF junior Tyrone Riley celebrated his 22nd birthday last Saturday when the Dons defeated San Diego 85-75. He celebrated with 16 points and 8 rebounds in the contest. Riley has been USF's best player in league play with 12.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

ABOUT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: Loyola Marymount (14-12, 5-8 WCC) has a talented squad led by 6-7 senior forward Sherman Gay who averages 16 points (7th WCC) and 6.9 rebounds per game. Gay is joined on the Lions' frontline by Keith Kincade (12.8 ppg., 4.3 rpg), who can also hit the three-point shot. Kincade (19 pts) and Gay (14) paced LMU to a 77-76 win over St. Mary's Thursday night in Moraga. That earned LMU a sweep over the Gaels. The backcourt features Charles Brown who can score either inside or outside and scores 11.4 points per contest along with 3.9 assists. Australian guard Damian Martin who dishes 3.0 assists per contest. In the first matchup in Los Angeles, the teams went back in forth in the first half until the Dons grabbed a 35-29 halftime lead. USF built on its lead and paced by 13 points by Jovan Harris, 11 points and 11 rebounds by Tyrone Riley and 10 points by James Bayless off the bench. Sherman Gay paced LMU with 14 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

DEFENSE RULES FOR USF: With the loss of certainly one of the league brightest offensive stars in John Cox, USF has turned to defense for victories. USF is fourth in the conference in fewest points allowed 67.6. USF leads the WCC in steals (7.6 per game). In the Dons' 16 wins, opponents have averaged just 63.0 points per game to USF's 73.2 and shot just 40.9% from the floor. . COX OUT FOR SEASON: All-West Coast Conference guard John Cox, who sprained his left knee late in the Dons' season opening basketball game vs. Tennessee-Martin on November 17th will not be able to play this season, head coach Phil Mathews announced January 5th. Cox will apply for a second medical red shirt season after the Dons complete the 2003-04 campaign. The senior from Philadelphia was granted a red shirt season after he missed 2000-01 due to foot surgery. John was named first team all-WCC after last season, an honor that his father, "Chubby" Cox also achieved in 1977 and 1978. He was second in the league in scoring last year in WCC games with 18.9 per contest, trailing only Blake Stepp of Gonzaga. He also was in the top 10 in the league in field goal percentage (50.3%), free-throw percentage (83.3%) and three-point percentage (47.8%) in league play. "It is certainly a blow to the team when you lose a great player and team leader like John," said Dons' head coach Phil Mathews. "But injuries are a part of this game and hopefully he will be granted a sixth season and be a big part of the team next season." In mid-December, John Cox recently participated in USF's fall graduation ceremonies at St. Ignatius Church with his father in attendance.

BALANCED SCORING: The Dons expected John Cox to carry a lot of the scoring load this year. Without him, the Dons have been quite a balanced team. James Bayless and Tyrone Riley are the only players averaging in double figures. Following them there are five players averaging between 8.4 ppg. (Ingerson) and 6.0 points per contest.

OFFENSE STRUGGLING: With the loss of John Cox (the WCC's second leading scorer in league play last year), USF's offense has struggled, especially away from Memorial Gym where USF has played 19 of the 29 games so far this season. The Dons are averaging a WCC-low 64.7 points per game and have only scored 60.6 points per game in the 18 games played away from Memorial Gym. USF has failed to score 70 points in a game 16 times this year (but has held opponents under 70 15 times). The Dons are 4-12 when failing to score 70, and are 12-1 when scoring 70 or more, the lone loss coming on Thursday. As a further note, unless there is a dramatic change, USF's leading scorer (right now James Bayless has 11.7 ppg) will have the lowest scoring average since 1985-86 when Anthony Mann led the Dons in scoring with 10.4 points per game.

LOOK FOR 64: When USF scores 64 points or more in a game this year they have a 14-1 mark (Thursday loss to Pepperdine the exception), when they score 63 or less they are 2-12.

USF ENTERED WCC PLAY WITH 10 WINS: USF entered WCC play with 10 wins, tied for the most in the WCC with league favorite Gonzaga. The ten wins (10-6) are the most for USF since the 1999-00 season when they entered league play 12-1. Here are the records for the Dons entering WCC play under Phil Mathews: 1996: 8-4; 1997: 5-7; 1998: 9-3; 1999: 8-7; 2000: 12-1; 2001: 7-8; 2002: 5-8; 2003: 5-8.

