USF Hosts Cal State Fullerton in NIT Friday Night

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San Francisco, CA- USF (17-13) will host Cal State Fullerton (20-10) in the first round of the NIT Friday night at 7:00 p.m at War Memorial Gymnasium.

The Dons advanced to Friday's game with a 69-67 win over Sun Belt regular season champion Denver Wednesday night at Memorial Gymnasium. The Dons trailed the game by five (53-48) with 8:39 remaining but went on a 11-2 run, with John Cox scoring seven points in the run. Denver was able to tie the game on a three-pointer by Rodney Billups with :24 left, giving USF a chance to win it on their last possession. Andre Hazel drove the lane and found Tyrone Riley for the winning layup.

USF shot their highest percentage of the season (52.5%) and dominated the boards 27-19 to earn the victory. John Cox, wearing number 5 in honor of Jason Gaines injured a week earlier scored 27 points and added three assists. Jerome Gumbs had his best game in a while with 10 points and a team-high 8 rebounds.

It was USF's first postseason win since beating Brigham Young in 1979 in the NCAA tournament.

POSTSEASON TALK: Wednesday was USF's first post-season appearance since the NCAA tournament appearance in 1998 (after USF won the WCC tournament) and its first NIT postseason appearance since 1976 (loss to NC Charlotte). Phil Mathews' Dons were defeated by NCAA finalist Utah in 1998 in Boise, Idaho.

EVANS IN POSTSEASON AGAIN, GOES FOR 150: And while it has been a while since USF has made it to the postseason, it is nothing new for first year USF head coach Jessie Evans, who will be playing in his fourth straight postseason. Evans took Louisiana Lafayette to four postseason berths in his seven years there. And he led Arizona to the national championship in his final year as an assistant there in 1997.

A win on Friday will earn Evans his 150th career coaching victory at Louisiana and USF.

PIONEERS HAVE NO LUCK AGAINST JESSIE: Jessie Evans' win over Denver makes him 12-1 against the Pioneers. In addition, his former team Louisiana Lafayette knocked them out of the NCAA tournament this year by winning the postseason tournament with Jessie's players.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE AND WINS EARN BERTH: USF earned its postseason bid by playing a strong non-conference schedule. The Dons played 10 games this season against teams that are playing in the NCAA tournament and two against other teams that are in the NIT. USF has wins against NCAA teams Pacific, Gonzaga, Penn and Montana. The Dons also lost narrowly to Stanford (ot), St. Mary's twice (once in 3ot), and Gonzaga (final second). USF also was helped by the West Coast Conference's strong league RPI rating of seventh.

FIVE CONFERENCE WINNERS FELL: The Dons have beaten five league winners this season: Gonzaga (WCC), Pacific (Big West), Penn (Ivy), St. Joseph's (Atlantic 10) and Denver (Sun Belt-West).

A COUPLE OF FIRSTS: Wednesday's NIT game was the first ever hosted by a West Coast Conference school and the first ever men's postseason game ever held at Memorial Gymnasium.

UNFAMILIAR FOE FOR EVANS: As familiar as Jessie Evans was with Denver from his Sun Belt days, he has not coached against Cal State Fullerton. USF has played Fullerton seven times, with a 4-3 mark against the Titans.

PHILADELPHIA STARS DO BATTLE: Both teams have leading scorers from Philadelphia, USF's John Cox averages 20.1 points per game, while CSUF's Ralphy Holmes averages 16.8 points and 8.6 rebounds.

TURNAROUND SEASON FOR CAL STATE FULLERTON: Cal State Fullerton (20-10) is having a turnaround season under head coach Bob Burton. This is their first winning season since their 1992-93 team went 15-12. Their 20 wins are only the third time at the Division I level. The Titans were 12-6 in Big West play. Head Coach Bob Burton was a longtime coach at West Valley College in the Bay Area before taking over as Fresno State assistant coach.

Fullerton was also a strong 8-6 away from home and also had a home win over Big West tournament champion Utah State (64-60) on February 19th.

The Titans have four players averaging in double figures and led the Big West in scoring this season (75.5 ppg). Fullerton's leading players are second team all-Big West 6-4 senior forward Ralphy Holmes (16.8 ppg/8.6 rpg.), 6-1 sophomore point guard Bobby Brown (16.6 ppg., 4.8 apg.), 6-4 senior forward Yaphett King (14.0 ppg., 6.2 rpg.) and 6-7 junior forward Jamaal Brown (12.1 ppg., 7.4 rpg.)

Common opponents were Pacific (CSF 0-2, USF 1-0), UC Santa Barbara (CSF 3-0, USF 1-0) and Denver (CSF 1-1, USF 1-0),

DONS ARE 8-0 AT HOME VS. NONCONFERENCE FOES: USF enters Friday night's game 8-0 in nonconference home games this year. USF is averaging 75.5 points and shooting 45.9% in those games, compared to opponents scoring 60.8 points and shooting 42.2%.