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Game #19
USF Dons (11-7, 4-2 WCC) vs. BYU Cougars (11-7, 3-2 WCC)
Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 • 6:00 p.m.
Memorial Gymnasium • San Francisco, Calif.
Series Record: BYU leads 8-7
Last Meeting: USF 99-87 (Feb. 9, 2013 at Provo)
Audio Stream: USFDons.com (Pat Olson, Play-by-Play; Jim Brovelli, Analyst)
Television: ESPNU (Roxy Bernstein, Play-by-Play; Corey Williams, Analyst)

DONS INSIDER: Dons aim to play complete game
Complete USF Game Notes (PDF)
 
Keys to the Game
Containing BYU's guards and fastbreak:
BYU comes into the contest averaging 87.3 points and is five points better than the next WCC team. To say the least, the Cougars can score and a lot of that offense comes on the fastbreak.
 
With guards Tyler Haws, Matt Carlino and Kyle Collinsworth, BYU can create a lot of matchup problems and that has been something highlighted in practice in the last couple of days.
 
"The biggest thing is transition defense because they do play so fast," San Francisco head coach Rex Walters said. "You've got to eliminate layups, you've got to get back to get matched up with their three-point shooters. Also now with [Eric] Mika back, they have a great rim runner. You've got to address those things and emphasize it and rep it."
 
Haws, the conference's leading scorer at 23.1 points per game, is shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc. His backcourt mate, Carlino, has struggled from the outside for much of the season but has always played well at War Memorial Gym. In his two games on the Hilltop, he is averaging 26 points and shooting 61 percent from the floor (21-for-34).
 
Getting quality shots:
The Dons are one of the better shooting teams in the conference but they have the tendency to take quick shots. These quick shots lead to difficulties on both offense and defense.
 
"It's about getting a quality shot," Walters said. "At times we get impatient, we rush, take quick contested shots. It's not only bad for us offensively but bad for us defensively because no one is expecting that shot and our transition defense now struggles."
 
USF allows teams to shoot a league-worst 46 percent from the field and 38 percent from three, ninth in the WCC.
 
"We don't give the defense a chance to make a mistake. It gives them confidence when we shoot quick contested shots."
 
Playing to their abilities:
While a 4-2 start looks good on the surface, Walters has been more focused on what happened in the two games where things did not go well.
 
"It's about playing every single game and playing it to the best of your ability," he said. "We haven't done that in two games. I know we're close. The records are the by-product of the process. The process of eliminating layups, making them shoot tough, contested shots and blocking out and rebounding. The offensive part of it is player movement, getting the ball to the paint, shoot quality shots."
 
"If we don't do those things I just talked about we'll go from 4-2 to 4-4 or if we do those things we've got a great chance to go to 6-2."
 
In the team's four WCC wins, teams have shot a combined 40.4 percent from the field. In the two losses, the Dons have allowed teams to shoot 48.5 percent.

Notables
 
FIVE-GAME HOMESTAND: Thursday's contest against BYU marks the first of five consecutive home conference games for USF over the course of the next three weeks. San Diego follows BYU into Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday night. The Dons will also play host to Santa Clara (Jan. 25), Portland (Jan. 29) and Gonzaga (Feb. 1) before its next road game at San Diego on Feb. 6. The Dons are 8-3 at home this season after going 8-7 on its home floor last season, including 2-6 against WCC foes.
 
FROM THE FLOOR: USF ranks second in the WCC and 28th nationally in field goal percentage at 48.3 percent. USF has shot 50 percent or better from the floor in nine of 18 games this season, including a season-best 60.9 percent vs. American on Dec. 22, USF is shooting 44.3 percent from the field in conference games,  thanks largely in part to an icey 25.5 percent (14-for-55) effort at Gonzaga. Mark Tollefsen (57.9) and Tim Derksen (55.0) rank seventh and ninth respectively in WCC field goal percentage.

SPLASH CITY: The Dons have made 39.1 percent (27-for-69) of its three-point attempts over the last four games and are now shooting 37.8 percent from beyond the arc this season - fifth-best in the WCC. USF averaged 28.7 three-point attempts through its first four games but are averaging 16.7 (234 total) long distance tries over its last 14 games. USF led the West Coast Conference and ranked fifth nationally in three-point field goal percentage a year ago, connecting on 40.1 percent (249-for-621) of its long distance attempts. The Dons have set single-season school records for three-pointers made each of the last three seasons.