Game at a Glance
San Francisco Dons (19-10, 9-7 WCC) vs. Loyola Marymount Lions (13-14, 6-10 WCC)
Thursday,  Feb. 23, 2017 • 7:00 p.m.
Gersten Pavilion • Los Angeles, Calif.
Series Record: USF 111-42
Last Meeting: Feb. 4, 2017 (USF 74-64)
Video Stream: TheW.tv (Jesse Kass, Play-by-Play)
USF Audio Only: TheW.TV (Pat Olson, Play-by-Play; Jim Brovelli, Analyst)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com

Complete USF Game Notes (PDF)

Opening Tip
USF (19-10, 9-7 WCC) meets the Loyola Marymount Lions (13-14, 6-10 WCC) Thursday night at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. The Dons are coming off a 65-51 win at Portland on Saturday while the Lions turned back Pepperdine, 82-61 on their home floor. Thursday's game will be streamed live on TheW.tv.

USF at a Glance

• Now 19-10 overall and 9-7 in the WCC after splitting a pair of games last week at Gonzaga (L, 96-61) and Portland (W, 65-51)...enter the last week of regular season play tied for fourth place in the WCC standings with Santa Clara...the Dons have secured no lower than a fifth-seed in the upcoming WCC Championships in Las Vegas.
• Looking for its first 20-win season since 2013-14 (21-12)...this marks the eighth time since 1985-86 USF has posted at least 19 wins in a season.
• The 19 wins under Kyle Smith are also the fourth most by a first-year head coach in USF history...last head coach to post 20+ wins in their first season at the helm was Pete Barry (24-7) in 1981-82.
• At 19-10, USF has its best 29-game start since the 2013-14 season when the Dons were also 19-10 at the same mark of the season before finishing at 21-11...the Dons are also four games ahead of last year's pace when the team was 15-14 at the 29-game mark of the season...have already eclipsed last year's win total of 15.
• Face LMU for the second time this season on Thursday...won the first meeting with the Lions, 74-64 on Feb. 4 in San Francisco and have won 16 of the last 25 in the series.
• Have held 10 of the last 11 opponents under 70 points and are allowing just 60.2 ppg (663) total during that stretch...are allowing 67.0 ppg this season after yielding 78.7 ppg a year ago.
• Of USF's 19 wins this season, 16 have been decided by 10 points or more, including seven wins by 20+ points.
• USF has compiled a 34-21 (.618) record in the month of February over the last six seasons dating back to the 2009-10 campaign.
• USF is 21-17 (.552) in its last 38 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 22-20 in WCC road games...during that stretch, USF is a combined 1-15 at Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, BYU and 21-6 (.778) in all other conference road venues.
• Over the last five seasons, the Dons are 44-42 in WCC games...during that time, USF is 2-28 against Gonzaga, St. Mary's and BYU and 42-14 (.750) against the six other conference teams.
• Rank fourth in the WCC in field goal percentage at 45.5...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 second in the WCC and 33rd nationally in three's made per game (9.3)...have made a school-record 269 threes on the year (t-21st 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 fifth in the WCC in three-point field goal percentage at 36.1 but that figure dips to 31.9 in WCC games.
• The Dons bench has combined to score 718 points over the last 20 games (35.9) and have outscored the opponent's bench 999-480 (+519) on the season...bench has accounted for 48.2 percent (999 of 2069) 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 12 games...of USF's 15-man roster, 13 players are underclassmen...an underclassmen has led/shared team in scoring 11 times this season.

Inside the Matchup

• LMU has played 15 games this season which have been decided by eight points or less, including 11 games which have been decided in the final 10 seconds. On the other hand, USF has played only six games decided by 10 points or less.
• The two teams force the most turnovers of any other team in the WCC…LMU has forced opponents into 402 turnovers this season while USF's opponents have turned the ball over 392 times.
• LMU and USF are the two worst free throw shooting teams in the WCC. The Lions rank 10th at 61.2 while the Dons are ninth at 62.2.
• Legendary USF coaches Pete Newell and Phil Woolpert are both graduates of Loyola Marymount, then known as Loyola College. Newell and Woolpert were teammates at Loyola in the late 1930's under Jimmy Needles, who also coached at USF from 1923-31.

Scouting Report

About Loyola Marymount
Are 13-14 overall and 6-10 in the West Coast Conference…holding onto the sixth position in the conference standings heading into the final week of the regular season…coming off a 82-61 win over Pepperdine last Saturday…have had 11 games this season decided in the last 10 seconds and are 4-7 in those contests…have played a total of 15 games which have been decided by eight points or less and are 7-8 in those contests…led in scoring by senior guard Brandon Brown who is averaging 13.7 points per game…senior forward Buay Tuach is scoring 11.9 per outing…lead the conference in steals (7.4) and are second in turnover margin (1.70).

USF-LMU Series History
USF leads the all-time series with Loyola Marymount, 111-42. The Dons won the first meeting between the two schools on Feb. 4 in San Francisco, 74-64. LMU swept last year's season series, winning 87-84 in San Francisco and 100-87 (OT) in Westchester. However, the Dons have won 16 of the last 25 games in the series and are 42-16 vs. the Lions dating back to the 1990-91 season.  Nine out of the last 15 games in the series have been decided by four points or fewer, including seven by two points or fewer. The two schools have met seven times in WCC Tournament action, with the Dons holding a 5-2 edge.

First Meeting With LMU
USF notched its third consecutive win as the Dons turned back Loyola Marymount, 74-64 in War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. Ronnie Boyce led the Dons in scoring for the third consecutive game, finishing with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. Matt McCarthy notched his third double-double of the season, matching his career high with 12 points to go along with 10 rebounds. The Dons shot 50.9 percent from the floor, making the 11th time this season USF has made at least half of its shots from the field.  USF trailed only briefly in the game after Tuach hit a three-pointer to open the scoring. With USF leading 59-57 with 5:53 remaining, the Dons then seized control of the game with a 16-9 run to boost the lead to 13 at 72-59 with just under a minute left.

Last Time Out

USF 65, Portland 51 
Two nights removed from suffering a 35-point loss to top-ranked Gonzaga, the Dons put forth a solid defensive effort to defeat Portland, 65-51. Chase Foster scored a game high 18 points while Jordan Ratinho added 13 and Charles Minlend chipped with 11 to pace a balanced offensive effort. With Mladen Djordjevic plagued by foul trouble, Frankie Ferrari played 29 minutes off the bench and finished with five points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. The Dons managed to make just three of their first 17 shots from the floor but trailed by just one point at 10-9 midway through the first half. With the game tied at 14-14 with 7:29 left, USF reeled off seven straight points and ended the first half on a 15-3 run to boost its lead to 29-18 at intermission. Minlend scored seven of his 11 points during the Dons run to close the half. The Dons never relinquished control of the game, as the Pilots could get no closer than eight points to USF the rest of the game. The Dons largest lead was 15 points, the last time with 4:40 left after a Ratinho three-pointer.

Up Next
USF will close out the regular season Saturday afternoon at Pepperdine in the WCC's Game of the Week. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m. at Firestone Fieldhouse.