Game at a Glance
San Francisco Dons (18-10, 8-7 WCC) vs. Portland Pilots (9-18, 2-13 WCC)
Saturday,  Feb. 18, 2017 • 7:00 p.m.
Chiles Center • Portland, Ore.
Series Record: USF 57-27
Last Meeting: Jan. 19, 2017 (USF 75-50)
Video Stream: TheW.tv (Travis Demers, Play-by-Play; Bill Krueger, Analyst)
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 (18-10, 8-7 WCC) meets the Portland Pilots (9-18, 2-13) in a West Coast Conference game Saturday night at the Chiles Center. The Dons are coming off a 96-61 loss to top-ranked Gonzaga on Thursday while the Pilots suffered their 13th straight loss, dropping a 76-65 home decision to Pacific. Saturday's game will be streamed on TheW.tv and broadcast live on 95.7 FM The Game.

The Dandy Dons

• Now 18-10 overall and 8-7 in the WCC after falling to top-ranked Gonzaga, 96-61 Thursday night in Spokane....have dropped two straight after a four game winning streak and are now in fifth place in the WCC standings, one game behind fourth-place Santa Clara.
• A win in its last three games would gaurantee the Dons at least a fifth-seed in the upcoming WCC Championships in Las Vegas.
• At 18-10, USF has its best 28-game start since the 2013-14 season when the Dons were also 18-10 at the same mark of the season before finishing at 21-11...the Dons are also three games ahead of last year's pace when the team was 15-13 at the 28-game mark of the season...have already eclipsed last year's win total of 15.
• Face Portland for second time this season on Saturday to close out  the Pacific Northwest road trip...USF won the first meeting between the two schools in San Francisco, 75-50 and have won 12 out of the last 14 games in the series, including five straight on the Bluff.
• Allowed 96 points to Gonzaga on Thursday but have held the last nine of the last 10 opponents under 70 points and are allowing just 61.2 ppg (612) total during that stretch...are allowing 67.6 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 33-21 (.611) record in the month of February over the last six seasons dating back to the 2009-10 campaign.
• USF is 20-17 in its last 37 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 21-20 in WCC road games...during that stretch, USF is a combined 1-15 at Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, BYU and 20-6 in all other conference road venues.
• Rank fourth in the WCC in field goal percentage at 45.8...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 31st nationally in three's made per game (9.3)...have made a school-record 260 threes on the year (t-19th 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 36.2 but that figure dips to 31.7 in WCC games.
• Freshman Charles Minlend is the third-highest scoring freshman in the WCC with a 10.0 ppg average behind BYU's TJ Haws (14.3) and Gonzaga's Zach Collins (10.5)...he now ranks 10th on USF's all-time scoring list for freshman with 280 points.
• The Dons bench has combined to score 688 points over the last 19 games (36.2) and have outscored the opponent's bench 969-465 (+504) on the season...bench has accounted for 48.3 percent (969 of 2004) 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 11 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 Portland
Are 9-18 overall and 2-13 in the West Coast Conference…have dropped 13 straight after suffering a 76-65 home loss Thursday night to Pacific…suffered a big blow when point guard and leading scorer Alec Wintering was lost for the year after tearing his ACL in the game at USF on Jan. 19…Wintering was averaging 20.0 points a game and since his loss the Pilots have scored no more than 65 points in last nine games…sophomore guard Jazz Johnson ranks seventh in the WCC in scoring with a 17.2 average…he also ranks in the WCC's top-10 in free throw percentage and three-point percentage…Pilots have held their last five opponents to a combined 39 percent shooting from the floor...under the direction of first-year head coach Terry Porter, a 16-year NBA veteran who played most of his career with the Portland Trailblazers…a two-time all-star, Porter scored 15,586 points in his career which included two trips to the NBA Finals.

USF-Portland Series History
In a series that dates back to the 1952-53 season, USF leads the all-time series with Portland, 57-27. USF swept last year's season series, winning 107-95 in the City on Dec. 31 and 87-76 in Portland on Jan. 28. The Dons are 27-7 vs. the Pilots dating back to the 2000-01 season and have won 12 out of the last 14 in the series, including a 75-50 decision earlier this season in San Francisco. The Dons have also won five straight games over Portland on The Bluff dating back to the last loss on Jan. 15, 2009 (78-60).

First Meeting With Portland
Charles Minlend scored 14 points and Matt McCarthy added 11 to lead USF to a 75-50 win over Portland on Jan. 19 in War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. The Dons shot 50 percent from the field while limiting Portland to just 36 percent. The Pilots 50 points were the lowest scoring output by an opponent this season. USF held Portland's high-scoring backcourt of Alec Wintering and Jazz Johnson in check, as the duo combined to score just 20 points on 8-of-22 shooting from the floor. Gabe Taylor scored a team-high 15 points for the Pilots. The two teams got off to somewhat of a sluggish start and were tied at 17-17 with 8:36 remaining in the first half. Frankie Ferrari then hit a three-pointer to ignite a 13-0 run which gave the Dons a 30-17 lead with 3:43 left in the first period. After leading 35-24 at intermission, the Dons scored on their first two possessions of the second half to open a 39-24 lead. USF's lead was never fewer than 20 points after Mladen Djordjevic's three-pointer gave the Dons a 54-34 advantage with 11:24 remaining.

Did You Know...
That former USF and University of San Diego head coach - now Dons' broadcaster - Jim Brovelli's first collegiate coaching position was as an assistant on Jack Avina's Portland staff for the 1970-71 and 71-72 seasons? Portland head coach Terry Porter and USF legend Bill Cartwright squared off against each other in the 1992 NBA Finals, with Cartwright's Chicago Bulls defeating the Portland Trailblazers, 4-2. Cartwright later served as Porter's assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns during the 2008-09 season. Porter and Cartwright played in 2,237 regular season NBA games and combined to score 28,299 points in their careers.

Last Time Out: Gonzaga 96, USF 61 
USF gave Gonzaga something to think about for the first half before the nation's top-ranked team flexed its muscle to pull away for a 96-61 win Thursday night at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss scored a game-high 30 points while Przemek Karnowski added 23 for the Bulldogs which remain the only unbeaten team in the country at 27-0. Chase Foster scored a team-high 15 points for USF while Matt McCarthy (11) and Ronnie Boyce (10) also reached double figures for the Dons, which go to 18-10 overall and 8-7 in the WCC.The Dons hit first seven of their first 12 shots from the floor to open a 16-11 lead over the Bulldogs midway through the first half. The game was tied at 22 with 7:37 left in first half when Williams-Goss nailed a triple to give Gonzaga a 25-22 lead it would not relinquish the rest of the night.  After leading 42-35 at the break, Gonzaga outscored USF 10-2 to start the second period and opened 52-37 lead, forcing Kyle Smith to call a timeout. The Zags' lead grew to 20 at 63-43 with 13:56 remaining then to 30 at 82-52 before winning by the final count of 96-61.

Up Next
USF will face the Pepperdine Waves Thursday night in Malibu. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse. The Southland road trip will conclude Saturday afternoon at Loyola Marymount.