TRAVELING THE OREGON TRAIL: The Seattle University men's basketball team is back on the road for the next week. The first stop is Corvallis, Ore., for a midweek contest against the Oregon State Beavers from the Pac-10 Conference. The Redhawks nearly came away with a victory in last year's meeting and will need a similar performance to compete with the defending CBI champions. This is the second of three trips to Oregon for SeattleU, having already faced Portland on Nov. 17 and still having a trip south to face Portland State on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 7.
THE HARVARD GAME: Harvard University shot 58.6 percent from the field and 87.0 percent from the free throw line as the Crimson pulled away for a 92-71 victory over Seattle University Saturday afternoon at KeyArena at Seattle Center. Seattle University was led by Charles Garcia, who notched his seventh double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Chris Gweth finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, and Alex Jones came off the bench and contributed 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field as well as six rebounds. SeattleU took a brief 3-2 lead after a Garcia lay-in, but Keith Wright hit a jumper 1:17 into the game, and the Crimson held the lead the rest of the way. Harvard outscored SeattleU 30-8 midway through the first half, punctuated by a dunk from Kyle Casey, as the Crimson shot 61.8 percent from the field (21-of-34) in the first half. The Redhawks threatened to make a game of it, scoring 15 unanswered points in the last minute and a half before halftime and the first three minutes of the second half to come within 11 at 52-41. Casey hit a layup and a three-pointer as Harvard scored the next eight points, and the Redhawks were unable to cut the deficit the rest of the way. SeattleU did force Harvard into 19 turnovers, but committed 16 turnovers of their own.
SCOUTING OREGON STATE: The Beavers come into Wednesday's game with a 6-7 overall record, including an 0-2 record in the Pac-10 after losses at Washington and at Washington State last weekend. Oregon State is 4-1 at home, with the loss coming to Sacramento State on Nov. 21 (65-63). The Beavers are scoring 63.4 points per game and are giving up 60.7 points per contest. As a team, Oregon State is shooting 46.4 percent from the field, including 31.7 percent from behind the three-point line, and 70.6 percent from the free throw line. Seth Tarver leads the team in several categories, including scoring with 12.5 points per game. He is shooting 52.3 percent from the field, pulling down 4.8 rebounds per game, and has also collected 32 assists and 39 steals. Calvin Haynes is the team's leading three-point shooter, hitting 44.2 percent (23-of-52) of his attempts on his way to averaging 12.0 points per game. Joe Burton leads the team in rebounding with 4.9 boards per game.
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 20th meeting all-time between Seattle University and Oregon State, with the Beavers holding a 15-4 advantage. The first two meetings took place during the 1954-55 season, with Oregon State winning the first meeting, 64-59, as well as the rematch in the NCAA Tournament, 83-71. Oregon State won the first six meetings, all in Corvallis, before SeattleU broke through in the 1961-62 campaign with a 74-73 victory in Seattle. After Oregon State won twice during the 1963-64 regular season, SeattleU avenged those losses as well as eliminations from the NCAA Tournament in both 1961 and 1962 with a 61-57 victory in the 1963 NCAA Tournament. Oregon State is 11-0 against SeattleU in Corvallis.
SMILE, YOU ARE ON CAMERA: Seattle University is scheduled to be on FSN Northwest twice more this season. Tonight's game at Oregon State will be broadcast not only on FSN Northwest, but also on FSN Rocky Mountain and Fox College Sports (FCS) Pacific. The Jan. 26 game at Washington will also be televised 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 Jan. 5, Oregon State is 161st in the Sagarin ratings at 72.87 and Seattle University is 210th with a rating of 69.32. Taking into account a 4.37 home advantage, the Sagarin ratings would say that Oregon State is favored to win Saturday's game by about eight 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 ninth in scoring at 22.6 points per game and tied for 32nd in rebounding with 9.7 boards per contest. As a team, Seattle University would be tied for 33rd in scoring offense, averaging 80.0 points per game.
RECEIVING CHARITY: Charles Garcia has been prolific in getting to the free throw line so far this season, averaging 12.2 free throw attempts per game. Garcia has attempted a Division I-high 183 free throws in the first 15 games of the season, 55 more than Marqus Blakely of Vermont.
ROSTER CHANGES: At the conclusion of the fall quarter, redshirt junior Ricky Berry left the men's basketball team for personal reasons. He appeared in seven games off the bench, averaging 12.4 minutes, 3.7 points, and 1.3 rebounds per game. Also, Evan Sanzo-Davis, who did not see action in any game this season, decided to leave the program.
THE BELIZEAN BALLER: Here is what Andy Katz of ESPN.com wrote about Charles Garcia in reviewing the first six weeks of the college basketball season: "Biggest surprise player on the national scene: Charles Garcia, Seattle - Scouts have flocked to see the 6-9 junior out of Los Angeles who is averaging 23.3 points and 10.2 boards for the Redhawks. He scored 30 at Portland, 41 at Wofford and 29 against UC Irvine. You will hear more about Garcia as the season progresses."
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.