QUICK PIT STOP: Loyola Marymount showed vast improvement over the calendar year, avenging a 49-39 loss to Seattle University on Jan. 1, 2009, at KeyArena with a 104-89 victory in men's basketball action Wednesday night at Gersten Pavilion. Seattle University is currently in a stretch of five road games within six contests, with Saturday's game against Harvard being the one home game. Harvard is off to its best start in 25 years, so SeattleU faces yet another tough challenge on its home floor. However, the Redhawks have responded at KeyArena so far this season, and the team hopes the home-court advantage will be enough against a Crimson team favored to compete for the Ivy League title.
THE LOYOLA MARYMOUNT GAME: Mike Boxley led the way with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, including three baskets from behind the three-point line. Charles Garcia finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, while Cervante Burrell earned 12 points, four assists, and two steals and Chris Gweth contributed 10 points, four rebounds, and two assists. A three-pointer by Garrett Lever gave Seattle University a 31-26 lead with 7:24 remaining in the first half, but Loyola Marymount responded with a 17-2 run over the next five and a half minutes to pull ahead, 43-33. The Redhawks answered with a 12-3 run to end the first half and begin the second half to cut their deficit to one at 46-45 two minutes into the second half. Peter Harris hit his second three-pointer of the game to give SeattleU a short-lived 54-52 lead, but Drew Viney responded with his own long distance shot 20 seconds later, starting a 14-2 run to give the Lions a 66-56 advantage with 12:05 remaining in the game. Seattle University shot 41.6 percent from the field, including 10-of-24 from behind the three-point line, and 15-of-19 from the free throw line.
SCOUTING HARVARD: The Crimson come into Saturday's game with a 9-3 record, the team's best start in 25 years. Harvard has victories over Holy Cross, William & Mary, Rice, and Boston College so far this season and is coming off a 66-53 win over George Washington on Wednesday. The three losses have come at Army, at Connecticut, and at Georgetown. The Crimson are scoring 76.3 points per game and giving up 67.4 points per contest. As a team, Harvard is shooting 48.0 percent from the field, including 30.8 percent from behind the three-point line, and 77.2 percent from the free throw line. Jeremy Lin is the team's leading player with 18.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.7 steals per game. Keith Wright is the only other Harvard player averaging in double figures with 10.4 points per game.
PERFECT STRANGERS: Seattle University and Harvard University are meeting in men's basketball for the first time ever. In fact, this will be the first time Seattle University has faced any of the eight Ivy League schools (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Yale).
SMILE, YOU ARE ON CAMERA: Seattle University is scheduled to be on FSN Northwest three more times this season. Because of the time change from the evening to the afternoon for today's Harvard game, it will also be shown on tape delay beginning at 6:30 p.m. The games against Oregon State (Jan. 6) and Washington (Jan. 26) will be carried live by the cable channel.
THE KEY TO FUTURE SUCCESS: The Seattle University men's basketball team returns to downtown Seattle this season, playing all regular season home games at KeyArena at Seattle Center. The team will play eight of its last 13 games at home after starting the season with just five of the first 18 games at KeyArena. Back when it was known as the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle University used the downtown arena as its home court from 1964 to 1980. SeattleU closed out its stay at the Connolly Center in style last season, winning all nine regular season games in the North Court as well as the Janaury 1 game at KeyArena against Loyola Marymount, 49-39.
JEFF SAGARIN SAYS: The Sagarin ratings is one of the most popular tools for comparing two teams and attempting to predict the result. As of Dec. 31, Harvard is 57th in the Sagarin ratings at 82.42 and Seattle University is 213th with a rating of 69.30. Taking into account a 4.25 home advantage, the Sagarin ratings would say that Harvard is favored to win Saturday's game by about nine points.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: As part of the reclassification process, Seattle University is not eligible to officially win any statistical awards. However, if SeattleU was eligible, Charles Garcia would be 11th in scoring at 22.9 points per game and 40th in rebounding with 9.7 boards per contest. As a team, Seattle University would be 30th in scoring offense, averaging 80.6 points per game.
RECEIVING CHARITY: Charles Garcia has been prolific in getting to the free throw line so far this season, averaging 12 free throw attempts per game. Garcia has attempted a Division I-high 168 free throws in the first 14 games of the season, 50 more than Marqus Blakely of Vermont.
SPREADING THE WORD: Seattle University men's basketball games will be broadcast all season long on 710 ESPN Seattle, the sports station that also carries Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks broadcasts as well as local shows featuring Brock Huard, Kevin Calabro, and John Clayton. Long-time Seattle sports talk radio personality Dave "The Groz" Grosby will handle the play-by-play duties with Gary Hill alongside. Gary Hill also posts on his blog, www.seattleufan.com, during the broadcasts as well as during the week.