West Coast Conference Basketball Championships • Quarterfinals
San Francisco Dons (15-14, 8-10 WCC) vs. Pepperdine Waves (17-12, 10-8 WCC)
Saturday,  March 5, 2016 • 3:00 p.m.
Orleans Arena • Las Vegas, Nev.
Series Record: USF 75-51
Last Meeting: Feb. 18, 2016 (USF 82-72)
Audio Stream: TheW.tv (Pat Olson, Play-by-Play; Jim Brovelli, Analyst)
Television: CSNBA/BYU.tv (Steve Quis, Dave McCann, Play-by-Play; Casey Jacobsen, Blaine Fowler, Analysts)

Complete USF Game Notes (PDF)

Opening Tip
Fifth-seed USF (15-14, 8-10 WCC) faces fourth-seed Pepperdine (17-12, 10-8 WCC) in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference Basketball Championships on Saturday at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. and the game willbe televised in the Bay Area on CSNBA. The Dons are seeded fifth in the tournament while the Waves are seeded fourth.

USF at a Glance

• Bring a 15-14 overall mark into Saturday's WCC Championships quarterfinal game against Pepperdine...enter the tournament as the fifth-seed after posting a 8-10 conference record...dropped its last three games of the regular season, including a 84-72 home loss to Saint Mary's on Saturday.
• Split the regular season series with Pepperdine...dropped a 98-84 decision in San Francisco on Jan. 16 but bounced back to post a 82-72 win on Feb. 18 in Malibu.
• Have won eight of the last nine games in the series and are 10-2 vs. the Waves dating back to the 2010-11 season...however, USF is just 1-6 vs. Pepperdine in WCC Tournament play...two teams last met in WCC Tournament action in 2011 with USF claiming a 76-59 decision in the quarterfinals.
• USF is 17-28 all-time in the WCC Championships dating back to the first event in 1987...have reached the championship game on two occasions (1997 and '98) and won its only tournament title in 1998 with a win over Gonzaga.
• Have posted at least one win in the tournament four out of the last five years...defeated San Diego in the second round last year only to lose to Gonzaga in the quarterfinals.
• Averaging 83.4 points per game (1502 total) over the last 18 games...rank fourth in WCC scoring at 77.3 ppg...highest-scoring team by average since 1993-94 (88.9).
• Are allowing 78.3 points per game which ranks ninth in the WCC...highest opponent average since allowing 83.9 in 1994-95.
• Rallied from deficits of 19 (Pacific) and 15 (Portland, Santa Clara) points in three of six conference wins...have faced double figure deficits in 16 of 29 games this season, including 12 of 18 conference games.
• Have trailed at halftime in 18 of its 29 games this season and are 6-12 in those contests...are being outscored 1093-985 and shooting 41.6 in the first half compared to the second when the Dons are outscoring the opponent 1218-1124 and shooting 46.8 percent from the floor after intermission.
• Sophomore point guard Devin Watson ranks third in the WCC and 35th nationally in scoring average at 19.8 ppg...he has scored in double-figures in 28 of 29 games this season including 17 games of at least 20 points...he also ranks as the ninth-highest scoring sophomore in the nation.
• Senior guard Tim Derksen ranks seventh in the WCC in scoring (16.7) and rebounding (7.0) and is fourth in three-point percentage (44.4)...is the the only WCC player along with Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer to rank in the top-10 in all three of those categories.
• The duo of Watson and Derksen is averaging 36.8 ppg (1069 total) and account for 47.8 percent of USF's season point total (1069 of 2243)...they are the second-highest scoring tandem by average in the WCC behind Kyle Wiltjer-Domantas Sabonis (1141; 38.0) of Gonzaga...Watson and Derksen currently rank as the sixth-highest scoring tandem in school history.

For complete USF news and notes, please click on the link at the top of this page.

The Matchup

Series History with Pepperdine
In a series that dates back to the 1955-56 season, USF leads the all-time series with Pepperdine, 75-51. Pepperdine claimed the first meeting between the two schools, 98-84 on Jan. 16 in San Francisco but the Dons bounced back to claim a 82-72 victory in Malibu on Feb. 18. The Dons have won eight of nine, 10 out of 12 and 11 of the last 14 meetings with the Waves dating back to the 2009-10 season. The two schools have met seven times in the WCC Championship tournament, with the Pepperdine holding a 6-1 advantage. USF's only win in WCC Tournament action came in the 2011 event when the Dons posted a 76-59 victory in a quarterfinal game.

