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Game #22
USF Dons (13-8, 6-3 WCC) vs. Portland Pilots (12-9, 4-5 WCC)
Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014 • 7:00 p.m.
Memorial Gymnasium • San Francisco, Calif.
Series Record: USF leads, 52-26
Last Meeting: USF 87-81 in Portland (Dec. 28, 2013)
Audio Stream: USFDons.com (
Pat Olson, Play-by-Play; Jim Brovelli, Analyst)
Television: TheW.tv (Rich Cellini and John Strege)
Complete USF Game Notes (PDF)
Watch the USF-Portland Game on TheW.tv
The Dandy Dons
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Bring a 13-8 overall mark and a 6-3 conference record into Wednesday night's home game against the Portland Pilots...are alone in third place halfway through the conference schedule.
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Have won two straight and five out of the last seven following Saturday's 75-66 home win over Santa Clara...are 10-5 over the last 15 games since a 100-82 loss at No. 17 Oregon on Nov. 24.
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Were 9-12 overall and 3-6 in the WCC after 21 games last year...dropped game No. 22 to fall to 9-13 and 3-7.
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Are 10-4 at home this season after going 8-7 on its home floor a year ago, including 2-6 against WCC foes.
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Defeated Portland 87-81 in overtime in the first meeting between the two schools on Dec. 28 at the Chiles Center....have won seven out of the last eight in the series.
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Win over Santa Clara evened USF's record to 90-90 under head coach Rex Walters.
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Averaging 77.9 points per game, which ranks fourth in the WCC...Portland ranks third averaging 78.5 per outing.
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Rank second in the WCC and 43rd nationally in field goal percentage at 48.3 percent...have shot 50 percent or better from the floor 10 times this season...shot 45.3 percent as a team last season.
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Made just 4-of-18 three-pointers vs. Santa Clara, dropping the season percentage down to 37.9, which ranks fourth in the WCC.
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Made 23-of-28 free throws vs. Santa Clara but still rank last in the conference in free throw percentage at 65.2...shooting 68.4 percent from the line in conference play.
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Have held its last two opponents under 70 points...rank seventh in the WCC in defense (74.7), eighth in field goal defense (45.5) and ninth in three-point defense (38.3).
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Outrebounded Santa Clara 41-24 and are now 11-4 on the season when outrebounding the opponent...rank sixth in the WCC in rebounding (35.3) and are holding opponents to just 31.7 boards a game.
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Balanced scoring column sees the top six scorers averaging between 14.6 and 8.6 points per game...seven different players have taken team high-scoring honors this season...rank as the WCC's third-highest scoring team despite not having a player higher than 10th among conference scoring leaders.
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Cole Dickerson scored 28 points vs. Santa Clara, running his career total to 1,062, which ranks 28th on USF's all-time career scoring list...needs 13 points to tie James Hardy for 27th and 21 to tie Manny Quezada for 26th.
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Dickerson also ranks 17th all-time in career rebounds with 652...needs two more boards to tie Byron "Snake" Jones for 16th all-time.
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Junior Kruize Pinkins is averaging 3.3 offensive rebounds a game - tops in the WCC.
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USF will wrap up its five-game homestand on Saturday when the Dons play host to first-place Gonzaga beginning at 7:00 p.m.
TIP-OFF: USF (13-8, 6-3 WCC) continues its five-game WCC homestand on Wednesday as the Dons play host to the Portland Pilots (12-9, 4-5 WCC) in Memorial Gymnasium beginning at 7:00 p.m. USF is coming off a 75-66 victory over Santa Clara last Saturday while the Pilots split a pair of games on its home floor, defeated BYU, 114-110 in triple-overtime before falling to San Diego, 65-63 on Saturday. Wednesday night's game will be carried on TheW.tv with
George Devine and John Stege calling the action from courtside.
GAME PROMOTION: USF will celebrate Chinese New Year on Wednesday. Fans can enjoy the Kung Fu Taco Truck before the game and all fans in attendance will have a chance to win a nine-day trip to China courtesy of ChinaTour.com.
SERIES HISTORY: In a series that dates back to the 1952-53 season, USF leads the all-time series with Portland, 52-26. The Dons are 22-6 vs. the Pilots dating back to the 2000-01 season and have won seven out of the last eight in the series, including a 87-81 overtime victory at the Chiles Center on Dec. 28.
FIRST MEETING WITH PORTLAND: USF opened WCC play with a 87-81 overtime victory over Portland at the Chiles Center on Dec. 28.
Chris Adams hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 0:01 left in regulation to answer Kevin Bailey's 3-pointer which gave the Pilots a 69-66 lead with 0:09 left. The Dons rallied from a 35-27 halftime deficit to earn their fourth straight win at the Chiles Center. USF shot 60.4 percent from the field and outrebounded the Pilots, 40-22.
Mark Tollefsen scored a career-high 22 points while
Avry Holmes finished with 15.
Cole Dickerson (13),
Matt Glover (11) and
Kruize Pinkins (11) also scored in double figures.
LAST TIME OUT: USF used 28 points from
Cole Dickerson and a 41-24 advantage on the boards to defeat Santa Clara, 75-66 in Memorial Gymnasium. Dickerson made 12-of-17 shots from the floor and pulled down eight rebounds to pace all USF scorers.
Kruize Pinkins added 14 and
Mark Tollefsen finished with 12.
Matt Glover pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds to go along with seven points. Jared Brownridge finished with a game-high 30 points for Santa Clara.
