Feb. 3, 2009
GAME #23: The University of San Diego men's basketball team (4-3 wcc; 12-10), under the direction of 2nd-year head coach Bill Grier, return to the Jenny Craig Pavilion this week for two games. On Thursday, Feb. 5th, Santa Clara (11-3; 3-4 wcc) is here for a 6:30 p.m. contest, followed by the USF Dons on Saturday, Feb. 7th (6 pm). The Toreros will be looking to snap a three-game skid, while the SCU Broncos are riding a 4-game win streak.
SERIES RECORD: This is the 61st meeting between USD and Santa Clara with the Broncos owning a 32-28 advantage in a series that began during the 1976-77 season... USD has won three straight in the series by a combined 11 points... This year USD earned a 55-50 win at Santa Clara on January 11th... The Toreros overcame a 23-17 halftime deficit for the victory and was paced by Gyno Pomare (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Rob Jones (17 points)... Both Torero wins last season were hardfought battles in San Diego (53-51) and at Santa Clara (66-62).
TV/RADIO/INTERNET: Thursday's contest will be telecast locally on Channel 4 San Diego with Steve Quis and Jim Brogan calling the action, and will air in the bay area on Comcast. The game will also be broadcast on XX Sports Radio 1090 AM with Andy Masur (play-by-play) and John Kentera (analyst) bringing you the action. Pregame begins at 6:15 pm. The game can also be heard via the internet at www.usdtoreros.com.
WCC STANDINGS (thru Feb. 3rd): #18 Gonzaga (7-0 wcc; 16-4), Portland (6-1; 15-7), Saint Mary's (5-2; 18-3), San Diego (4-3; 12-10), Santa Clara (3-4; 11-13), Pepperdine (2-5; 5-18), San Francisco (1-6; 9-13), Loyola Marymount (0-7; 1-22).
UPCOMING WCC SCHEDULE: (Thur., Feb. 5th) SCU at USD (6:30 pm), Gonzaga at Portland (8 pm), USF at Saint Mary's (8:30 pm). (Sat., Feb. 7th) USF at USD (6 pm), Memphis at Gonzaga (6 pm), Pepperdine at LMU ( 7 pm), Saint Mary's at SCU (8 pm).
COACH GRIER (2ND YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990), 45, is in his second season at the helm of the USD program... He enters the SCU game with a career record of 34-24 (.586)... In his rookie year he guided the Toreros to an overall mark of 22-14 and 3rd place finish in the WCC race at 11-3... He guided the Toreros to three wins and the championship title at the WCC Tournament (hosted by USD) with wins over Pepperdine, Saint Mary's and No. 20 Gonzaga... The Toreros then upset No. 15 UCONN in the NCAA Tournament opener with a 70-69 overtime victory, before falling to Western Kentucky in the second round... His 11 WCC wins were the second most for league wins in a single season in program history... Hired on March 26, 2007, Grier is USD's 11th head coach overall and just the 4th head coach since the Torero program moved to the NCAA Division I ranks in 1979-80... His 22 wins were also the most by a Torero coach in his first season at USD - previous mark was 16 held by Hank Egan ('84-85) and Jim Brovelli ('73-74). In addition to knocking off Kentucky on the road, 81-72, the Toreros earned three wins over Top-25 teams: #21 Saint Mary's, #20 Gonzaga and #15 Connecticut... Prior to USD Grier spent 16 years at Gonzaga, including the last 8 seasons as Mark Few's top assistant. Bill and his wife, Nicole, have one daughter, Giselle.
TOREROS TO HOST PACIFIC IN ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS ON FEB. 21ST: The Toreros found out they will host the University of the Pacific Tigers in this year's seventh annual ESPNU BracketBusters game on Saturday, February 21st. Tip-off time is 6 pm for the USD-UOP contest; the USD women's team will host Saint Mary's College at 2 pm that same day. San Diego, with an overall record of 12-10 and 4-3 in the WCC, will play five more league contests before hosting Pacific. The UOP Tigers currently own a record of 12-7 overall and 5-3 in the Big West Conference and will also play five more league games before heading to San Diego. This is USD's first appearance in the ESPNU BracketBusters, while it is UOP's fifth straight appearance. UOP leads the series with the Toreros 3-2, with the last meeting coming in 1996, a 63-57 Tiger victory. The seventh annual ESPNU BracketBusters event, a two-day men's college basketball extravaganza pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other on Feb. 20-21, will feature 13 nationally televised games--on either ESPN2, ESPNU, or ESPN360.com--selected from a pool of 102 teams. Saint Mary's is the only other WCC team to get in - they will host Utah State in one of the ESPNU televised contests.
