Road Swing Begins at Pepperdine

USF (12-9, 6-4 WCC) at Pepperdine (5-16, 3-7 WCC)
Thursday, Feb. 2 | 7 p.m.
Firestone Fieldhouse | Malibu, Calif.
Series Record: USF leads, 38-35
Last Meeting: Feb. 18, 2016 (H), USF 99-75
Video: TheW.tv
Audio: Livestream.com/usf/wbbaudio (George Devine, PBP)
Live Stats: PepperdineWaves.com (Gametracker)
Complete Game Notes [PDF]

Opening Tip
USF (12-9, 6-4 WCC) travels to take on the Pepperdine Waves (5-16, 3-7 WCC) at Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will be the first of four road contests on the horizon for the Dons before they finish out the regular season with four straight home games. USF is coming off a narrow 67-64 win over Pacific this past Saturday, while Pepperdine dropped an 83-61 decision at Gonzaga.

The Dons At a Glance...
LAST WEEK

Dropped a heartbreaker at home to Saint Mary's on Thursday night, 64-62
SMC's Carly Turner hit the game-winning jump shot from the elbow with 0.4 seconds left
Rachel Howard led all scorers with 26 points on 7-of-15 shooting, going 4-of-7 from deep
Michaela Rakova added 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds
The Gaels outscored the Dons 32-8 in the paint and 14-4 in second chance points
Held on for 67-64 win over Pacific at home on Saturday
Howard again posted game highs with 28 points and eight rebounds, while Anna Seilund scored 18 and went 4-of-6 from deep
USF held a nine-point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter before the Tigers rallied to trim the lead to one with two minutes left before Nia Alexander iced it with a pair of free throws with 16 seconds on the clock

FROM WAY DOWNTOWN...BANG!
As a team, the Dons are tied with Pacific as the two best three-point shooting teams in the conference at 35 percent from long range. Over the last five games, USF has sunk 42 threes and is shooting 40.8 percent from the perimeter. Redshirt junior Kalyn Simon ranks second in the conference with a 44.4 percent clip from the perimeter, while Rachel Howard's 39 triples are tied for the sixth-most in the WCC this year.

ONE AFTER ANOTHER
With 28 points against Pacific on Saturday, senior guard Rachel Howard has registered 20+ points in five straight games. Prior to this stretch, Howard had never scored 20 or more in back-to-back contests. She had 26 points in a loss to Saint Mary's this past Thursday and 27 in a win over San Diego to go along with 21 at Portland and 22 at Pacific. Howard is averaging 24.8 points per game over that span, while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 56.7 percent from the perimeter.

IN THE TRENCHES
USF ranks third in the WCC in defensive rebounding at 27.2 per game, but ranks second to last on the offensive glass (10.6). The Dons' -0.9 rebounding margin ranks in the middle of the WCC. After outrebounding Pacific, 36-29, USF has held a rebounding advantage or tie in 10 of its 21 contests so far. The work on the glass against UOP helped the Dons outscore the Tigers 17-4 in second chance opportunities.

NO HOME SICKNESS HERE
Redshirt junior Kalyn Simon is the rare Don who has been shooting better on the road than at home this season. Simon is connecting at a team-best 57.1 percent clip in her nine road games versus 36.5 percent at home. She is also shooting 54.5 percent from the perimeter away from the Sobrato Center compared to 35.7 percent in home contests.

MAKE EM' IF YOU GET EM'
As a team, the Dons rank second in the WCC from the free throw line (77.2). USF went 31-of-36 (86.1) in their two games this past week against Saint Mary's and Pacific, with Rachel Howard connecting on all 15 of her attempts over the two contests.

