Nov. 23, 2008
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USF WELCOMES UC SANTA BARBARA: San Francisco welcomes UC Santa Barbara to the Hilltop Monday in the second game of its three-game homestand. The Dons enter the contest fresh off a 74-23 pounding of the Academy of Art, while the Gauchos dropped a 84-67 decision to No. 1 North Carolina Friday at the Thunderdome. USF looks to snap a three-game losing streak to UCSB, which posted a school record 23 victories last season en route to the 2008 Big West Regular Season Championship. Monday will be a reunion of sorts as current assistant coach Danny Yoshikawa welcomes his former team to the Hilltop. The coaching veteran spent the 2007-08 season at Santa Barbara before joining Rex Walters staff in April of 2008. Former Don forward and Oakland native Jesse Byrd also returns as a member of the Gauchos. DONS VS> GAUCHOS NOTES: WALTERS A WINNER IN HIS GREEN AND GOLD HOME DEBUT: USF opened the Rex Walters era with a pair of victories at the Verizon Wireless Tip-off Classic. The Dons started the 2008-09 campaign with a 75-70 triumph at Hawaii (11/14/08) and Walters became the first coach since Jim Brovelli to earn a win in his sideline debut. Walters joins USF Hall-of-Fame coach Pete Peletta as the second coach to defeat the Rainbow Warriors in his inaugural contest. Peletta took a 68-58 victory at Hawaii (11/30/60). Walters also took a victory in his War Memorial Gym debut as the Dons destroyed the Academy of Art 74-23 November 21, 2008. THREE DONS NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT: Three USF players captured all-tournament honors at the Verizon Wireless Tip-off Classic. Junior forward Dior Lowhorn averaged a tournament-high 21.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, while senior guard Manny Quezada averaged 10.5 points and 5.0 assists per game for the Dons. Junior forward Blake Wallace also earned all-tournament accolades in his Green and Gold debut weekend, averaging 16.5 points and 4.0 boards a contest. EARLY RETURNS: With four games in the books, USF has demonstrated some positive tendencies to watch for in the upcoming contests. - USF shooting at a .495 (108-218) clip from the field USF DONS BASKETBALL ON GREEN 960 AM: USF men's basketball returns to the airwaves and cyberspace for the 2008-2009 season and all games will be available live at USFDons.com, with the bulk of the schedule available on Green 960 AM. Join Pat Olson for the play-by-play in his 18th year behind the microphone courtside. USF Hall-of-Famer Jim Brovelli will join Olson on selected broadcasts. Other features available on USFDons.com include live scoring via GameTracker, courtesy of CBS Sports and live streaming video of all non-televised home games courtesy of Yahoo Broadcast. YAHOO ONLY BROADCASTS (NOT CARRIED ON GREEN 960): Three remaining 2008-09 regular season games will not be carried on Green 960 and will be available on the internet via Yahoo Broadcast on USFDons.com: USF at Holy Cross (11/27), USF at Boston College (11/29) and USF vs. Cal State East Bay (1/3). PAT OLSON SET TO CALL CAREER BROADCAST NO. 500: Veteran USF play-by-play man Pat Olson will reach a milestone broadcast on Monday. Now in his 18th year calling Dons basketball, Olson will call his 500th game for San Francisco when USF hosts UC Santa Barbara at War Memorial Gym. Dior Lowhorn - 2008 WCC FIRST TEAM AND LEAGUE SCORING LEADER: After sitting out the entire 2006-07 season under NCAA transfer rules, junior forward Dior Lowhorn made up for lost time in his first season in the Green and Gold. The Texas Tech transfer and Bay Area native turned in a prolific sophomore campaign for the Dons and led the West Coast Conference in scoring in overall (20.5) and WCC (20.5) contests - the first USF player to pace the league in scoring in both categories since John Cox accomplished the feat in 2004-05 (20.0/19.9). Lowhorn scored 636 points last season, good for fourth place on the Dons single-season scoring charts. A 2008 Mid-Major All-American and a All-WCC First Team pick - the first USF underclassmen tabbed since Gerald Walker in 1995 - Lowhorn scored at least 20 points in 18 games, including a career-high 29 at No. 12 Oregon (11/24/07). Lowhorn led the Dons with five double-double nights last season and scored 19 points six times and was the only USF player to reach double-digit scoring in every game. Lowhorn was named to the 2008-09 WCC Preseason Team, as selected by the league's head coaches. Dior Lowhorn AMONG NATIONAL SCORING LEADERS: Junior forward Dior Lowhorn ranked No. 27 among 2007-80 NCAA Division I scoring leaders at 20.5 points per game, in the final Division I stats released in March of 2008. Lowhorn is the first Don to crack the top-30 on the NCAA scoring list since John Cox (1999-05) accomplished the feat as a senior. LOWHORN CLOSING ON 1,000 CAREER POINTS: Junior forward Dior Lowhorn is closing in on 1,000 combined career points and enters Monday's contest against UC Santa Barbara with 954 points with 724 coming at USF and 230 at Texas Tech. Last year, the Bay Area native ranked fourth in USF single-season scoring history in his first campaign in the Green and Gold, finishing with a remarkable 636 points. Manny Quezada CLIMBING THE USF SCORING CHARTS: Senior guard Manny Quezada enjoyed a solid second season on the Hilltop, averaging 13.