The University of San Francisco Dons begin their final three-game homestand of the 2011-2012 season Thursday evening at 7:00pm PT as they host BYU in a nationally televised game on ESPNU. The Dons enter the final three games of the season sitting two games back of Loyola Marymount for fourth place in the WCC. Fourth place is significant because third and fourth place get an extra bye week.
The Dons face a daunting task if they want to climb into fourth place. They host BYU on Thursday and then follow that with home contests against Gonzaga this Saturday and Saint Mary's next Saturday. USF will have a tall order in front of them as they will be sizable underdogs in all three contests. They likely will not grab the fourth seed, but a win or two over the next week and a half would provide a lot of confidence for the Dons as they head into the WCC tournament.
This is the two teams' second matchup of conference play, with BYU dominating USF 81-56 in the first game back in early January. Michael Williams was the only Don to score in double digits with only ten points. Meanwhile, BYU got double digit contributions from four different players and dominated inside with a 37-27 rebound advantage and 5-0 block advantage.