THE RECORD: At 13-8 overall, USF is four games ahead of last year's pace when the Dons were 9-12 at the 21-game mark of the season. USF dropped its 22nd game of last season to fall to 9-13 overall and 3-7 in conference play. USF's 13 wins are tied for third most in the conference with BYU (13-9) behind Gonzaga (18-3) and Saint Mary's (16-5).
FIVE-GAME HOMESTAND: Wednesday's game marks the fourth of five consecutive home conference games for USF. The Dons opened the homestand with a 83-76 loss to BYU on Jan. 16 but bounced back to down San Diego, 64-62 (1/18) and Santa Clara (1/25). The Dons close out the homestand Saturday night against Gonzaga before its next road game at San Diego on Feb. 6. The Dons are 10-4 at home this season after going 8-7 on its home floor last season, including 2-6 against WCC foes.
OFFENSIVELY: The Dons are averaging 77.6 points per game this season, which ranks third in the WCC. USF averaged 88.4 ppg (619 total) over their first seven games and have scored at a 71.6 per game clip (932 total) over its last 13 contests. The Dons opened the season by scoring 90+ points in its first four games - a first in school history.
BALANCED SCORING: USF has four players on its current roster averaging in double figures after 21 games, with senior
Cole Dickerson topping the team's scoring chart with a 14.6 point per game average. The top six scorers on the current roster are averaging between 14.6 and 8.6 ppg. Seven different players have taken game-high scoring honors at some point this season.
FROM THE FLOOR: USF ranks second in the WCC and 43rd nationally in field goal percentage at 48.3 percent. If the season ended today, the Dons current shooting percentage would be the 10th-best single-season mark in school history. The Dons have shot 50 percent or better from the floor 10 times this season. USF is shooting 45.4 percent from the field in conference games, despite an icey 25.5 percent (14-for-55) effort at Gonzaga.
Mark Tollefsen (57.3) and
Cole Dickerson (52.6) rank sixth and 10th respectively in WCC field goal percentage.
SPLASH CITY: The Dons made just 4-of-18 of their three-point tries vs. Santa Clara after shooting at a 42.2 percent (38-for-90) clip in over the previous six games. USF is shooting 37.9 percent from long distance this season - fourth-best in the WCC. USF averaged 28.7 three-point attempts through its first four games but are averaging 16.0 (273 total) long distance tries over its last 17 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.
ON THE LINE: USF made 23-of-28 of its free throw tries Saturday vs. Santa Clara and have made 73.9 perent (105-of-142) of their free throws over the last six games. However, the Dons are shooting just 65.2 percent from the line this season, which ranks last in the WCC and 314th out of 345 Division I teams. USF has attempted 532 free throws this season, which are tied for 26th among Division I teams.
BOARD WORK: USF has outrebounded each of its last four opponents and rank sixth among WCC teams in rebound average at 35.3. Opponents are averaging 31.7 boards a game, the second-lowest average in the conference. USF is 11-4 this season when outrebounding the opponent and 2-4 in all other games. Last season, the Dons finished eighth in the conference in rebounding (32.5) and ninth in rebound margin (-2.5), despite having the top rebounder in the WCC in
Cole Dickerson (9.8).
SECOND CHANCES: USF is averaging 12.1 offensive rebounds a game, third-best in the WCC.
Kruize Pinkins leads the conference in offensive rebounds with a 3.3 per game mark
DEFENSIVELY: USF has held its last two opponents under 70 points. The Dons limited Santa Clara to 66 points on Saturday, marking the ninth time this season the Dons have held an opponent under the 70-point mark. The Dons are yielding 74.7 points a game, which ranks seventh in the WCC. The Dons rank eighth in the conference in field goal defense (45.5) and ninth in three-point defense (38.3) and blocks per game (2.8). USF's 6.0 steals per game average ranks fifth in the conference.
DONS IN OVERTIME: USF is 2-1 in overtime games this season, losing to Idaho State 93-90 while defeating Portland 87-81 and Pacific 81-72. USF is 11-4 in overtime games under head coach
Rex Walters.
DICKERSON'S LAST FIVE: Following a seven-point outing vs. Pepperdine on Jan. 4,
Cole Dickerson is averaging 18.8 points (94 total) and is shooting 57.9 percent (40-for-69) - including 64.7 percent (11-for-17) from three-point range - over the last five games. He matched his season-high with 28 points Saturday vs. Santa Clara, which was his sixth game this season scoring 20 or more points. He has raised from 13.3 ppg to its present mark of 14.6 during the five-game stretch.
TOP 10 GUY:
Cole Dickerson ranks in the WCC's top-10 in three categories, including rebounding (7.5; 8th), scoring (14.6; 10th) and field goal percentage (52.6; 10th).
DICKERSON CLIMBING REBOUNDING CHARTS: With 652 career rebounds, senior
Cole Dickerson currently ranks 17th on USF's all-time rebounding list. He needs two more boards to tie Byron "Snake" Jones for 16th. Here's a look at where Dickerson stands on USF's all-time career rebonding chart...
11. Joe Ellis (1963-66) 737
12. Erwin Mueller (1963-66) 717
13. Johnny Burks (1968-71) 701
14. Mike Farmer (1955-58) 698
15. Marlon Redmond (1973-77) 686
16. Byron Jones (1972-74) 654
17.
Cole Dickerson (2010-14) 652
DICKERSON'S DOUBLES: Senior forward
Cole Dickerson posted his fifth double-double of the season and 19th of his career against BYU, finishing with 26 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. Dickerson finished with conference-high 13 double-doubles (points-rebounds) last season, a figure that ranked 24th nationally among Division I players. He was also a point or rebound away from a double-double in five other games. Dickerson pulled down 10 or more rebounds in 14 games, including a career-high 20 boards against Montana on Nov. 30
