Nov. 18, 2010
RUSTON, La. -
Game Notes 
With three games in three days, the Louisiana Tech men's basketball team will continue play in the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer starting on Friday in Irvine, Calif.
The Bulldogs will face Seattle University at 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Navy on Saturday at 7 p.m. and UC-Irvine on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Tech (2-1) is coming off a 60-54 win over Houston on Wednesday night which will make four games over a five day period for the Bulldogs. Head coach Kerry Rupp looks at this part of the schedule as a great opportunity for such a young team.
"It's great because it will be a chance for us to pull together as a team," said head coach Kerry Rupp. "We've got to keep developing these young guys. They are very very young, but they are very coachable. It's a matter of getting reps and with playing three games in three days, this will be a chance for us to take the next step forward."
In Wednesday's game, the Bulldogs led nearly the entire game as sophomore Brandon Gibson led the scoring effort with 12 points including five of Tech's final eight points of the contest.
Junior forward Olu Ashaolu enters the weekend as the Bulldogs' leading scorer (13.7 ppg) and rebounder (10.0 rpg). He recorded two double-doubles in his first two games after recording 10 last season.
Friday will be the second-ever meeting with Seattle. Not only has Tech never faced Navy or UC-Irvine in its 83 seasons of basketball, it also hasn't faced any team in the Big West Conference or the Patriot League.
A Look at Seattle
Seattle enters the weekend with a 1-3 record following an 83-80 win over Oregon State at home on Wednesday. It's the second-straight year the Redhawks have beaten the Pac-10 school. In the game, Cervante Burrell scored 22 points and Sterling Carter scored 20 as Seattle made a comeback after trailing 64-52 with 11:17 remaining. It was Seattle's first win of the season after losing at Maryland, at San Francisco and against Cal Poly. Cameron Dollar enters his second season as head coach of the Redhawks after going 17-14 last year. Sterling Carter is Seattle's leading scorer averaging 20.3 points per game.
Series History
Seattle leads the all-time series 1-0. The lone meeting was just two years ago in the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 27, 2008. The game was tied 22-22 at halftime, but the Bulldogs were outscored 39-24 in the second half and fell to the Redhawks 61-46 in Anchorage, Alaska. Kyle Gibson led Tech with 14 points and six rebounds.
A Look at Navy
Navy enters the weekend with a 1-2 record. The Patriot League member started off the year with an 83-52 loss at Texas followed by an 88-46 loss at Buffalo. Their most recent outing was a 74-62 win over Neumann. Early on in the season it's been Greg Brown that has led the team in scoring, averaging 11.7 per game. Head coach Billy Lang is in his eighth season at Navy. They return three letterwinners off last season's team that went 13-17.
A Look at UC-Irvine
UC-Irvine enters the weekend with an 0-2 record after a pair of tough road games. The Big West Conference member lost at Illinois 79-65 and at USC 62-49. UC-Irvine features a balanced scoring attack as four of its five starters are averaging double figures led by senior forward Pavol Losonsky and senior guard Darren Moore with 12 points per game. Russell Turner is in his first season as head coach of the Anteaters after spending the past six seasons as an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. Despite the coaching change, UC-Irvine returns 11 letterwinners from last season's 14-18 team and have six seniors on the squad.
Friday and Saturday's game will be broadcast on KXKZ 107.5 FM and Sunday's game will be on 99.3 KPCH with the "Voice of the Bulldogs" Dave Nitz calling the action. Log on to LATechSports.com and the Gameday Live page for all the latest news on the Louisiana Tech men's basketball team. For men's basketball live twitter updates, follow @LATechSSchoon.
