DON'T LET IT END: The Seattle University men's basketball team traveled to Utah Friday in preparation for the final game of the regular season at Utah Valley Saturday afternoon. SeattleU comes into the game as one of the hottest teams in the country, having won three straight, seven of its last eight, and nine of its last 12 games. This stretch started with a victory over Utah Valley, and the Redhawks are hoping that another victory over the Wolverines will help postseason chances. After a successful Senior Night, Mike Boxley, Chris Gweth, and Taylor Olson will mark another milestone with the final regular season game of their careers.
THE PORTLAND STATE GAME: In front of the largest crowd to see a Seattle University home men's basketball game this season, five players scored in double figures as the Redhawks clinched its fifth consecutive winning season with a 93-80 victory over Portland State Tuesday night at KeyArena at Seattle Center. Charles Garcia notched his 11th double-double of the season, leading SeattleU with 20 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line. Cervante Burrell finished with 18 points and seven rebounds. On Senior Night in front of 4,876 fans, fourth-year players Mike Boxley, Chris Gweth, and Taylor Olson made major contributions to the victory. Gweth finished with 13 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals, while Olson hit two early three-pointers on his way to a 10-point effort and Boxley contributed two points, four rebounds, and four assists. Down 9-5 early, SeattleU went on an 18-4 run over a six-minute span to take a ten-point lead at 23-13. Portland State responded with eight unanswered points, including three-pointers by Melvin Jones and Chris Harriel, to cut the margin to two. Later in the first half, the Redhawks would go on a 16-0 run to open a 48-30 advantage three minutes before halftime. Portland State scored nine unanswered points early in the second half to close its deficit to eight at 60-52 five minutes after halftime, but SeattleU scored the next five points, and its lead stayed in double digits for the remainder of the game. Garcia scored six straight points midway through the second half to give the Redhawks their biggest lead at 20 points (82-62), and SeattleU was able to cruise to the season sweep over the Vikings.
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 March 4, Seattle University is 179th with a rating of 71.07 and Utah Valley is 327th with a rating of 57.35. Taking into account a 3.81 home advantage, the Sagarin ratings would say that Seattle University is favored to win today's game by about 10 points.
SCOUTING UTAH VALLEY: The Wolverines come into Saturday's game with an 12-16 record, including an 11-2 record at home. Utah Valley is 5-7 in Great West Conference play, coming off a 65-57 victory over NJIT. The Wolverines are scoring 63.9 points per game and giving up 65.1 points per contest. As a team, Utah Valley is shooting 41.5 percent from the field, including 35.6 percent from behind the three-point line, and 75.1 percent from the free throw line. Jordan Swarbrick leads the team with 13.0 points, 2.3 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. Justin Baker is contributing 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, while Jourdain Scoubes leads the team in rebounding with 5.5 boards per game.
LAST MEETING: Seattle University received a career performance from Gavin Gilmore and clutch baskets down the stretch from Chris Gweth and Alex Jones to pull out a 66-63 victory over Utah Valley Jan. 16 at KeyArena at Seattle Center. Gilmore shot 6-of-10 from the field in scoring 12 points, plus he pulled down four rebounds, dished out four assists, and earned three steals. Gweth also scored 12 points, including the 1,000th point of his SeattleU career, grabbed seven rebounds, and picked up a game-high five steals, while Jones overcame foul trouble to contribute 11 points and three rebounds. The lead changed six times in the second half, especially midway in the period when the two teams basically traded baskets. After Jourdain Scoubes hit a three-pointer with five minutes remaining in regulation to give the Wolverines a 53-51 lead, Jones answered with his own three-pointer to give the Redhawks the lead for good. Gweth notched a steal and a layup with three minutes to go, extending the SeattleU lead to five at 58-53. Three-pointers by Tyray Petty and Scoubes pulled Utah Valley within one at 62-61 with 1:08 left on the clock. Gweth was fouled and hit both free throws, but the Wolverines stayed in the game thanks to a layup by Justin Baker. Aaron Broussard, shooting 50 percent from the free throw line coming into the game, made two free throws with 18 seconds remaining, and the SeattleU defense forced Scoubes to throw up a contested three-point shot that fell short, clinching the Redhawks' sixth victory in games decided by five points or less.
CARDIAC HAWKS: Seattle University has won nine games this season by five points or less.
