Game at a Glance
San Francisco Dons (18-9, 8-6 WCC) vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-0, 14-0 WCC)
Thursday,  Feb. 16, 2017 • 6:00 p.m.
McCarthey Athletic Center • Spokane, Wash.
Series Record: Gonzaga 54-22
Last Meeting: Jan. 5, 2017 (Gonzaga 95-80 85-75)
Television: ROOT (Greg Heister, Play-by-Play; Richard Fox and Dan Dickau, Analysts)
Radio: 95.7 FM The Game (Pat Olson, Play-by-Play; Jim Brovelli, Analyst)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com

Complete USF Game Notes (PDF)

Opening Tip
USF (18-9, 8-6 WCC) meets the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-0, 14-0 WCC) Thursday night at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. The Dons are coming off a 68-52 loss to BYU on Saturday while the Zags remained unbeaten in the year with a 74-64 win at St. Mary's. Thursday night's game will be televised by ROOT SPORTS Northwest and available in the Bay Area on CSNCA.

Inside the Matchup

• Thursday's game marks the first time USF has faced the No. 1 team in the nation since Jan. 18, 1979 when the Dons fell to top-ranked Notre Dame, 86-69 in South Bend…USF is 0-3 all-time vs. top-ranked teams.
• USF (15) and Gonzaga (19) have combined to win/share more than half of the WCC's 64 regular season championships.
• The Dons and Zags are the only two WCC teams to have been ranked No. 1 in the nation.
• Gonzaga is allowing opponents to shoot just 37.2 percent from the field this season, which is the second-lowest mark in the nation…earlier this season, USF managed to shoot 46.9 against the Zags.
• USF has dropped 27 straight games to Gonzaga in Spokane dating back to its last win on Feb. 10, 1989, 67-64.

The Dandy Dons

• Now 18-9 overall and 8-6 in the WCC after splitting a pair of games last week with Santa Clara (W, 61-58) and BYU (L, 68-52)...the 18 wins are tied with BYU for the third-highest total among WCC teams behind Gonzaga (26) and St. Mary's (22)...tied with Santa Clara for fourth-place in the WCC standings heading into this week's play.
• At 18-9, USF is off to its best 27-game start since the 1999-2000 season when the Dons were 19-8 at the same mark of the season before finishing at 19-9...the Dons are also three games ahead of last year's pace when the team was 15-12 at the 27-game mark of the season...have already eclipsed last year's win total of 15.
• Face Gonzaga for second time this season on Thursday to open the Pacific Northwest road trip...Zags have won 10 straight in the series including a 95-80 victory earlier this season in San Francisco...USF has dropped 27 in a row in Spokane dating back to its last win on Feb. 10, 1989 (67-64).
• Are 0-3 all-time against teams ranked No.1 in the polls...last played a top-ranked team on Jan. 18, 1979, falling 88-69 to Notre Dame in South Bend...USF has played 54 games as the nation's top-ranked team.
• Have held the last nine opponents under 70 points and are allowing just 57.3 ppg (516) total during that stretch...last time USF held the opponent under 70 points in nine straight games was 1964-65 (10)...Dons are allowing 66.5 ppg this season after yielding 78.7 ppg a year ago.
• Of USF's 18 wins this season, 15 have been decided by 10 points or more, including seven wins by 20+ points.
• USF has compiled a 33-20 (.622) record in the month of February over the last six seasons dating back to the 2009-10 campaign.
• USF is 20-16 in its last 36 WCC road games dating back to its last five conference road games of the 2012-13 season...over the last five seasons, the Dons are 21-19 in WCC road games...during that stretch, USF is a combined 1-13 at Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, BYU and 20-6 in all other conference road venues.
• Shot a season-low 24.7 percent Saturday against BYU...shooting 28.1 percent from the field over its last three halves...rank third in the WCC in field goal percentage at 46.2...have shot over 50 percent from the floor in 11 games this season after shooting 50 percent or better in just six contests last year...are 10-1 this season when shooting at least 50 percent from the floor with the only loss coming at Eastern Washington.
• Rank first in the WCC and 27th nationally in three's made per game (9.3)...have made a school-record 253 threes on the year (t-17th NCAA) and have made 10 or more three's in 11 games this season, including a school-record 18 against Eastern Washington and 16 vs. Utah...rank third in the WCC in three-point field goal percentage (36.4).
• Freshman Charles Minlend is the third-highest scoring freshman in the WCC with a 10.2 ppg average behind BYU's TJ Haws (14.4) and Gonzaga's Zack Collins (10.6)...he now ranks 10th on USF's all-time scoring list for freshman with 275 points.
• The Dons bench has combined to score 653 points over the last 18 games (36.2) and have outscored the opponent's bench 934-440 (+494) on the season...bench has accounted for 48.0 percent (934 of 1943) total points this year.
• Have started a lineup consisting of three sophomores (Matt McCarthy, Nate Renfro, Mladen Djordjevic) and two freshmen (Charles Minlend, Jordan Ratinho) in each of the last 10 games...of USF's 15-man roster, 13 players are underclassmen...an underclassmen has led/shared team in scoring 11 times this season.

