A NEIGHBORLY DISPUTE: Coming off two straight home victories, Seattle University takes its shortest road trip of the season, as the team travels five miles from the Connolly Center to Bank of America Arena for Tuesday night's game against the University of Washington. SeattleU already has a road victory over a Pac-10 school under its belt, while Washington is coming off a rough weekend with losses at UCLA and at USC. This is the first of a five-game series between the two Division I schools in Seattle, with next year's contest set for KeyArena. Cameron Dollar returns to the school where he spent seven seasons as an assistant coach, looking to help the Redhawks improve on last year's performance against the Huskies.
THE CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE GAME: Seattle University overcame a cold first half in the shooting department, hitting 60 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half to come away with a 74-64 victory over Cal State Northridge last Tuesday night at KeyArena. Cervante Burrell tied his season high with 17 points, shooting 7-of-13 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line, plus he pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists. Despite foul trouble, Charles Garcia notched his ninth double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds. Cal State Northridge held a six-point lead early in the second half before layups by Burrell and Garcia cut the margin to two at 33-31. After two free throws by Kenny Daniels, a layup by Chris Gweth and a dunk from Gavin Gilmore tied the game at 35-35. The two teams exchanged baskets for the next three and a half minutes before consecutive three-pointers from Taylor Olson and Alex Jones gave the Redhawks the lead for good. Down 51-43 with 9:20 remaining in the second half, the Matadors went on an 8-1 run, capped by a three-pointer from Vinnie McGhee, to pull within one at 52-51 less than two minutes later. Burrell stopped the run with a layup, and SeattleU scored seven unanswered points, five of them by Aaron Broussard, late in the half to put the game away. Gweth reached double figures in scoring for the 12th straight game, finishing with 12 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Broussard also scored 12 points along with seven rebounds, while Gilmore contributed six points and six rebounds.
SCOUTING WASHINGTON: The Huskies come into Tuesday's game with a 12-7 overall record, including a 3-5 record in Pac-10 play after losses at UCLA (62-61) and at USC (87-61) over the weekend. Washington is 12-1 at home, winning all nine non-conference games at Bank of America Arena so far this season. The Huskies are scoring 78.6 points per game and giving up 71.7 points per contest. As a team, Washington is shooting 44.0 percent from the field, including 30.5 percent from behind the three-point line, and 71.5 percent from the free throw line. Quincy Pondexter is the team's leading player, averaging 19.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He is shooting 54.1 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the free throw line. Isaiah Thomas is contributing 17.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 25th meeting all-time between Seattle University and Washington, with the Huskies holding a 20-4 series advantage. Washington spoiled SeattleU's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament with a 92-70 victory in the 1953 NCAA West Regional in Corvallis, Ore. The intracity rivals did not meet again until the 1969-70 season, when the two schools split the season series with each team winning on their own home floor. Washington won ten straight games from 1971-76 before SeattleU broke through at the start of the 1976-77 season (78-64). SeattleU's only victory at Washington came at the start of the 1978-79 campaign, an 82-78 victory. Washington has won the last four meetings, including an 87-60 victory on March 3, 2009, in the first game between the two schools in 29 years.
REACHING THE MILESTONE: Let the record show that it came on a basket with 1:25 remaining in the second half against Utah Valley on Jan. 16, 2010. Chris Gweth became the 34th player in Seattle University history to score at least 1,000 career points. He currently has 1,015 career points, 33rd place on the all-time scoring list, with SeattleU Athletic Hall of Famers John Tresvant and Rod Derline in his sights. Gweth has reached double figures in points in 12 straight games, averaging 15.3 points per game during that span.
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. 25, Seattle University is 191st with a rating of 70.23 and Washington is 78th with a rating of 79.98. Taking into account a 4.06 home advantage, the Sagarin ratings would say that Washington is favored to win Tuesday's game by about 14 points.
RPI: Another tool in comparing teams is the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), a term that is used frequently as the selection date for the NCAA Tournament approaches. As of Jan. 25, according to the official NCAA rankings, Washington is 75th, while Seattle University is 209th.
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 20th in scoring at 20.7 points per game and tied for 48thin rebounding with 9.1 boards per contest. As a team, Seattle University would be 23rd in scoring offense and tied for 28th in rebounding, averaging 79.8 points and 39.7 rebounds per game.
RECEIVING CHARITY: Charles Garcia has been prolific in getting to the free throw line so far this season, averaging 11.4 free throw attempts per game. Garcia has attempted a Division I-high 228 free throws in the first 20 games of the season, 47 more than Aubrey Coleman of Houston.
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. Junior guard Drew Harris has also moved on from the program after appearing in 13 games this season. Also, Evan Sanzo-Davis, who did not see action in any game this season, decided to leave the program.