CLOSE WINS, BIG LOSSES: The Dons have been really good in the close games this season. USF has won three games (at Delaware, Pacific and UT San Antonio) with last second shots, and won another (Ohio) that was tied entering the final minute. Two other games were close (losses to Richmond and at Fresno State). USF has outscored its opponents 73.2-63.0 in its 16 wins, but been outscored 71.6-51.9 in its 12 losses.

WHO IS HOT, AND NOT: Tyrone Riley is definitely the hottest Don right now. Over the last six games he is averaging 15.8 points per game and 6.7 rebounds, made 49.3% of his shots, 37.5% from three-point range. He has also nailed 12-14 free-throws (86%) over that span. James Bayless is second ins coring over the last six games averaging 10.8 ppg. and hitting 52% of his shots. Andre Hazel is third on the team in scoring over the last six with a 7.7 ppg. average.. Guards Jovan Harris and Dommanic Ingerson have struggled the most among USF regulars hitting lately. Harris has hit just 8 of his last 39 shots and Ingerson 16 of his last 56.

TICK, TICK, TICK: USF has been very comfortable in the final minute of games. USF has won four games that entered the final minute tied. Andre Hazel hit game-winning shots at Delaware (buzzer,74-72), vs. Pacific (:04, 73-72) and his three-pointer vs. Ohio (1:00, 53-46) broke a tie. With Hazel having fouled out against UTSA it was Tyrone Riley's turn to win it (:0.4, 70-69) in Logan, Utah.

RILEY IS FOR REAL: Tyrone Riley has been the most outstanding member of the team averaging 11.4 points per game and is second in the WCC in rebounding at 7.0 per contest. He led the team in scoring in the win last Saturday in San Diego with 16 points and pulled eight rebounds and also scored 16 points in the Pepperdine loss. Prior to that he scored a career high 22 points vs. Portland, a game in which he equaled his career high of 11 rebounds. On February 12th vs. Gonzaga he was the only USF player in double figures with 15 points on 7-13 shooting. He had a strong game at St. Mary's with a team-high 15 points, nailing 7-12 shots from the floor and scored 11 points in the rematch at Memorial Gym. He is USF's leading scorer in WCC play (#17 in league) at 13.2 points per game. He is tied for the most double-doubles in the league with six. Riley has led USF in rebounding 17 times this year. He had 11 points and 11 rebounds at LMU His previous game was a 15 point, 7 rebound performance vs. Santa Clara (7-13 floor) after a 15 point, 9 rebound performance vs. USD. Previous to that he had a 19-point, 6 rebound performance at Portland, in which he hit 7 of 13 from the floor. Riley has missed two games this year (Pacific/Sacramento State) due to a death in the family. The 2003 California JC Player of the Year enjoyed his first Division I game (vs. Ohio State) in the state. He scored a career high 19 points, pulled six rebounds and added 3 steals and was named winner of the Sam Skinner MVP Award of the Northwestern Mutual Shootout. Riley also won WCC Player of the Week. He also was the key cog in helping USF win at Delaware hitting consecutive three's to take a four point deficit to a two-point lead and then hit a three to put USF ahead after Delaware tied the score. All three three's came within the last three minutes of the game. He also pulled 10 rebounds in the contest. At St. Joe's he scored seven points and pulled seven rebounds and recorded 10 points and 10 assists at Montana. He is second to GU's Cory Violette in the WCC in rebounding with 7.0 per game and has six double-doubles this season. He was the key player in the win over UTSA. He hit a key three to put USF to within one, blocked a late shot and hit the game-winner with :0.4 left. He also led USF with 16 points.

