Game at a Glance
San Francisco Dons (16-8, 6-5 WCC) vs. Loyola Marymount Lions (11-11, 4-7 WCC)
Saturday,  Feb. 4, 2017 • 7:00 p.m.
War Memorial at the Sobrato Center • San Francisco, Calif.
Series Record: USF 110-42
Last Meeting: Feb. 2, 2016 (LMU 100-87)
Television: None
Audio / Video Stream: TheW.tv (Pat Olson, Play-by-Play; Jim Brovelli, Analyst)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com

Complete USF Game Notes (PDF)

Opening Tip
USF (16-8, 6-5 WCC) plays host to the Loyola Marymount Lions (11-11, 4-7 WCC) Saturday night on the Hilltop. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. USF has won two straight after Thursday's 77-56 win over Pepperdine while the Lions are coming off a 72-53 road win at San Diego. Saturday's game is Western Addition Night on the Hilltop, where USF will celebrate its neighbors and community leaders of the Western Addition. USF's 2017 Hall of Fame Classic will also be introduced at halftime. 

The Dandy Dons

• Now 16-8 overall and 6-5 in the WCC after Thursday night's 77-56 win over Pepperdine...are alone in fifth place in the WCC standings, one game behind BYU and Santa Clara and two games ahead of LMU and San Diego.
• At 16-8, USF is off to its best 24-game start since the 1999-2000 season when the Dons were 18-6 at the same mark of the season...the Dons are also three games ahead of last year's pace when the team was 13-11 at the 24-game mark of the season.
• Meet LMU for the first time this season on Saturday....the Lions swept last year's season series but USF is 46-16 vs. LMU dating back to the 1990-91 season.
• In a strech of four consecutive homes games...are 9-3 on the Hilltop this season...Dons will play their last four regular season games on the road.
• Have held the last six opponents under 70 points and are allowing just 54.3 ppg (336) total during that stretch...llowing 66.9 ppg this season after yielding 78.7 ppg a year ago.
• Have won each of the last two games by 21-point margins...of the team's 16 wins this season, 14 have been decided by 10 points or more, including seven wins by 20+ points.
• Averaging 68.1 ppg in 11 WCC games after averaging 78.5 in 13 non-conference games.
• Rank third in the WCC in field goal percentage at 47.2...have shot over 50 percent from the floor in 10 games this season after shooting 50 percent or better in just six contests last year...are 9-1 this season when shooting at least 50 percent from the floor with the only loss coming at Eastern Washington.
• Rank second in the WCC in three's made per game (9.5)...have made 227 threes on the year (t-17th NCAA) and have made 10 or more three's in 10 games this season, including a school-record 18 against Eastern Washington and 16 vs. Utah...227 threes are tied for third on USF's all-time single season list.
• Rank third in the WCC in three-point field goal percentage at 37.3...if the season were to end today, the Dons' would rank as the eighth most accurate long distance shooting team in school history.
• Senior Ronnie Boyce has registered back-to-back 20-point games vs, Pacific (24) and Pepperdine...has seven 20-point games on the year and has moved back into the WCC's top-10 in scoring with a 14.5 average.
• USF's reserves have scored 50+ points in last two games vs. Pacific (56) and Pepperdine (51)...the Dons bench has combined to score 565 points over the last 15 games (37.6) and have outscored the opponent's bench 846-412 (+434) on the season.
• 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 eight games...of USF's 15-man roster, 13 players are underclassmen...an underclassmen has led/shared team in scoring 10 times this season.
• USF has compiled a 31-19 (.620) record in the month of February over the last six seasons dating back to the 2009-10 campaign.
• USF's 2017 Hall of Fame inductees, including basketball great James Hardy, will be introduced at halftime of Saturday's game.

Scouting Report

About LMU
Evened its record at 11-11 on the year with a 72-53 win at San Diego on Thursday…are tied with San Diego for sixth in the WCC with a 4-7 conference mark…record is very deceiving…10 of the last 19 games have been decided in the last 10 seconds…of LMU's 22 games this season, 14 have been decided by eight points or less…veteran squad with three seniors and a junior in starting roles…led in scoring by senior Brandon Brown, who is averaging 14.0 points a game, 12th-best in the conference…he is also averaging 4.5 assists a game…senior forward Buay Tuach adds 11.7 points a game…aggressive team that is averaging 7.0 steals a game while pulling down 11.2 offensive rebounds. 

