Another Tough Test with Game at Undefeated San Francisco

DARTMOUTH (3-2)
at SAN FRANCISCO (5-0)
Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018 | 2 PM (PST) | TheW.tv
War Memorial Gym (5,300) | San Francisco, Calif.

• After suffering a 39-point loss at 22nd-ranked Buffalo on Wednesday, Dartmouth concludes the Thanksgiving weekend at undefeated San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.
• The loss to the Bulls dropped the Big Green to 3-55 all-time against AP ranked opponents.
• Dartmouth fell behind Buffalo, 15-0, then closed the gap to three at 29-26 before the Bulls took over, particularly in the second half.
• The Big Green are one of the most prolific 3-point shooting teams in Division I thus far, ranking second in the nation in treys per game (14.0) and 16th in accuracy (44.0 percent), despite Buffalo holding them to seven triples at a 28 percent clip.
• The two players most responsible for the long-distance dialing have been juniors Ian Sistare and Brendan Barry who rank 3-4 in accuracy. Sistare is 14-of-20 (.700) from behind the arc, while Barry is 20-of-29 (.690). Both average more than 12 points a game.
• Dartmouth's leading scorer is sophomore Adrease Jackson (14.2 ppg), though the Bulls held him to four points without a field goal.
• Jackson and sophomore Chris Knight have been two of the best glass cleaners in the Ivy League with Knight second at 8.0 rpg and Jackson third at 7.2. That doesn't even include junior Will Emery who has only played in two games but had 14 boards in the season opener.
• The Green have also been an unselfish team, ranking among the top 25 teams nationally in assists per game (18.2).

Series vs. San Francisco
• This is just the second time these two teams have met on the hardwood with the Dons winning the first matchup by just two points, 71-69.
• The game was played at the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage almost exactly seven years ago with USF leading for all but 34 seconds of the second half, though it was a one-point game with 26 seconds left after back-to-back 3-pointers by R.J. Griffin and David Rufful.
• The Big Green are 2-7 all-time against current West Coast Conference teams with victories over BYU (1958) and Loyola Marymount (1999).
• San Francisco will be just the second WCC team to play the Big Green more than once, joining Portland, which is 3-0 against Dartmouth.

Scouting the Dons
• San Francisco, picked to finish fourth in the WCC as it did last year, is off to a perfect start with four wins by at least 30 points followed by a four-point triumph over Harvard on Wednesday, 61-57.
• Last year the Dons posted a 22-17 record and lost in the CBI championship to North Texas.
• Two things USF has done extremely well so far this year — rebound and defend, ranking in the top five nationally in rebound margin (18.2), rebounds (46.8 rpg), scoring defense (51.0 ppg) and 3-point defense (20.8 percent).
• Charles Minlend, son of a former St. John's star and nephew of a Davidson/St. Francis (N.Y.) star, leads the Dons at 14.0 ppg.
• Matt McCarthy comes off the bench to shoot 73.0 percent (27-of-37) while providing 11.8 ppg, plus leads the team in rebounding at 9.4 rpg.
• Jordan Ratinho has been a reliable marksman, hitting 15-of-32 treys (.462) to average 11.4 ppg, while Frankie Ferrara runs the offense, dishing out 6.0 assists a night.
• Kyle Smith (Hamilton '92) is in his third season leading the Dons with a 47-30 record following a pair of 20-win campaigns. He spent six years at Columbia, guiding the Lions to a 101-82 mark and a 25-10 record in 2015-16 before heading West.

Worst Loss in a Decade
After starting the season winning three of its first four contests, Dartmouth ran into 22nd-ranked Buffalo on Nov. 21. The Bulls handed the Big Green a 110-71 loss, their largest margin of defeat since a 97-58 game at Yale in February of 2008. And the 110 points were the most by a Dartmouth opponent since Brown hung 111 on the Green back in 1975.

Sistare Shines in Defeat
While Dartmouth would rather forget its loss to No. 22 Buffalo, junior Ian Sistare had a game to remember with a career-high 18 point. Sixteen of those points came in a five-minute stretch in the first half after the Big Green had fallen behind 15-0. Sistare came off the bench and ended the run with a bucket before adding a three-point play and three trifectas to give him a new career high before 10 minutes had elapsed.

Lighting It Up
• Even with a 7-for-25 performance from long distance, Dartmouth ranks second in the nation in 3-pointers made (14.0 per game) and 16th in percentage as a team (.440).
• The 70 treys are the Big Green's most in a five-game span ever, four outdistancing the previous record of 57 set in 2001.
• Dartmouth started the year with four straight games with at least 10 3-pointers, its longest such streak since a six-game stretch in 2002.
• The Big Green are on pace to knock down 420 triples this season, which would shatter the program record of 263 set in 2001-02.
• Ian Sistare ranks third in the country at 70 percent (14-of-20) behind the arc while Brendan Barry is right behind in fourth at 69.0 percent (20-of-29), not to mention 15th with 4.0 threes per game.
• The Big Green hit 22 trifectas in the season opener, breaking the team record of 18 set in a win over Albany on Jan. 20, 2001.

Emery, Smith Return at Buffalo
Dartmouth welcomed senior Guilien Smith and junior Will Emery back to the floor at No. 22 Buffalo after Smith had missed the previous game and Emery sat out three with an injury. While both players managed to score only four points apiece, the Big Green will be stronger going forward with those two healthy and back to full strength.

Active Leader
Despite missing all but three games last year, senior Guilien Smith is the team's active career statistical leader on the team in several categories, including points (527) and rebounds (149). But when it comes to long-distance shooting, junior Brendan Barry is well ahead of his teammates with 98 triples to his credit at a sizzling rate of 48.0 percent, the highest career mark of any Division I player.

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