BAYLESS IS MORE: James Bayless has been the Dons best shooter and scorer, nailing 53.1% of his shots from the floor and averaging 11.7 points per game. He has scored in double figures 18 times this year (leading team), with double doubles vs. Montana, Sacramento State and Portland. Coming off a strong offensive performance of 20 points vs. Pepperdine (8-12 floor) after a 13 point, 9 rebound game at San Diego. He is second on the team in WCC play with 9.5 per game, hitting 52% from the floor. But his numbers have gone down from 13.7 ppg. and 53.9% shooting in preconference play. He has started just four of USF's 13 league games. In the wins in Los Angeles, he scored 10 points at LMU and two at Pepperdine, coming off the bench in both contests. He scored 8 points vs. San Diego and 11 off the bench vs. Santa Clara in home games.. Prior to a 12 point, 9 rebound performance at Santa Clara he had an impressive 22 point, 10 rebound performance vs. Sacramento State, a game in which he hit 9 of 13 shots from the floor. Bayless has fought off ankle sprains this season that has forced him to miss much practice time. Against Sonoma State, Bayless nailed his first seven shots finishing 8-for-10 on the night. Against UMBC he scored the first 10 points of the game and ended with a career best 23. He scored 13 points and added 8 rebounds in the Pacific win. His best game of the year was a 22 point and a career best 13 rebounds at Montana. He scored 13 points in the loss at Fresno State after playing just over two first half minutes due to foul trouble. Paced USF with nine points and nine rebounds at Gonzaga, but scored just nine points at Portland. Bayless is shooting 56.0% from the floor at home this year and averaging 12.7 points per contest. A HALO ON HAZEL: Andre Hazel this year has been USF's Mr. Clutch. Against Pepperdine, he did not start for just the second time this year but still recorded 12 points and four assists. Prior to that he had a 10-point, 4 assist game at San Diego which followed a double-double 10 point 10 assist game against Portland . Three times this season he has given USF the lead in the final minutes with a clutch shot. His buzzer beater gave USF a 74-72 win at Delaware, his shot with :59 left gave USF the lead for good in the 53-46 win over Ohio, and his game winning three with five seconds left gave the Dons a 73-72 win over Pacific. In the win over Pacific he scored a career high 25 points (his previous USF high was 14 at Delaware). He has taken the starting point guard slot and has responded with an 8.1 scoring average and 4.5 assists per game. He ranks third in the WCC in assists (4.5) and is third in steals (1.8) Until the St. Mary's game Feb. 25th, he was the only Don to start every game this year. Despite coming off the bench, he was USF's high scorer with 15 points. He actually scored 11 straight USF points in the contest to keep USF in the game in the last ten minutes. Recorded seven assists in USF win at Pepperdine. He recorded 16 assists in the wins over USD and SCU and had seven steals. Recorded 11 assists and 4 steals in win over San Diego at home. He scored 25 points (including the three-point game-winning shot) against Pacific and added 17 points in a low-scoring game at Fresno State. JOVAN BACK AS A STARTER: Jovan Harris started against San Diego Jan. 22, his first start since injuring his ankle at St. Joseph's on Dec. 12. He responded with a USF career best 18 points on 7-11 floor (3-6 from three-point) and added 12 points in the win over Santa Clara. He was USF's top scorer with 13 points at LMU (1/29) in a 64-52 win. Harris, currently averaging 7.7 points per contest. Harris has scored in double figures in nine of the 14 games he has started (he failed to scored before the injury at St. Joe's). Someone had to step up when John Cox went down with his knee injury and Jovan was the person who had assumed his starting slot before the injury. He has responded with four double-figure games, including an impressive 11-point, 9-rebound, 5-assist, 2-steal performance against Ohio State. He led the Dons in scoring at 11.3 ppg. until leaving the St. Joseph's game scoreless, after an ankle injury.

INGERSON MAKES IMPACT: Dommanic Ingerson became eligible December 19 and played his first game for USF against UMBC. The former Oakland prep star played at Michigan before transferring back to the Bay Area last December. In his first game against UMBC he played 16 minutes, scored 10 points (3-4 from three-point), had five steals (three in successive trips) and four assists. Despite playing just 19 games (out of USF's 29 played) he is leading USF in three-pointers made (35) and attempted (115). He had an exceptional game at Pepperdine with 17 points off the bench on 7-11 shooting. He has scored in double figures 8 times this season.