Scouting Report

About Pepperdine
The Waves enter the week in the midst of a five-game losing streak after falling to Portland (75-55) and Gonzaga (83-61) on the road this past week. Pepperdine opened the WCC slate with a 79-69 win over the Zags at Firestone Fieldhouse and also picked up victories over San Diego and Pacific along the way. The Waves have been trying to recover from an 0-9 start to their year. Sophomore forward Yasmine Robinson-Bacote ranks fifth in the WCC at 14.6 points per game and third with 8.5 rebounds per contest. She's trailed by senior guard Allie Green, who ranks eighth in the conference at 13.5 points per game. As a team, Pepperdine sits toward the bottom of the conference in most categories, but have presented trouble for opposing teams in the paint by averaging 4.0 blocks per game, fourth-best in the WCC, with 6-4 center Megan House's 2.0 blocks per game ranking second. The Waves were picked to finish ninth in the WCC this season under fourth-year head coach Ryan Weisenberg.

Series History with Pepperdine
USF leads the all-time series, 38-35, and has won seven of the last eight meetings. The Dons won both games last year by 81-74 and 99-75 margins. Pepperdine's last win in the series came during the 2014-15 season at USF. The Dons hold a 13-18 record against the Waves in Malibu. USF holds the longest winning streak in the series with their seven-game run between 1994-95 and 1996-97. Pepperdine, meanwhile, won six in a row from 1997-98 to 1999-00 and took nine of 10 between 2007-08 and 2012-13. The Waves won the first-ever meeting between the two schools, 58-51, back in 1977-78.

Last Year's Meetings with Pepperdine
The Dons shot their way to the 15-point halftime lead and held on for an 81-74 victory against the Waves at Firestone Fieldhouse in the first matchup of 2015-16. USF was led by a trio of scorers, keyed by a 16-point first half for Kalyn Simon. She closed the game with a then-career high 18 points, going 5-of-7 from distance. Taylor Proctor paced the squad with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. Zhane Dikes picked up the 15-point, 11-rebound double-double to go along with four steals. Along with the hot hand of Simon the Dons shot 53.3 percent from the field as a team, and USF's defense forced Pepperdine into 11 turnovers resulting in 21 points for the visiting Dons. After two successful trips to the free throw line, the Waves were again within four with 1:12 to go. Pepperdine proceeded to send the Dons to the line six times in the final minute of the game, and USF went 7-for-12 in its attempts en route to the 81-74 victory.

In the second meeting of the year in San Francisco, the Dons dominated the visiting Pepperdine Waves wire-to-wire in the 99-75 victory. Rachel Howard took center stage in a then-career-high outing. Howard was one of five players to hit double figures during a dominant offensive display, with Claudia Price scoring a career-high 18 points and Anna Seilund adding 15 points in the victory. Howard, Price, and Seilund combined to hit 10 of the Dons' 11 threes on the evening as the Waves' defense struggled to keep up. After missing a layup with just under six minutes left in the third quarter, Howard hit seven straight shots to finish with a career-high 29 points. Howard went 10-for-12 from the field, which included 6-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc.

Last Time Out
Carrying a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, USF had to withstand a late push by the visiting Pacific Tigers to claim a 67-64 victory on Saturday afternoon at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. Pacific outscored USF 14-8 in the final frame, but the Dons got a pair of clutch free throws from Nia Alexander with 16 seconds left before locking down defensively on the other end to close out the win. Rachel Howard registered a game-high 28 points - two shy of her career high - on 9-of-17 from the floor, while going 3-of-6 from distance to post her fifth consecutive 20-plus point performance. In the process, Howard surpassed Lindsey Huff (1997-02) for 19th on USF's all-time scoring list with 1,122 career points. Howard also grabbed a game-best eight rebounds, led the team with four assists and went 7-for-7 from the line. Not to be outdone, junior guard Anna Seilund tallied 18 points on a 6-for-11 shooting day that included 4-of-6 from the perimeter. True to form coming from a matchup of the conference's top three-point shooting teams, it was a long distance display coming out of the gates. The two teams combined for eight threes over the first six minutes and a total of 19 on the day.

Up Next
The Dons meet Loyola Marymount for a 2 p.m. contest on Saturday afternoon from Gersten Pavilion.

Print Friendly Version