GOING FOR THE BIG SKY TRIFECTA: After victories over Eastern Washington and Portland State, Seattle University is looking for its third straight victory over a Big Sky school Saturday afternoon as Sacramento State comes to town. SeattleU currently has a 3-2 record over Big Sky schools, including a victory over conference leader Weber State. This is also the first of consecutive games against Division I schools from Sacramento, with UC Davis coming to town on Feb. 16. SeattleU needs to hold its home-court advantage in order to maintain its chances of a fifth consecutive winning season.
THE PORTLAND STATE GAME: Sophomore Aaron Broussard capped off a career scoring day with a three-pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining in regulation to give Seattle University an 80-77 victory over Portland State Sunday afternoon at the Stott Center. Broussard, also earning seven rebounds and a career-high six steals, shot 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line in accumulating a career-high 21 points. The last of his three made three-pointers came on a broken play as time ran down, with Broussard launching his shot from the top of the arc. Portland State's desperation attempt to tie the game as time ran out fell short. In a game with 14 ties and 10 lead changes, Portland State held a 66-60 lead with 9:18 left in the second half before a jumper by Gavin Gilmore and a three-pointer from Chris Gweth brought the Redhawks within one. The two teams traded baskets until the five-minute mark, when Charles Garcia hit two free throws after a Viking turnover to put SeattleU ahead, 71-70. After a Cervante Burrell steal led to a dunk by Gweth, the Vikings tied the game with a three-pointer by Paul Guede. Dominic Waters made four free throws to put Portland State back up, 77-75, with 1:45 remaining, but Alex Jones drew a foul and made his two free throw attempts with 1:13 left to bring the game even again. On the Vikings' next possession, Gweth stole the ball from Guede, setting up the final play. Burrell shot 7-of-13 from the field in scoring 15 points along with eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Garcia contributed 12 points, Gweth finished with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals, and SeattleU big men Gilmore and Jones added eight points apiece.
SCOUTING SACRAMENTO STATE: The Hornets come into Saturday's game with a 9-16 overall record, including a 3-9 record in Big Sky play, presently in eighth place in the nine-team conference. Sacramento State has won two of its last three games after going on a five-game losing streak. The Hornets are scoring 64.4 points per game and giving up 69.0 points per contest. As a team, Sacramento State is shooting 41.4 percent from the field, including 34.5 percent from the three-point line, and 71.7 percent from the free throw line. Sultan Toles-Bey leads the team in scoring with 10.7 points per game, as he is shooting 87.2 percent from the free throw line. Justin Eller, shooting 48.9 percent from the field, is averaging 10.3 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game.
SERIES HISTORY: On Saturday, Seattle University and Sacramento State will meet for the third time in history. In the 1968-69 season opener for both teams, SeattleU defeated Sacramento State at the Seattle Center Coliseum (now KeyArena), 92-80. Earlier this year in Sacramento, the Hornets came from behind for an 80-67 victory on Jan. 9.
LAST MEETING: Sacramento State used hot second-half shooting to earn an 80-67 victory Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Hornets Nest in Sacramento. Charles Garcia led SeattleU with 16 points, but shot only 5-of-14 from the field, plus he picked up five rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots, and a steal. Chris Gweth finished with 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Cervante Burrell earned 11 points and three rebounds. Garrett Lever contributed in several ways with six points, six rebounds, including five offensive boards, and three assists. Sacramento State was able to capture the momentum coming out of halftime, scoring eight unanswered points midway in the second half, capped by back-to-back three pointers by Sultan Toles-Bey and Duro Bjegovic, to pull ahead, 50-42. The Hornets hit 17-of-26 field goal attempts after halftime, finishing at 52.9 percent field goal shooting (27-of-51) for the game. Down 55-48, Seattle University mounted a comeback, as Gweth hit a three-pointer and Garcia scored five points to pull the Redhawks into a 58-58 tie. However, the Hornets put together a 13-4 run over a four-minute span to put the game away, snapping their three-game losing streak in the process. The first half went back and forth with four ties and six lead changes, the final one of the half coming when Burrell drove the lane and floated in a shot to give SeattleU an 18-17 lead with 7:25 remaining on the clock. Thanks in part to nine first-half points by Gweth, the Redhawks extended their lead to as much as six points before going into the locker room at halftime up by four, 32-28.
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 1,052 career points, moving into 30th place on the school's all-time scoring list. If he continues to average 11.8 points per game, his current season average, he will move into the top 25 of the list. Gweth is just three made three-pointers away from moving into fourth place on that career list and three steals away from third place on SU's all-time steals list.
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 Feb. 12, Seattle University is 201st with a rating of 69.50 and Sacramento State is 272nd with a rating of 63.90. Taking into account a 3.93 home advantage, the Sagarin ratings would say that Seattle University is favored to win today's game by nine or ten 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 27th in scoring at 20.0 points per game. As a team, Seattle University would be 23rd in scoring offense and 18th in rebounding, averaging 79.4 points and 40.0 rebounds per game.
RECEIVING CHARITY: Charles Garcia has been prolific in getting to the free throw line so far this season, averaging 11.0 free throw attempts per game. Garcia has attempted a Division I-high 264 free throws in the first 24 games of the season, 44 more than Marqus Blakely of Vermont. Garcia has been a major reason why Seattle University has attempted more free throws as a team than any other Division I squad with the exception of three teams: Kansas State, Wyoming, and Morgan State. Garcia has attempted three more free throws than the entire Princeton team and just 16 fewer free throws than Darmouth's entire squad.