BROUSSARD THE WARRIOR: Alvin Broussard has been a steady presence for USF in his senior year, averaging 7.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while hitting 50.6% from the floor, 51.9% league play. Had a good offensive game Thursday with 15 points (7-11 floor) in 28 minutes vs. Pepperdine. He was the WCC Player of the Week after USF's wins at LMU and Pepperdine. At LMU, he scored 9 points (3-4 floor) added 4 rebounds and three steals in USF's 64-52 win. And at Pepperdine scored 19 points on 7-7 floor shooting, pulled 10 rebounds and had two blocks in the 81-69 win. He shut then WCC leading scorer Glen McGowan down to just five points. He had an outstanding outing, a 13-point, 20-rebound performance against Sacramento State. Totaled 9 points at LMU on 3-4 shooting after scoring eight points in both wins last week hitting 8-15 floor. On January 17th, he came off the bench for second time this year to score eight points at Portland. He scored a career best 18 points and pulled 8 rebounds to lead USF past Ohio on Dec. 13th. Against Ohio State, despite a very bloody cut forehead in the first half, he still played like a warrior with 14 points, five rebounds and 4-5 from outside the arc. He was also a force on defense, keeping the bigger Buckeyes off the boards. In the games against Ohio and Ohio State he shot 11-19 floor and 4-6 from three-point. He has been a much better offensive player at home averaging 10.0 points per game and 7.3 rebounds, while away from Memorial he averages 5.8 ppg. and 4.6 rpg. At Montana he played just eight minutes after having a fever the previous night, playing just 8 minutes. He played effectively against Richmond with 10 points, 5 rebounds and two blocks and pulled a team high 8 rebounds vs. SMS. He tallied seven points and pulled six rebounds vs. Delaware and 14 points in win over Sonoma State. He scored eight points in 18 minutes vs. Utah State. Scored 10 points in 12 minutes at San Diego before fouling out.

GUMBS "THE LEADER": Jerome Gumbs is coming off an eight point, five rebound performance vs. Pepperdine that followed a 10-point, three assist game at San Diego. In his previous game he had a career best 22-point, 11-rebound performance against Portland. Gumbs hit all seven of his field goal attempts in that contest. After the Dons' two emotional home wins over USD and Santa Clara, both coach Mathews and his teammates credited the hustle and leadership of redshirt sophomore Jerome Gumbs as a key factor in the team's turnaround. He has been a great contributor to USF this year after missing last year with a back injury. He has started 17 games this year, with USF winning 10 of his starts. The native of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands has averaged 6.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, 6.8 points in WCC play. Gumbs scored a career best 20 points vs. Sonoma State. At Pepperdine, Gumbs scored 19 points on 9-11 shooting. He has been a more effective player at home, averaging 7.8 points per game and hitting 55.6% of his shots.

GAINING NEW GROUND: USF point guard Jason Gaines has started only 11 games this season after starting all of last year. Last night was his first start since January 17th and he recorded three assists in 12 minutes. He has made the most of his minutes averaging 3.5 points and 2.3 assists. Was a big factor in the February 21 win at USD, with nine points in the last five minutes and drew a key charge. In a starting role he set a career high with 11 points vs. Ohio. Played a big part in the win over UTSA with a late three to give USF the lead and made a great pass to Tyrone Riley to set up the game-winner. Gaines led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio last season.

EARLY SCHEDULE: DONS SURVIVE INJURIES, TRAVEL AND ROADGAMES: Coach Phil Mathews' team survived a very difficult start of their season. Over the teams first eight games, USF played at home just once (against Ohio State) and played seven times not only away from home but outside the Pacific time zone. USF is now on its third game of nine of the next 12 away from home. The Dons first ventured to the opening rounds of the Guardians' Classic in Springfield, Mo., then returned home to Ohio State. They were invited back for the championship rounds of the Guardians in Kansas City then returned home to jet to the East Coast where they were the guests at Delaware's and St. Joseph's University's home openers. Then another flight back home just to jet to Montana for game number eight. USF came out with a 4-4 mark despite surviving 15 plane flights covering 14,768 miles and a roundtrip bus trip from Philadelphia to Newark, Delaware. The Dons also had to survive three key injuries, including one to the team's top returning player John Cox, who has not played since the team's opener. James Bayless was also injured in the opener and missed one game and Jovan Harris has missed a game and a half due to an ankle sprain. "With everything that has happened, the team did a good job to be 4-4 after those games," said head coach Phil Mathews. "We have fought through it, won some difficult games and have improved as we have moved along. Winning at Delaware and Montana is not something that road teams achieve often."