First Meeting With Pepperdine 
Ronnie Boyce scored a career-high 25 points while Devin Watson added 21 but USF dropped a 98-84 decision to Pepperdine on Jan. 16 in War Memorial at The Sobrato Center. Lamond Murray, Jr. led all Pepperdine scorers with 29 points while Jeremy Major added 20. Stacy Davis (12), Jett Raines (11) and Amadi Udenyi (10) also reached double figures for the Waves, which snapped a seven-game losing streak to USF dating back to the 2009-10 season. Pepperdine made eight of their first 10 three-point attempts and finished the game shooting 55.6 percent (10-for-18) from distance. The Waves also took advantage of 28 free throws compared to USF, which made just 13-of-21 of its attempts. USF never led in the game and trailed at halftime 51-28, as the Waves shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the first period, including 8-of-12 from distance. Pepperdine's lead was never fewer than 11 points after the 13:52 mark of the first half and the Waves opened up as much as a 31-point lead with 16:51 remaining in the game. The Dons could draw no closer than 12 points with :21 left in the game.

Second Meeting With Pepperdine 
Ronnie Boyce matched his career high with 25 points while Devin Watson finished with 21 as USF posted a 82-72 victory over Pepperdine on Feb. 18 in Malibu. Tim Derksen (18) and Uche Ofoegbu (12) also reached double figures while no other Dons' player scored more than two points. Stacy Davis, who set Pepperdine's career scoring record, led all Wave scorers with 20 points while Jett Raines added 18. Lamond Murray, Jr. (15) and Jeremy Major (13) also scored in double figures. The two teams were never separated by more than four points in the first half. Boyce scored 17 of his 25 points before intermission while Derksen added 12 but it was a three-pointer by Ofoegbu just before the horn gave the Dons a 42-41 lead at the break. The Dons scored first seven points of second half to open a 49-41 lead at the 17:55 mark. USF's lead was two at 68-66 when the Dons seized control of the game with a 12-3 run which boosted the lead to 11 at 80-69 with 1:21 left. Watson keyed the run by nailing two of his four three-pointers in the game's final two and a half minutes. The Dons finished off the Waves at the foul line to win for the fourth consecutive season at Firestone Fieldhouse.

USF in the WCC Championships
USF is 17-28 all-time in the WCC Tournament dating back to the first event in 1987. The Dons have reached the semifinals on nine occasions and have advanced to the championship game twice (1997 and '98), claiming its lone tournament title in 1998 with a 80-67 victory over Gonzaga. Last season, eighth-seeded USF defeated Pacific 62-58 in a second round game before dropping a 81-72 decision to Gonzaga in the quarterfinals. USF has reached the semifinals three times in the last five years.

Last Time Out 
Playing his final home game on the Hilltop, senior Tim Derksen matched his career high with 27 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds but USF was on the short end of an 84-72 decision against the Saint Mary's Gaels in War Memorial at The Sobrato Center.Derksen made 11-of-19 shots from the floor, including 5-of-6 three-point attempts, for his third 27-point game of the season. His 11 rebounds earned him his seventh double-double of the season and eighth of his career. Devin Watson (16) and Uche Ofoegbu (14) were the only other Dons to reach double figures on the night. Calvin Hermanson hit 6-of-10 three-point attempts and paced all Gael scorers with 24 points. Emmett Naar and Dane Pineau scored 19 points apiece for Saint Mary's.  The Gaels built a nine-point, 40-31 lead at the half and scored the first eight points of the second period to open a 48-31 lead. The Gaels led by as many as 19 points on three occasions, last at 76-57 with 3:21 left following a layup by Joe Rahon. USF could get no closer than nine down the stretch before falling 84-72.

Complete WCC Championships Schedule
 

Thursday, March 3
Women 
No. 8 Pacific vs. No. 9 Pepperdine, 12:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)
No. 7 Loyola Marymount vs. No. 10 Portland, 2:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)
No. 3 San Diego vs. No. 6 San Francisco, 6:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)
No. 4 Santa Clara vs. No. 5 Gonzaga, 8:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)

 

Friday, March 4
Women 
No. 1 BYU vs. No. 8/9, 12:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)
No. 2 Saint Mary's vs. No. 7/10, 2:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)
Men 
No. 8 Loyola Marymount vs. No. 9 San Diego, 6:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)

 

Saturday, March 5 
Men 
No. 3 BYU vs. No 6 Santa Clara, 1:00 p.m. (TWC SportsNet, CSN Bay Area, ROOT Northwest, BYUtv, TheW.tv)
No. 4 Pepperdine vs. No. 5 San Francisco, 3:00 p.m. (TWC SportsNet, CSN Bay Area, BYUtv, TheW.tv)
No. 1 Saint Mary's vs. No. 8/9, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2, WatchESPN)
No. 2 Gonzaga vs. No. 7 Portland, 9:00 p.m. (ESPN2, WatchESPN)

 

Monday, March 7
Women 
Women's Semifinal No. 1, 12:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)
Women's Semifinal No. 2, 2:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)
Men 
TBA - Men's Semifinal No. 1, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN, WatchESPN)
TBA - Men's Semifinal No. 2, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2, WatchESPN)

 

Tuesday, March 9 
Women's Championship Game, 1:00 p.m. (ESPNU, WatchESPN)
Men's Championship Game, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN, WatchESPN)