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USF's Ndewedo Newbury made his season debut against Pacific on Thursday night.
Christina Leung/USF Athletics
USF lost five of its first six WCC games and lost reserve guard Julian Rishwain to a season-ending knee injury last week.
Those two facts played into the decision to burn what was going to be a redshirt season for sophomore forward Ndewedo “Chips” Newbury.
The initial results of that decision were overwhelmingly positive. The London native came off the bench to score nine points and pull down a game-high 11 rebounds as the Dons blistered Pacific 78-57 on the Hilltop on Thursday night.
“It was a big decision. I talked to my people back home,” Newbury said in a postgame interview with The Chronicle. “I was like, ‘I’m going to bet on myself.’”
USF head coach Chris Gerlufsen said, “I put it all on his plate. I did not push him one way or the other. I kind of gave him my pros and cons of what I thought it could mean for him both ways — and I kind of left him alone for 48 hours.”
Ndewedo "Chips" Newbury had nine points and 11 rebounds in his season debut for USF on Thursday night.
Christina Leung/USF AthleticsNewbury didn’t tell Gerlufsen of his decision until around noon Thursday. Newbury, who’s listed at 6-foot-7, 238 pounds, played 27 minutes against the Tigers. That’s four more than he played in his entire freshman season.
“I’m so proud of him because it’s easy to kind of lose your way when you haven’t played a lot over the course of two seasons,” Gerlufsen said. “Chips has not had a lot of experience, but (what) I do know about him is he goes 150 miles an hour, he has an edge to him and he’s tough.”
“Tough” was how Newbury described the time for him and his teammates between their 78-61 loss to St. Mary’s on Saturday night and Thursday.
Said Newbury: “The locker room hasn’t been in the best (mood). In practice, we just ramped up the attention to detail (and) energy.”
USF (13-9, 2-5) got 17 points from Zane Meeks and 13 each from Josh Kunen (who hit all five of his field-goal attempts) and Tyrell Roberts. The Dons went 13-for-23 (56.5%) from beyond the arc and led by as many as 31. They were up by double digits for the final 26:43.
Newbury went 3-for-8 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from long range. He did commit four turnovers. He knows it will take a little time before he is up to speed with teammates and opponents who’ve played about 20 more games than he has this season.
“Hopefully, experience sets in and I get comfortable,” Newbury said. “Players know where I want to be, where I get to. … Then maybe we can get rolling.”
USF's Ndewedo Newbury is enthused in the first half of the Dons' game against Pacific on Thursday night.
Christina Leung/USF AthleticsSaid Gerlufsen: “We’ll keep working with him, but there’s a huge upside to this guy, for sure.”
Briefly: Donovan Williams led the Tigers (10-11, 3-3) with 15 points. …Guard Khalil Shabazz came into Thursday as the Dons’ leading scorer (15.2). He had only two after a six-point night in the Dons’ loss to St. Mary’s. … USF entered Thursday with a NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) ranking of 128. Pacific’s was 220. … The Dons host BYU on Saturday.
Steve Kroner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: skroner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveKronerSF
