DECLARING NEUTRALITY: In an effort to reach out to Redhawk fans in the southern portion of King County as well as in Pierce County, Seattle U faces Evergreen State Monday night in a neutral-site game at the ShoWare Center in Kent, home of the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. The Redhawks are coming off their first victory of the season and look to maintain that momentum heading into challenging contests against Stanford and Harvard.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
Seattle University
- Guard: #0 Prince Obasi - 6-2, 205 - Jr.
- Guard: #1 Allen Tate - 6-5, 205 - Jr.
- Forward: #2 Aaron Broussard - 6-5, 205 - Sr.
- Forward: #12 Clarence Trent - 6-6, 225 - So.
- Forward: #25 Eric Wallace - 6-7, 233 - Sr.
Evergreen State College
- Guard: #1 Tyrell Stephens - 5-9 - Sr.
- Guard: #3 Mike DeRosier - 6-2 - So.
- Forward: #24 Marice Tolliver - 6-6 - Sr.
- Forward: #33 Travis Wagner - 6-4 - Jr.
- Forward: #34 Patrick Lewis - 6-4 - Sr.
THE MONTANA STATE GAME: With its best shooting night both from the field and the free throw line in recent memory, Seattle University picked up its first victory of the 2011-12 season with an 85-73 win over Montana State last Tuesday night at Worthington Arena in Bozeman, Mont. Four players scored in double figures for Seattle U, led by Aaron Broussard, who scored 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 shooting from the free throw line. Eric Wallace also shot 7-of-10 from the field, plus was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe for a season-high 18 points along with eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Clarence Trent shot 6-of-11 from the field as he finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, while Chad Rasmussen hit three shots from behind the three-point line for 11 points in 30 minutes of action. Seattle U shot 56.0 percent (28-of-50) from the field and 88.0 percent (22-of-25) from the charity stripe.
SCOUTING EVERGREEN STATE: The Geoducks are 0-5 overall entering the Thanksgiving weekend, where they face Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran at PLU's home gym in Parkland, Wash. Evergreen State is scoring 66.0 points per game and giving up 82.2 points per contest. As a team, the Geoducks are shooting 38,4 percent from the field, including 30.4 percent from behind the three-point line, and 74.0 percent from the free throw line. Evergreen State leads the NAIA Cascade Conference with 9.8 three-pointers made per game. Individually, Marice Tolliver leads the team, averaging 15.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. Tyrell Stephens is contributing 12.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Travis Wagner is 14-of-39 (.359) from behind the three-point line, while Patrick Lewis is shooting 58.6 percent (17-of-29) from the field so far this season.
SEATTLE U VS. EVERGREEN STATE: This will be the 10th regular season meeting between Seattle University and Evergreen State. The two schools first faced each other at the Puget Sound Tournament in 1997, with Evergreen State pulling out a 75-74 victory. The Geoducks also defeated Seattle U in the 1998-99 season in Olympia (66-65) and in the 1999-2000 season in Seattle (79-66). Seattle U finally broke through at the Connolly Center in the 2000-01 season, 85-69, but Evergreen State responded with a victory on its home floor in 2001-02, 71-59. Seattle U finally defeated Evergreen State in Olympia in 2002-03, 75-70, starting a four-game winning streak over the Geoducks. The final regular season meeting between the two schools came in 2005-06, a 51-29 victory for the Redhawks over the Geoducks at the Connolly Center in Seattle.
A WAKE-UP CALL: Seattle U hosted Evergreen State in an exhibition game Nov. 11, 2008, at the Connolly Center as the Redhawks prepared for the first year of reclassification towards Division I status. The Geoducks fell behind by seven points early in the second half, but used scoring runs of 17-5 and 16-5 to upset the Redhawks, 87-82. Nathan Menefee was the star for Evergreen State, playing all 40 minutes and scoring 30 points on 11-of-25 shooting from the field, including five three-pointers. Four players scored in double figures for the Redhawks, led by Chris Gweth with 20 points. Both Leigh Swanson (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Austen Powers (13 points, 14 rebounds) notched double-doubles, and Michael Wright added 10 points. Current Redhawks Aaron Broussard and Gavin Gilmore saw limited action in that exhibition, while no Evergreen State players on this year's roster played in the game. Seattle U went on to a 21-8 record in 2008-09.
THE LEADER OF THE REDHAWKS: Cameron Dollar is in his third year as the head coach of the Seattle University men's basketball team. Last season, the team continued to make its mark on a national level, defeating Oregon State for the second straight year and also earning a win at Virginia. After leading the team to a 17-14 record in 2009-10, he was named Independent Coach of the Year. The squad picked up victories at Utah, at Oregon State, against Fresno State, and against Weber State during Dollar's inaugural year at the helm. He had been an assistant coach at the University of Washington under Lorenzo Romar for seven seasons. As a player, Dollar helped UCLA win the 1995 NCAA Championship at the Kingdome in Seattle.
COMING HOME: Senior Aaron Broussard has played close to his Federal Way home throughout his career, but Monday he will be even closer, as Seattle U faces Evergreen State at the ShoWare Center in Kent. Broussard is coming off a 23-point effort against Montana State, helping the Redhawks defeat the Bobcats last Tuesday in Bozeman, Mont., 85-73. With 13:31 left in the first half, Broussard hit a jumper that moved him past 1,000 career points, the 35th player in Seattle U men's basketball history to reach that mark. He currently has 1,022 career points, just 11 points behind John Tresvant in 33rd place on the Seattle U all-time scoring list. Broussard leads the team with 19.7 points per game and a .579 field goal shooting percentage.
BACK ON THE COURT: Two players who had not played a regular season college game since the 2009-10 season have made significant contributions in Seattle U's first three games of the 2011-12 season. After sitting out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Clarence Trent has averaged 14.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game so far for the Redhawks, second on the team in both scoring and rebounding as well as tied for first in assists. Eric Wallace suffered an injury during preseason workouts before the 2010-11 campaign, missing the entire season at DePaul before transfering to Seattle U. He has averaged 26.3 minutes per game for Seattle U, earning 12.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game for the Redhawks.
SCANNING THE RADIO DIAL: For the third straight season, Seattle U men's basketball games will be aired on 710 ESPN Seattle, with Dave Grosby and Gary Hill, Jr., providing the play-by-play descriptions of the action from courtside. Monday's broadcast will begin at 7 p.m., with The Groz and Gary calling the action from the ShoWare Center.