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Men's Basketball Heads East to Face Harvard Sunday

Redhawks go up against undefeated Crimson in matinee

Opens in a new window Game Notes - Harvard (Dec. 4, 2011)
Men's Basketball Heads East to Face Harvard SundayMen's Basketball Heads East to Face Harvard Sunday

ANOTHER CHALLENGE: Three days after facing a strong Stanford squad, Seattle University heads across the country for a matchup against undefeated Harvard this Sunday. Dave Grosby and Gary Hill, Jr., will broadcast the game on 710 ESPN Seattle. Live stats and live video (for a fee) will be available through Harvard's website (www.gocrimson.com). After this game, the Redhawks will have a week off to take care of finals before resuming competition.

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Seattle University

Harvard University

  • Guard: #10 Brandyn Curry - 6-1, 195 - Jr.
  • Guard: #11 Oliver McNally - 6-3, 180 - Sr.
  • Guard: #15 Christian Webster - 6-5, 205 - Jr.
  • Forward: #30 Kyle Casey - 6-7, 225 - Jr.
  • Forward: #44 Keith Wright - 6-8, 240 - Sr.

THE STANFORD GAME: Stanford University cruised to a 72-49 victory over Seattle University in men's basketball action Thursday evening at KeyArena at Seattle Center. Despite the Redhawks holding the early advantage and momentum, it was the Cardinal who managed to earn a double figure lead midway through the first half to take control of the game. Junior guard Prince Obasi scored 11 points, going 5-for-7 from the field in 29 minutes of work. Eric Wallace earned his first career double-double, leading SU with 12 points and 15 rebounds, including going a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe, plus he blocked four Stanford shots. Seattle U did win the rebounding battle over the Cardinal, 44-36, including 13 offensive rebounds. In the game, Stanford shot 42.9 percent (27-for-63) from the field, to Seattle U's 32.2 percent (19-for-59). Seattle U also committed a season-high 22 turnovers, while Stanford turned the ball over only 10 times.

SCOUTING HARVARD: The Crimson enter Sunday's game with a perfect 7-0 record, one of 19 undefeated teams left in Division I men's college basketball. Harvard won the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament last week with victories over Utah, Florida State, and Central Florida. The Crimson are scoring 65.9 points per game and giving up 52.1 points per contest, among the top ten teams in the country in scoring defense. As a team, Harvard is shooting 46.2 percent from the field, including 34.7 percent from behind the three-point line, and 70.1 percent from the free throw line. Keith Wright leads the team, averaging 12.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, plus he is shooting 63.2 percent from the field and has blocked 10 shots. Kyle Casey is contributing 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Brandyn Curry paces the squad with 29 assists and 15 steals.

SEATTLE U VS. HARVARD: Seattle U and Harvard are meeting for the second time ever in men's basketball, with the first meeting taking place two seasons ago at KeyArena. On Jan. 2, 2010, Harvard shot 58.6 percent from the field and 87.0 percent from the free throw line as the Crimson pulled away for a 92-71 victory over Seattle U. Seattle U was led by Charles Garcia, who notched a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Chris Gweth finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, and Alex Jones came off the bench and contributed 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field as well as six rebounds. For Harvard, Jeremy Lin shot 8-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line in leading all players with 21 points, plus he had three assists and four steals. Kyle Casey finished with 19 points, six rebounds, and three assists, Keith Wright collected 16 points, five rebounds, and three blocked shots, and Christian Webster added 12 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals to the winning effort. Harvard held Seattle U to 38.2 percent field goal shooting (26-of-68) and won the rebounding battle, 40-38. While the Crimson made 20-of-23 shots from the free throw line, the Redhawks struggled from the charity stripe, hitting only 16-of-35 free throw attempts in the contest. Seattle U did force Harvard into 19 turnovers, but committed 16 turnovers of their own.

BLUE DEVIL ON THE BENCH: Seattle U is facing a team led by a former Duke Blue Devil for the second straight game. Three days after Johnny Dawkins (Duke '86) brought his Stanford team to KeyArena, the Redhawks travel east to face Tommy Amaker (Duke '87) and the Harvard Crimson. Both Dawkins and Amaker served as associate head coaches under Mike Krzyzewski at their alma mater.

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.

WEBSITE HONORS: The Seattle U men's basketball team has received two honors from college basketball websites over the past week. Monday, senior Eric Wallace was named Independent Player of the Week by College Sports Madness after earning season highs in scoring and rebounding against Montana State Nov. 22, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from the free throw line along with eight rebounds and two blocked shots. He scored six points during the Redhawks' 17-6 run at the end of the first half that led to Seattle U's 85-73 victory over the Bobcats. Thursday, Aaron Broussard was named to the November All-Independent Team by CollegeHoopsNet.com. In four games, the senior averaged 17.3 points per game, shooting 52.1 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the free throw line.

MILESTONE WATCH: After passing the 1,000-point mark Nov. 22 at Montana State, senior Aaron Broussard is working his way up the Seattle U all-time scoring list. He passed John Tresvant for 33rd place and currently has 1,037 career points, 12 points behind SU Athletic Hall of Famer Rod Derline in 32nd place. Broussard also has 125 career steals, ninth on the all-time steals list and seven steals behind Eric Briggs in eighth place.

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. Sunday's game will be broadcast live on 710 ESPN, with the pregame show starting shortly before the 11 a.m. Pacific time tip-off.