MBB | Gaels Welcome Dons on Saturday

Saint Mary's will look to avenge an earlier loss to San Francisco this weekend as the two teams square off at 1 p.m. in McKeon.

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's (13-9, 4-3 WCC) will look to get back into the win column as they play host to San Francisco on Saturday in their only game of the week.

GAME INFORMATION
Game No. 23 vs. San Francisco (17-4, 5-2 WCC)
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 2 at 1:00 p.m. PST
Location: McKeon Pavilion (Moraga, Calif.)
TV: NBC CA / Root Sports NW / TheW.tv
Radio: https://tunein.com/radio/Saint-Marys-IMG-Sports-Network-s280256/
Live stats: https://smcgaels.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Gaels' all-time head to head record: 80-101 (Last meeting: 1/3/19, A, SMC 72 — USF 76)

ABOUT THE DONS
San Francisco is currently tied with BYU for second in the West Coast Conference standings with a 5-2 WCC record. After stringing together three wins against Pacific, BYU, and Portland, the Dons lost their most recent contest at San Diego, 67-63. USF's only other misstep in conference play was a 13-point loss to No. 5 Gonzaga on the Hilltop.

Saint Mary's and San Francisco have already met one time this year on the Dons' home court. After trailing for most of the game, the Gaels rallied in the second half to tie the score with about eight minutes to play but ultimately fell by four points. Three of USF's five WCC victories have come by four or less points this year.

Charles Minlend is averaging just under 15 points per game for the Dons and while grabbing 5.1 rebounds while Frankie Ferrari has scored 13.7 points per contest and is third in the WCC at 5.5 assists per. In the teams' previous matchup, the Gaels' defense held Minlend to only 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting but Ferrari put up 19 points and seven dimes in the Dons' win.

USF ranks in the middle of the conference pack in field goal percentage (5th - .472) and 3-point percentage (5th - .345) but have one of the best defenses in college basketball. The Dons trail only Gonzaga in field goal defense (.407) and are the WCC's best team at defending the three-ball as they limit opponents to 28.6 percent from outside the arc.

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