A DIFFERENT LEVEL: After picking up a comfortable victory over Evergreen State, an NAIA school that had only eight active players Monday, Seattle University begins a challenging stretch of games when the Stanford Cardinal come to KeyArena. This game will be televised live by ROOT Sports with Brad Adam and Francis Williams. Due to a conflict with the Seahawks game, the radio broadcast with Dave Grosby and Gary Hill moves to 770 AM The Truth.
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.
Stanford University
- Guard: #2 Aaron Bright - 5-11, 177 - So.
- Guard: #5 Chasson Randle - 6-1, 175 - Fr.
- Forward: #3 Anthony Brown - 6-6, 210 - So.
- Forward: #34 Andrew Zimmermann - 6-8, 230 - Sr.
- Forward: #13 Josh Owens - 6-8, 240 - Sr.
THE EVERGREEN STATE GAME: Seattle University took care of business Monday night, pulling out to a 27-point advantage at halftime and cruising to a 77-54 victory over Evergreen State College at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash. Clarence Trent led the Redhawks with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, plus he pulled down nine rebounds, while Allen Tate finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. Off the bench, Louis Green also scored 12 points, hitting 5-of-7 shots from the field, and grabbed six boards. Eric Wallace struggled from the floor, hitting only 4-of-12 shots from the field, but he did grab a game-high 11 rebounds. Aaron Broussard shot only 3-of-10 from the field, but was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line to reach double figures for the fourth time this season with 10 points.
SCOUTING STANFORD: The Cardinal come into Thursday's game with a 6-1 record after a convincing 79-37 victory over Pacific Monday night at Maples Pavilion. Stanford reached the finals of the NIT Tip-Off Tournament before losing to Syracuse, 69-63. The Cardinal defeated Fresno State, Colorado State, and Oklahoma State along the way to the tournament finals. Stanford is scoring 74.9 points per game and giving up 55.0 points per contest. As a team, the Cardinal is shooting 48.7 percent from the field, including 36.7 percent from behind the three-point line, and 63.5 percent from the free throw line. Josh Owens leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.6 points per game, and is shooting 65.0 percent (39-of-60) from the field. Aaron Bright is contributing 12.1 points per game, plus he is shooting 53.8 percent from the field, including 53.1 percent from behind the three-point line.
SEATTLE U VS. STANFORD: This will be the fourth meeting all-time between Seattle University and Stanford, with the Cardinal winning all three previous meetings. On Dec. 19, 1984, Stanford earned an 83-46 victory over then-NAIA school Seattle U. Stanford also earned a 105-54 victory over Seattle U Dec. 13, 1985. The series was revived March 1, 2011, at Maples Pavilion. A three-pointer by Sterling Carter brought Seattle U within a point of Stanford at halftime, 28-27, but the Cardinal opened the second half on a 12-1 run, led by nine points from Anthony Brown. Led by six points from Cervante Burrell, Seattle U went on an 8-1 scoring run to cut its deficit to six at 67-61 with just over three minutes left, but the Cardinal went 10-for-12 from the free throw line down the stretch to hold off the Redhawks. Burrell and Alex Jones each scored 15 points, with Aaron Broussard finishing with 13 points and Carter contributing 12 points. Brown notched a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Jeremy Green led all players with 22 points. This will be the first time Seattle U has ever hosted Stanford in a men's basketball game.
COMING HOME: The Stanford roster features two players who will be making a homecoming when they face Seattle U this season. Sophomore guard Aaron Bright played at Bellevue High School before deciding to attend Stanford. As mentioned before, Bright is shooting over 50 percent from the field and from behind the three-point line in averaging 12.1 points per game. Fellow sophomore John Gage is from Vashon Island and played at Vashon Island High School. He has appeared in four games for the Cardinal so far this season, averaging 4.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.
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.
MOVING UP: Senior Aaron Broussard reached a significant milestone on Nov. 22 at Montana State. 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 1,032 career points, just one point behind John Tresvant in 33rd place on the Seattle U all-time scoring list. Broussard leads the team with 17.3 points per game, plus he has hit 52.1 percent (25-of-48) of his field goal attempts. He is also ninth on the all-time steals list with 125 steals since the 2008-09 season.
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 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game so far for the Redhawks, second on the team in both scoring and rebounding as well as 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 26.0 minutes per game for Seattle U, earning 11.3 points and a team-high 8.3 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. Due to a conflict with the Seattle Seahawks game, Thursday's broadcast will be moved to 770 AM The Truth.