1) Nov. 19 vs. Fresno State - Cervante Burrell layup with eight seconds left in home opener for 85-84 win
2) Nov. 22 vs. Weber State - SeattleU holds off Wildcat rally for 91-87 victory
3) Nov. 24 at Utah - Redhawks hit 6-of-6 free throws down stretch to hold off Utes, 77-74
4) Nov. 27 vs. Presbyterian - Late Charles Garcia jumper ices 67-63 win in Las Vegas
5) Dec. 15 vs. UC Irvine - Garcia hits two free throws with 16 seconds left for 82-81 victory
6) Jan. 16 vs. Utah Valley - Clutch free throws from Chris Gweth, Aaron Broussard for 66-63 win
7) Feb. 7 at Portland State - Broussard three-pointer with 0.3 seconds left gives Redhawks 80-77 win
8) Feb. 22 at San Jose State - Three-pointer from Taylor Olson with 5.4 seconds left for 90-88 win
9) Feb. 27 vs. CSU Bakersfield - Alex Jones putback with 16.5 seconds left seals 76-72 victory
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 42nd in scoring at 19.1 points per game. As a team, Seattle University would be ninth in scoring offense and 14th in rebounding, averaging 80.5 points and 40.2 rebounds per game.
RECEIVING CHARITY: Charles Garcia has been prolific in getting to the free throw line so far this season, averaging 9.9 free throw attempts per game. Garcia has attempted a Division I-high 297 free throws, 22 more than Artsiom Parakhouski of Radford. Garcia has been a major reason why Seattle University is fourth in Division I in attempted free throws with 845.
ON THE RADIO: Dave Grosby and Gary Hill, Jr., will broadcast the game from courtside on 710 ESPN Seattle. Due to the Seattle Mariners spring training game, Saturday's SeattleU basketball game will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis, with the pregame show scheduled for 3:50 p.m. and the tip-off set to air at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Hill will also be updating his blog on www.seattleufan.com throughout the game.
POSTSEASON SITUATION: Seattle University is not eligible for the NCAA Tournament until 2013, but the team is eligible to be selected for the NIT, the CBI, or the CIT this season. Having already clinched a winning record, SeattleU has expressed interest in playing in one of the postseason tournaments named above. The team will find out Sunday night, March 14, whether or not it will play in a postseason tournament.
THE LEADER OF THE REDHAWKS: Cameron Dollar has started his first season as the head coach of the Seattle University men's basketball team. He did not need to leave the city of Seattle to accept this position, as he had been an assistant coach at the University of Washington under Lorenzo Romar for seven seasons. Last season, the Huskies won their first outright Pac-10 regular season title since 1953. Dollar also was instrumental in helping Washington reach the Sweet 16 in both 2005 and 2006. Dollar joined Romar at Saint Louis in 1999, helping the Bilikens win the Conference USA tournament championship in 2000. After spending one season as an assistant for Pat Douglass at UC Irvine, Dollar became the nation's youngest head coach in 1998, taking over the program at Southern California College (now Vanguard University), where he went 11-22 in one season. As a player, Dollar helped UCLA win the 1995 NCAA Championship at the Kingdome in Seattle.
A FAMILY AFFAIR: When looking for coaches to join his staff, Cameron Dollar did not have to look far to fill one of the assistant positions, just up the family tree. His father Donald Dollar joined the Seattle University men's basketball program after a long and distinguished career of coaching high school basketball in Georgia. He earned three state championships, 16 regional titles, 11 appearances in the state semifinals, and eight chances at the state title. Over 35 players who played for Donald Dollar have gone on to play at the Division I or Division II level, with four players having played or presently playing professional basketball. After moving into the college ranks and seeing success at his alma mater Morehouse College, Dollar served as an assistant coach at the University of West Georgia for the past two seasons. Thursday, the relationship between the Dollars on and off the court was featured in a segment of "Evening Magazine" on KING-TV, the NBC affiliate in Seattle.
RELISHING THE SPOTLIGHT: This season the Seattle University men's basketball team played six games that were broadcast on FSN Northwest, posting a 3-3 record in those contests. The home opener against Fresno State that culminated in a game-winning basket by Cervante Burrell was shown live, while the Dec. 22 game at Denver which the Pioneers won on a last-second shot was shown on a tape-delay basis. FSN Northwest also featured the Jan. 2 loss to Harvard as well as the historic Jan. 6 win at Oregon State. A regional television audience witnessed SeattleU's loss to Washington on Jan. 26 and the Senior Night victory over Portland State last Tuesday.