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. For his efforts, Quezada earned 2008 WCC Honorable Mention selection. The New York native ranked third among WCC assists leaders (4.6), was fourth in turnover to assist ratio (1.57) during league games. Quezada notched his second career 30-point game with a 30-point outburst at No. 12 Oregon (11/24/07) and turned in his first double-double at Pepperdine (2/2/08) with 11 points and a career-high 12 assists. After scoring seven points Friday against the Academy of Art, Quezada matched Naismith Hall-of-Famer K.C. Jones (1951-56) for 35th place on the San Francisco career scoring list with 893 points. James Lee (1998-01) sits at No. 34 with 919 career points. DONS TWO-HEADED MONSTER: USF relied heavily on the one-two punch of sophomore forward Dior Lowhorn and junior guard Manny Quezada last season and figure to count on them once again in 2008-09. Last year the duo combined for 39 of San Francisco's 55 points in a 71-55 loss at Oklahoma (11/9/07), accounting for a remarkable .701 of the team's offensive output. The pair combined for a season-high 59 points at No. 12 Oregon (11/24/07). In 31 games of the 2007-08 campaign, Lowhorn and Quezada accounted for 34.4 points per game - .515 of the Dons total offense. Four games into the 2008-09 campaign, the duo averages 35.75 points per game, .460 of the team's scoring output. NEW FACES IN THE DONS BACKCOURT: Three guards made their USF debuts in the Verizon Tip-off Classic. Freshman East Bay product Kwame Vaughn dazzled at times ranking third on the team in scoring with 13.5 points on .571 ( 8-14) shooting and Junior Dontae Bryant chipped in with 4.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in his opening weekend in a Dons uniform. Freshman guard Chris O'Brien showed promise as well, averaging 5.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in a pair of starts. Vaughn earned his first career start Tuesday at Cal and responded with eight points, three rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes. Bryant added seven points, while O'Brien had six. DONS DOING IT WITH BALANCE: Four games into the 2008-09 season, USF's offense is sharing the scoring load. No fewer than four Dons average double-digit scoring, led by junior forward Dior Lowhorn (22.0). Senior guard Manny Quezada (13.8), junior forward Blake Wallace (12.0) and freshman guard Kwame Vaughn (10.8) lead the balanced USF offensive assault. GAME #5 SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA: The Gauchos kick off a five-game road trip when they take on USF Monday at War Memorial Gym. UCSB dropped a 84-67 decision to No. 1 North Carolina Friday at the Thunderdome. The Gauchos trailed 45-37 at the intermission, but fell to 1-2 on the season. UCSB posted a 64-55 victory against Cal State LA in its season opener and fell to Utah State 61-59 before tackling the Tar Heels. James Powell leads the way for the Gauchos offensively at 13.0 points, while Chris Devine adds 11.7. James Nunnally chips in with 10.0 per game for UCSB, which averages 63.3 points per game on .443 from the field. Bob Williams is in his 11th year as the top Gaucho and guided the club to a school record 23 wins last season en route to the Big West regular season championship - the second in five years. Williams directed the team into the NIT last season in the third postseason berth since 2003. TEAM COMPARISONS - 2008-09 SEASON - (As of 11/22/08): Team PPG Margin FG% 3-FG% FT% RPG APG TOPG SPG BPG USF 77.8 +14.3 .495 .370 .756 32.0 15.5 17.8 7.3 3.3 UCSB 63.3 -3.3 .443 .321 .717 31.3 14.7 18.3 8.7 3.0 UCSB PROBABLE STARTERS (As of 11/22/08) LAST MEETING: at UCSB 74, USF 69 (11/20/07) SERIES RECORD/STREAK: USF leads 23-11/UCSB won three ON THE AIR/ON THE WEB: UP NEXT FOR THE DONS: USF wraps up its three-game non-conference homestand when it welcomes Colorado State to the Hilltop Saturday, November 29 for a 2:00 PM matinee. The Dons take on the Rams for the first time since seizing an 81-67 victory December 29, 1967. USF NEWCOMERS READY FOR BATTLE: USF under first year head coach Rex Walters welcome no fewer than seven