SAN FRANCISCO -- Searching for words to describe how Gonzaga, winner of 27 previous regular season West Coast Conference games, managed to lose to San Francisco 81-77 in overtime, Mark Few opened with this:

"We've been playing with fire a little bit," he said.

Gonzaga trailed by 14 in the second half and come back to win against Santa Clara two nights earlier. San Francisco outscored the Zags on Saturday by 11 in the second half and overtime.

How did mighty Gonzaga finally fall? USF coach Rex Walters lit a fire under Dior Lowhorn the previous day.

Lowhorn, the conference's back-to-back scoring champion, had a talk with his coach and was asked why he thought he wasn't playing as much this season. After pulling his name out of the draft to return for his senior season, Lowhorn at times has found himself out of the starting lineup and on the bench at crucial second-half junctures of games.

"I challenged him," Walters said, explaining that he has more talent on his roster in order to sit Lowhorn. "This year, when he doesn't defend, I don't have to play him."

Lowhorn responded, and the offensive performance that eluded him this season came back. He had a 22-point, nine-rebound outing that saw him hit the game-tying 3-pointer in regulation and two more from beyond the arc in overtime.

"We talked about not letting him get going," Few said. "And we let him get going."

Lowhorn, the forward who transferred to USF from Texas Tech, cited health issues and a psychological slump for his struggles. Walters had been pushing him hard in practice.

"I played for Coach (Bobby) Knight," Lowhorn said. "I can take anything. It hasn't been (Walters). It's been me."

Lowhorn, one of five USF players to score in double figures, said he was confident Walters in his second year would get a program that hasn't had a winning season since 2005 back on track. Asked if he really thought the program could get there, he pointed to the rafters.

Right at Bill Russell's retired jersey.

Walters, who has his Miami Heat and Kansas Jayhawks jerseys hanging in his office, only hopes that this doesn't end up being his team's signature win this season, no matter how fun it was to see jubilant fans rush the court at War Memorial Gym.

"I challenged our guys," Walters said. "Let's work really hard so this isn't.

"If this is our Super Bowl, we've got a lot more work to do."

Few, whose Zags fell into a first-place tie with Saint Mary's, said teams had been playing them tough lately. Courtesy of the 8-14 Dons, he left the Bay Area with concrete proof of the conference's collective improvement.

"The teams in the league are better," Few said.

The Green & Gold, which was once the dominant program and last won a national championship in 1956, has that to celebrate as well.