A SMOOTH TRANSITION SO FAR: With the victory Tuesday, Seattle University clinched a winning season no matter what happens against Utah Valley Saturday. The Redhawks are the first team to go through the current transition process and earn a winning record against a full Division I schedule in the first season of being a Division I counter. North Dakota State had a winning record at 16-12 during the 2005-06 campaign, but some of those wins came against non-Division I opponents. Seattle University played all Division I schools during the 2009-10 regular season.
BOXING OUT: Senior Mike Boxley appeared in the starting lineup for Seattle University's first game of the 2006-07 season against Sonoma State. Including his start Tuesday against Portland State, he has made 97 appearances in the starting lineup during his career at Seattle University. He has missed only one game throughout the past four years, the Feb. 1 game against Eastern Washington this season after hurting his toe in the previous game. Entering Saturday's action, Boxley is fifth on the school's all-time steals list with 144 steals.
HAILING FROM OREGON: Chris Gweth has appeared in every SeattleU game over the past four years, including 54 starts. He became the 34th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career, and last Saturday he moved into 26th place on the all-time scoring list, currently with 1,105 career points. He is also tied for third on the career list for made field goals with 150, third on the all-time steals list with 153, and eighth on the career three-point field goal percentage list, hitting 38.8 percent of his attempts from long distance. On Jan. 24, 2009, Gweth set the school record for most field goals without a miss, hitting 9-of-9 shots from the field against SIU Edwardsville.
THE REAL T.O.: That is how FSN Northwest basketball expert Francis Williams describes Bishop Blanchet product Taylor Olson, probably the team's vocal leader and a player who has been ready for anything and everything thrown at him over the past four years. He earned his first career start on Feb. 1 against Eastern Washington and picked up his second appearance in the starting lineup Tuesday against Portland State. He hit two early three-pointers to help SeattleU establish an early lead against the Vikings. On Feb. 22, he hit the game-winning three-pointer at San Jose State. Olson has appeared in 83 games during his SeattleU career and has been a solid free throw shooter, hitting 86 percent (49-of-57) of his attempts from the charity stripe.
THE ENGINE OF THE OFFENSE: While the attention has been on other players, sophomore point guard Cervante Burrell has been the glue of the team whenever he is on the court. He tied his season high with 18 points Tuesday against Portland State. He is averaging 13.0 points per game in SeattleU's 16 victories and 9.1 points per contest in the Redhawks' 14 losses. He leads the team with 105 assists and has pulled down 114 rebounds, including a season-high nine rebounds in the season opener at Oklahoma State. Burrell scored 16 points, including the final two points on a layup with eight seconds remaining in regulation, against Fresno State. He scored 17 points during SeattleU's 51-point victory at Oregon State and also collected 17 points in the home victory over Cal State Northridge.
A WIDE MARGIN: The 51-point margin of victory on Jan. 6 against Oregon State was the highest for Seattle University since a 55-point victory over Trinity Western (117-62) during the 1989-90 season. It was the largest margin of victory as a Division I school since the first regular season game of the historic 1957-58 campaign, when SeattleU defeated Portland State, 104-54, at the Civic Auditorium.
THE KEY TO FUTURE SUCCESS: The Seattle University men's basketball team returned to downtown Seattle this season, playing all regular season home games at KeyArena at Seattle Center. After Tuesday's victory over Portland State, SeattleU won its last five home games and finished with a 10-3 record 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. The Redhawks were able to draw the two largest crowds of the season in the last two home games against Cal State Bakersfield and Portland State. For the year, SeattleU had an average attendance of 3,548, including five games with crowds of over 4,000 fans. Next season SeattleU is slated to host Pac-10 schools Washington and Oregon State at KeyArena.
ELGIN BAYLOR COURT: Seattle University opened its first full season at KeyArena by renaming the court in honor of Elgin Baylor, the leader of the 1957-58 team that advanced to the NCAA title game. Baylor went on to have a successful professional playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Known as one of the greatest players in both college and pro basketball history, Baylor was also in attendance for SeattleU's game at Loyola Marymount on Dec. 30.