Dior Lowhorn Graduates USF With Historic Career

The big man with the best shot in the West Coast, Dior Lowhorn, is in his final semester at USF. Recently placed on the All West Coast Conference First Team for the third straight year, Lowhorn is the Lebron James of the USF Dons.  His ability as a big man who can shoot, rebound, and block shots gives him a very key role in the Dons lineup.

Born in San Francisco, Lowhorn spent his first year of college in Texas playing for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, where he played under legendary coach Bob Knight. There, he played in all 32 games with 10 starts and appearances in both the Red Raiders Big 12 Tournament games.

Since coming back to the Bay Area, Lowhorn has contributed mightily to the Dons, scoring 636 points in his 2007-2008 season. His 636 points was the fourth most points a USF Don has ever scored in a single season. As a sophomore, Lowhorn received accolades as West Coast Conference’s top scorer, with an average of 20.5 points per game. He also received Mid-Major All-American honorable mention and WCC conference first team honors. On defense Lowhorn led the Dons in rebounds per game (7.4) and blocks per game (.9), earning him WCC top ten honors in both categories.

In his junior season, Dior continued his dominance leading the Dons in scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage. Lowhorn once again scored over 600 points as he finished the season scoring 604 points, making him just one of three Dons to accomplish that feat. The other players are former USF All-Americans Quintin Daily and Bill Cartwright. His presence on an undersized USF squad forced him to play not only power forward but sometimes center as well. Fortunately for the Dons, Lowhorn stepped up to the challenge. Lowhorn finished the year scoring 20.1 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game. His strong season earned him a second consecutive trip to the All-WCC First Team. Lowhorn’s scoring average also ranked first in the WCC for the second consecutive year. He accomplished all this while playing under new head coach Rex Walters, who was his the third in a line of  head coaches at USF. With the great season, Lowhorn became only the second WCC player to lead the league in scoring for two consecutive seasons. The only other player to accomplish that was Gonzaga’s Jeff Brown who did so from 1992-1994.

In his final season with the Dons, this year Lowhorn posted another strong season. Lowhorn once again, for the third consecutive season, earned All-WCC first team honors as he led the Dons in both scoring (18.4 points per game) and rebounding (6.6 rebounds per game). Lowhorn ranked second in the WCC in scoring and sixth in rebounding on the season, proving once again that he is a dominant player in the conference. He finishes his career as the fourth leading scorer in Dons history with 2,003 points, placing him among the many USF greats. The highlight of the season came when Lowhorn and the Dons were able to knock off conference winner, Gonzaga, who was ranked at the time of the USF upset.

Lowhorn has often been compared to the USF legend Bill Russell after matching his record 1000 points in only 49 games for the Dons. He has recorded numerous WCC First Team selections and he has been recognized as a potential All-American. But, is he ready to go pro? That is the question on everyone’s mind and surely has Lowhorn thinking. (Lowhorn was unavailable to comment by time of publication.) His small size presents a problem for being drafted as a power forward in the NBA. And, his lack of agility and quick lateral movement create an inevitable problem if Lowhorn is to play as a small forward in the NBA. Only time will tell if Lowhorn is able to make it to the NBA, which would not only be a great personal accomplishment but a great boost to USF’s basketball program as a whole.

With such a huge influence on Dons basketball, Lowhorn will surely be missed. His hard work off the court led to incredible numbers on the court. He was a leader through example and he is one hard act to follow. Hopefully he will be able to go and represent USF in the NBA in the next couple of years; then the rest of us can all say we went to college with “that guy.”