March 2, 2003

The USF men's basketball team will open play in the second round of the WCC tournament Saturday in San Diego vs. the winner of Friday's Portland-LMU game. USF's second round game will tip-off at 6:00 PM, and should they advance to the semifinals, they will play San Diego Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

USF is as hot as anyone in the league, having won seven of nine and 13 of 20. The Dons were able to do this despite the loss of star senior forward Darrell Tucker for six games. USF clinched the third seed with a sweep of Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine in L.A. this weekend. LMU has won two straight home games (including an upset of Gonzaga) before losing to the Dons 75-69, while Pepperdine had won five of six before USF took that game 90-82. USF's 9-5 mark equals the best mark since USF returned to basketball in 1985-86, which they did in 1996-97.

USF was definitely the WCC's shooting champion, sweeping the field goal (49.2), 3-point (43.9%) and free-throw (74.4%) percentage titles. For USF, it was the first time the team had led the league in FG% in WCC play since 1979, the first time they have ever led in 3pt% (3pt started in 1988) and first time the Dons have led in free-throw pct. since 1995.

In individual conference stats, John Cox was second in the league in scoring (18.9 ppg) behind Blake Stepp. However, Darrell Tucker, would have led the league in scoring with 22.1 ppg. had he played the minimum 75% of USF's WCC contests. Jason Gaines led the WCC in assist/turnover ratio with 2.09.

In overall stats Darrell Tucker is the WCC's leading scorer 18.5 ppg, Cox is fifth 15.7. Shamell Stallworth leads in free-throw percentage (85.7%) and three-point percentage (44.5%). Tucker is second in three-point percentage with 44.3%. Gaines also leads in assist to to ratio (2.38).

TUCKER CAREER SCORING - THIRD IN USF, FOURTEENTH IN WCC: Tucker, the Oakland native and grad of McClymonds High School, is trying to earn his third all-WCC honors in four years. Tucker leads the league in overall scoring with 18.5 points per contest and is third in rebounding, 7th in field goal percentage, 2nd in three-point percentage and 12th in free-throw percentage. He is averaging 22.1 points and 7.9 rpg. in WCC play, but has not played enough games to be among league leaders (he would be first in scoring and third in rebounding. Tucker has certainly made his mark on the USF record books, having scored 1,768 points. He trails only Quintin Dailey (1,841) and Bill Cartwright (2,116). Friday night he passed three former Santa Clara players; Brian Jones (1722), Harold Keeling (1731) and Kurt Rambis (1735) and David Vann of St. Mary's (1738) to move all the way up to 14th position in WCC career scoring.

Tucker's 845 career rebounds rank seventh on the USF career list. He appears to on the way to leading USF in scoring for the third straight season, the first USF player to do that since Quintin Dailey who did it in 80-81-82. Bill Russell, Phil Smith and Ollie Johnson are the only other USF players to achieve that streak. Tucker has also passed Paul Silas (1661 at Creighton - '62-'64) as McClymonds High School's all-time leading alumni scorer.

For WCC conference tournament schedule check under features on main page.