LAS VEGAS – Staring ahead, sitting on a chair by his locker, Jordan Ratinho silently put on his USF team sweats.
The locker room at The Orleans Arena was quiet a year ago, the University of San Francisco men's basketball team— once an NCAA Tournament hopeful — sat, shocked, after a first-round loss to eighth-seeded Pepperdine in the West Coast Conference Tournament ended their season. Ratinho — a 3-point ace averaging nearly 12 points over the previous six games — was held to eight. 
 
"It's like, 'Oh, [shoot], we just lost.' It just kind of like hits you once you get back to the locker room," Ratinho said on Tuesday. "You're just sitting there and there's nothing you can do about it … [We] aspired for bigger things."
 
Headed into this year's conference tournament in Las Vegas, the Dons have won 20 games under new head coach Todd Golden against arguably their hardest schedule in four years (the Dons entered this week with a strength of schedule that ranks 67^th in the nation). Though the NCAA Tournament is likely out of the conversation, USF still has a chance to make some noise in the postseason after a strong late season run.
 
During the USF'S fourth straight 20-win season — something not accomplished since the program was reinstated in the 1985 — they have put a scare into No. 2 Gonzaga and fell just short against top-30 Arizona State. The Dons beat BYU at home, they've nearly toppled Stanford (with a second-half swoon erasing their best defensive half of the season up to that point) and they've beaten Cal. They've beaten two of the top three teams in the Ivy League in first-place Yale and third-place Princeton, coming three points shy of downing second-place Harvard.
 
San Francisco (20-11, 9-7 in WCC) has done it despite senior sniper Ratinho — a 40.3% 3-point shooter who holds the program's career record for 3-point field goals — having worst shooting season of his career. 
 
The De La Salle product is shooting 29.1% from beyond the arc this season, after shooting 37.1% a year ago, 41.5% as a sophomore and 42.3% as a freshman. Ratinho's struggles are largely due to the fact that, with point guard Frankie Ferrari having graduated, he is at the top of opposing teams' scouting reports as the Dons' top perimeter threat.
 
"It's been tougher to come by good shots and open threes, which kind of helped me get going a little bit," Ratinho said.
 
Without Ferrari as the focus of the offense, though, USF's scoring has become much more well-rounded. The Dons have had four or more players in double figures in three of the last five games, and five players are averaging 9.0 points per game or more, up from just three last season. That includes the emergence of newly-minted All-WCC honorable mention point guard Jamaree Bouyea, who is averaging 12.6 points (14th in the WCC), 1.71 steals (third), 0.65 blocked shots (14th in conference, second among guards), 3.52 assists (ninth) and 4.4 rebounds per game.
 
Ratinho has been comfortable as the fourth option behind Bouyea and All-WCC second-teamer Charles Minlend (14.03 ppg, 4.81 rpg) and all-league honorable mention honoree seven-foot center Jimbo Lull (11.71 ppg, 7.61 rpg, 0.74 bpg). Even with his 3-point shot not quite clicking, he's found other ways to impact the game.
 
"Jordan does all the things that don't show up in the box score," Golden said. "He's guarding the other team's best perimeter offensive player every game, and he's always nails on a scouting report."
 
In part because of Ratinho's attention to detail, the Dons' defense has taken a jump, moving up 22 spots from last year while improving its adjusted efficiency from 102.1 to 98.8 with Golden at the helm.
 
Ratinho held Saint Mary's shooter Malik Fitts to just 1-of-3 from beyond the arc in their first meeting — a close-fought 69-58 loss — and helped keep Jordan Ford from going off from beyond the arc in the teams' second meeting, when Ford scored just eight points – all coming from the free throw line. He held Gonzaga's Corey Kispert to 11 points in each of the teams' two meetings this season. Against LMU on the final day of the season, Ratinho held guard Erik Johansson — a 36.7% 3-point shooter — scoreless in a 69-67 win.
 
That win was San Francisco's fourth in its last five games, and third in a row. The only loss the Dons have had in that stretch was a 71-54 defeat in Spokane, at the hands of the No. 2 team in the nation, a team who the Dons played to a near-standstill on the Hilltop in a four-point loss on Feb. 1.
 
"I think both mentally and physically, we're about as healthy as we've been this time of year in a long time," Golden said. "You know, coming off this three game winning streak should give us plenty of confidence."
 
Ratinho, too, should have some more juice headed into the conference tournament. Having hit just one of his previous 11 tries from beyond the arc headed into the final minute of last Thursday's Senior Day game against Portland, he gathered the ball standing on the bend of the center-court U on a desperation pass. With three seconds left, Ratinho hoisted a prayer, which banked off the glass and in.
 
"We told Ratinho he's been struggling with a 22-foot three, so we just wanted to scoot him back to the 35-foot line," Golden said later.
 
In the finale against the Lions, Ratinho went 3-of-8 from beyond the arc and scored a season-high 17 points. 
 
"I'm not really sure [what's been wrong], but I'm definitely feeling good now," Ratinho said.
 
On Tuesday, during the team's five-on-five practice-ending scrimmage, Ratinho hit four of four from beyond the arc, with hands in his face. He wasn't thinking; he was just reacting. He felt like he was in the gym shooting by himself.
 
"He just didn't miss," Golden said. "He's shooting the tar off the ball. And the reality is, if Jordan gets back to that, where he's just a knockdown 3-point shooter as he was the last few years, it just gives us a whole 'nother element, and it can make us scary going into this tournament."
 
The No. 5-seeded Dons will play either No. 8-seeded LMU or No. 9-seeded San Diego in their first game of the WCC Tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. They are 3-0 against the two teams this season. Ratinho has gone 4-or-14 from 3-point distance in those three games.
 
"He's been an elite shooter over the course of his career," Golden said. "He's struggled this year, but the good news for him is we got some good ball games left. And you know, he can break out of it in no time, so once he really gets going, I'm anxious to see what the ceiling of this group is."
 
Said Ratinho: "March is the most important month in college basketball, so hopefully, I can get things going."
 

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The fifth seeded Dons travel to the Orleans Arena where they are 6-11 in the WCC Tournament.  As the fifth seed, USF is 6-7 all-time in the WCC Tournament.  The Dons are 1-1 in the second round and 3-2 against the No. 8/9 seeds.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Mar. 6, 2020 – 6:00 p.m.
Opponent: No. 8 LMU/No. 9 USD
Site: Orleans Arena (Las Vegas, Nev.)    
TV:  NBCSBA+ | Spectrum | Root NW | AT&T RM | WCC Network (out of network)
Talent: Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play), Dan Belluomini (analyst), Spencer Linton (reporter)
Tournament Update Show Talent: Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler
Radio:  KNBR 1050-AM
Talent: Pat Olson (play-by-play) and Jim Brovelli (analyst)
Live Stats: Statbroadcast.com