Scouting Report

About Gonzaga
Ranked No. 1 nationally in both the AP and USA Today/Coaches' polls…with a 26-0 record, remain the only unbeaten team in Division I…began the season ranked 14th in the AP Top-25 Preseason poll and took over the top spot on Jan. 30…one of five schools to sport an undefeated conference record…enjoying its 10th consecutive season of 25 wins or more…lead the WCC in scoring averaging 85.1 points a game…limiting foes to just 61.7 points a game…shooting 51.6 percent from the field, which is the third-best mark in the nation…opponents are shooting just 37.2 percent from the floor this season, which is the second-lowest figure in the nation…feature six players who are averaging at least 9.0 points a game…WCC player of the year candidate Nigel Williams-Goss ranks sixth in the WCC in scoring with a 15.7 per game mark…Zach Collins (65.5), Przemek Karnowski (61.5) and Johnathan Williams (61.3) rank 1-2-3 in WCC field goal percentage...have made 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances…under the direction of Mark Few, who is in his 18th season as head coach at Gonzaga and 28th overall…Few, who began his tenure at Gonzaga as a graduate assistant coach under the late Dan Fitzgerald, is the winningest active coach in the NCAA with a .808 winning percentage.

Series History with Gonzaga
In a series that dates back to the 1961-62 season, Gonzaga leads the all-time series with USF, 54-22, including 48-17 in WCC play. Gonzaga has won 10 straight in the series dating back to USF's last win, 66-65 on Feb. 18, 2012 in San Francisco. The Bulldogs claimed the first meeting of the year, 95-80 in San Francisco. The Dons have dropped 27 straight games to Gonzaga in Spokane dating back to its last win on Feb. 10, 1989, 67-64. The Zags hold a 3-1 advantage in WCC Championship games.

First Meeting With Gonzaga
The Zags won the first game of the season series, 95-80 on Jan. 5 in San Francisco. Nigel Williams-Goss scored a game-high 36 points while Jordan Mathews finished with 16. Killian Tillie (12) and Przemek Karnowski were also in double figures for the Zags. Freshman Jordan Ratinho scored a career high 20 points while Nate Renfro and Ronnie Boyce each added 13 for the Dons (11-5, 1-2 WCC). Gonzaga shot 61 percent from the field while USF finished at a respectable 46.9 percent from the floor. The Dons had no answer for Williams-Goss, however, as the senior made 12-of-15 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 from long distance, and made all nine of his free throws for a career-high 36 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double. Gonzaga led by as many as 18 points in the first half at but a Ratinho three-pointer just before the horn trimmed the lead to 46-36 at the break. Any momentum the Dons gained was quickly squelched by the Zags on their first two possessions of the second half. The Dons managed to get back to within 10 points at 55-45 following a Boyce layup, but could get no closer as the Zags extended their winning streak to 15 games to open the season.

Last Time Out: BYU 68, USF 52 
USF shot just 24.7 percent from the field and dropped a 68-52 decision to BYU last Saturday on the Hilltop. The Dons missed 17 of their first 19 shots from the floor and shot just 22.2 percent in the first half and trailed 36-22 at the break. The Dons' deep freeze continued in the second half as USF got no closer than 13 points at 50-37 with 8:35 left before succumbing, 68-52. Junior Chase Foster was the only USF player to reach double figures with 10 points. Four Cougars reached double figures, led by Yoeli Childs who poured in a game-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field. Childs also pulled down 17 rebounds helping the Cougars to a 50-41 advantage on the boards. USF's only lead was at 6-4 less than five minutes into the game.

Up Next
USF will return to action on Saturday against the Portland Pilots. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. from the Chiles Center.