USF-LMU Series History
USF leads the all-time series with Loyola Marymount, 110-42. LMU swept last year's season series, winning 87-84 in San Francisco and 100-87 (OT) in Westchester. However, the Dons have won 15 of the last 24 games in the series and are 41-16 vs. the Lions dating back to the 1990-91 season.  Nine out of the last 14 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.

Last Year's Meetings vs. LMU
USF could not survive 12 three-pointers by Loyola Marymount and fell to the hot-shooting Lions, 87-83 on Jan. 14 in San Francisco. LMU, which came into the game ranked eighth in the WCC in three-point percentage, made a season-high 12 three-pointers on 26 attempts from distance to earn its first conference victory of the season. Senior David Humphries came off the bench to make 6-of-10 shots from distance en route to a 20-point scoring night. Adom Jacko added 16 while Joshua Spiers also reached double figures with 11. Tim Derksen and Devin Watson each had 20 points to pace the Dons, while Ronnie Boyce returned the starting lineup and added 17. The Lions also made 17-of-19 of their free throw tries while the Dons managed to make just 16-of-28 shots from the line in the four point loss. Trailing 83-80, the Dons misfired on a potential game-tying three, missed two free throws and made a costly turnover in the game's final 22.5 seconds.

In the second meeting on Feb. 20, USF rallied from an 18 point second half deficit to force overtime on a last second shot by Dont'e Reynolds but Loyola Marymount outscored USF 18-5 in the extra period to earn a 100-87 victory in Gersten Pavilion. Tim Derksen matched his career high with 27 points, Devin Watson added 22 and Sean Grennan finished with a career high 15 points to pace USF's scorers. Steven Haney's 25 points led five Lion scorers in double figures. The overtime period belonged to Loyola Marymount, as the Lions scored the first 10 points of extra time en route to the 13-point win.

Last Time Out: USF 77, Pepperdine 56 
Ronnie Boyce scored a team-high 21 points while Chase Foster added 13 to lead USF to a 77-56 victory over Pepperdine on Thursday night in War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. With many former players watching from courtside on Dons of the 70's night, including Bill Cartwright and James Hardy, USF rolled back the clocks and turned in its second consecutive 21-point victory over a conference opponent. The Dons never trailed in the game and maintained a double-digit lead after taking a 24-13 lead with 8:56 left in the first half after a Charles Minlend layup. USF took a 20-point lead into intermission at 41-21.A total of 11 Dons got into the scoring column as USF's bench scored over 50 points for the second time in as many games.The Dons also dominated the Wave down low, outscoring Pepperdine 42-20 in the paint.

Fan Guide

Promotions
Tonight's game has been designated as Western Addition Night on the Hilltop, where USF will celebrate its neighbors and community leaders from one of San Francisco's most vibrant neighborhoods.

Ticket Information
Reserved and general admission tickets for tonight's game against LMU and  remaining WCC home games, are available for purchase on-line at USFDons.com/tickets or by calling (415) 422-2USF (2873).

Free Parking Information
Parking is available free of charge two hours prior to tip-off until one hour after the conclusion of the game in any campus lot, with the exception of designated green parking spots at the top of Hayes-Healy garage on Golden Gate Avenue adjacent to the gymnasium. Campus parking lots of choice include the lot at the Koret Center, located at the corner of Turk and Parker and the Hayes-Healy underground garage, located on Golden Gate Ave. just past the Sobrato Center.  View campus parking map here.
 
The Hilltop Club Level
Fans 21 and older can enjoy beer, wine, chips, and soda throughout the season in the Hilltop Club Level. Located in the upper mezzanine level on the south side of War Memorial at The Sobrato Center, The Hilltop Club Level is open one hour before tip-off and will remain accessible throughout the game. Admission to the The Hilltop Club is priced at $10 per game. Drink tickets are extra and the Club Admission does not include a game ticket.