newcomers to the Hilltop for the 2008-09 season. A pair of junior college transfers - junior guard Dontae Bryant (Portland, OR) and junior forward Blake Wallace (Irvine, CA) - combine with five prep standouts - Angelo Caloiaro (San Jose, CA), Chris O'Brien (Irvine, CA), Clint Pekarsky (Granite Bay, CA), Peter Smith (Escondido, CA) and Kwame Vaughn (Oakland, CA). Blake Wallace ON THE RISE: Junior forward Blake Wallace has made his presence felt for USF in the early going. The Irvine Valley JC transfer ranks third on the team in scoring (12.0), second in rebounds (4.5) and leads the team with nine 3-pointers. Wallace, who started his career at Pepperdine in 2006-07, scored a career-high 21 points in his Green and Gold debut at Hawaii (11/14/08) in the Verizon Wireless Tip-off Classic. WCC ANNOUNCES COMCAST TELEVISION PACKAGE: The West Coast Conference, in conjunction with Comcast SportsNet California, Comcast SportsNet Northwest and Cox Channel 4 San Diego, has announced a 15-game regional television package for the 2008-09 men's basketball conference season. "We're thrilled to enter into this agreement with our outstanding media partners from Comcast and Cox," West Coast Conference Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said. "This is an exciting time to be a part of West Coast Conference basketball. Not only are we coming off one of the best years in conference history with three teams qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, we now have one of the top television agreements in the country thanks to our partnerships with Comcast, Cox, ESPN and Fox." "Comcast SportsNet is delighted to unite with the West Coast Conference in this regional package," said CSNCA Executive Producer Richard Zinn. "The teams have some exceptional talent and we look forward to bringing many exciting rivalries to our viewers." Each of the 15 games will be broadcast live in the markets of the two participating teams, and includes five of the top 55 markets in the nation in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle and San Diego. The 15-game schedule will begin on Friday, January 9 with San Diego at Santa Clara on Comcast Sports Net California and Channel 4 San Diego. Channel 4 has a longstanding relationship with the University of San Diego, televising Toreros basketball each year since the 1998-99 season. "USD has been a great partner," said Channel 4 Station Manager Dennis Morgigno. "So it certainly made sense for us to expand that partnership with the WCC this season to bring even more great basketball to San Diego sports fans." With this agreement, 42 of 56 WCC men's basketball conference games will be televised during the 2008-09 season. Twenty-six of the 40 games will be televised on a regional basis, and 12 of those 26 games will be televised in more than one top 55 media market. USF DONS BASKETBALL ON THE TUBE IN 2008-09: USF BASKETBALL ON ESPNU: 2009 WCC TOURNAMENT MOVES TO LAS VEGAS: The West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament heads to the bright lights of Las Vegas and the Orleans Arena in 2009 as 16 teams battle for two chances to "Advance to the Dance". This will mark the first time in WCC history that the conference's premier event will be held at a neutral site. The 2009 basketball championships will be the 23rd annual event on the men's side and the 17th annual women's tournament, and will take place March 6-9, 2009. About the Orleans Arena: Since opening our doors in 2003, the Orleans Arena has proven to be Las Vegas' favorite arena. The Orleans Arena hosted over 175 events in 2006 and over 200 in 2007, including multiple concerts and touring shows; and a variety of sporting events. The Orleans Arena seats 7,471 for basketball events, and is also the home of the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers professional hockey team. For more information on the Orleans Arena, visit orleansarena.com. FOR WCC TOURNAMENT TICKETS: USF's ticket office has sold its allotment of tickets. Please contact the West Coast Conference Office at (650) 873-8622 or contact the Orleans Arena directly toll-free at 888-234-2334. WCC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TO BE CARRIED LIVE ON WESTWOOD ONE: The West Coast Conference, a property of IMG-College, announced today that its men's basketball tournament final, to be played on March 9 at the Orleans Arena, will be broadcast nationally on Westwood One Radio. It is the first time that a WCC conference tournament game will be carried on national terrestrial radio. The final game of the conference tournament is part of a larger agreement that IMG-College has entered into nationally at a number of its properties.
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