TORERO TIDBITS: The Toreros look to snap a three-game losing skid this Thursday when they host the Santa Clara Broncos... This marks the second time this season the Toreros have dropped three straight - the first time came in early December with losses to SDSU, SJSU and New Mexico before beating Oregon at the Pape' Jam in Portland, Oregon on Dec. 13th... Despite its three-game skid, USD went 5-3 during the month of January... In loss at Portland, Rob Jones posted his second double-double of the season with 13 points & 10 rebounds; it was his 4th career double-double... Gyno Pomare leads the team this season with four double-doubles... Pomare ranks 56th in the nation in FG% (.534), while the Toreros rank 25th in the nation (330 teams) in scoring defense (60.2 ppg) and 40th in FT% (.734)... Guard Matt Dorr is lone Torero to start all 22 games this season... He played well in his hometown of Spokane Saturday with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists vs. the Zags.
LAST OUTING (Jan. 31st) - @ #20 Gonzaga 64, San Diego 47: The Toreros competed well in Spokane but just didn't have enough offensive fire power to keep up with the 20th-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs... USD jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and didn't allow the Zags any points in the first 5 minutes of play, but eventually found themsevles down 27-18 at intermission... The Toreros got within 7 points early in the 2nd half (29-22), but found itself down by double-digits over the final 17 minutes... Gonzaga finished with a big advantage in rebounding with 44 boards (16 offensive) to USD's 25... The taller Zags scored 28 points in the paint and tallied 17 second chance points... USD senior Danny Brown came off the bench to chip in with a team-high 9 points (3-5 in threes) and was followed by De'Jon Jackson and Matt Dorr, each with 8 points... Gonzaga was paced by Austin Daye who finished with a game-high 17 points... He was followed by Josh Heytvelt (13 points, 9 rebounds) and guard Jeremy Pargo (10 points).
TOREROS IN WCC STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Among WCC teams for all games played this season, USD ranks first in scoring defense (60.2 ppg) and free throw percentage (.734), and second in turnover margin (+1.50)... Torero players that rank in the top-10 for all games include Gyno Pomare (3rd in FG% at .534; 4th in FT% at .800; 6th in scoring at 14.1 ppg; 7th in blocked shots at 1.14; and 9th in rebounding at 6.6 ppg), Matt Dorr (7th in 3-PT% at .397), and Roberto Mafra (9th in blocked shots at 0.86). For WCC games only, USD as a team ranks 1st in free throw percentage (.742; 69-93) and turnover margin (+2.86), and 2nd in scoring defense (57.7 ppg) and rebounding defense (32.6). USD Toreros that rank in the top-10 for WCC games only include Gyno Pomare (3rd in FT% at .875; 6th in blocked shots at 1.29; and 7th in rebounding at 6.9 rpg), Rob Jones (9th in blocked shots at 1.0), Trumaine Johnson (5th in assists at 3.29; and 6th in assist/turnover margin at +1.10), Matt Dorr (10th in 3PT% at .421) and De'Jon Jackson (8th in steals at 1.29).
TOREROS 6-4 AT JCP IN HOME GAMES: With its 65-42 home loss to #22 Saint Marys' on Jan. 22nd, USD saw its three-game winning streak at the JCP snapped and its home record fall to 6-4... In seven of the ten home games USD has held its opponent to 59 points or less... USD's scoring margin at home is +8.1 ppg (65.8 ppg to 57.7 ppg)...In games played at the JCP the Toreros are converting 46.5% of their shots (239-514), 38.4% of its three-point attempts (56-146) and 74.3% of its free throws (124-167)... Gyno Pomare leads the Toreros in scoring at the JCP (14.1 ppg) and is followed by Trumaine Johnson (11.4 ppg) and Rob Jones (10.4 ppg)... Sophomore guard Matt Dorr has knocked down 45.9% of his threes at home (17-for-37)... Three of USD's four home losses are by a combined 10 points (56-52 to SJSU, 57-54 to New Mexico, 75-72 to Boise State)... Last year USD was 13-5 in home games; Coach Grier is now 19-9 at the JCP.
SCOUTING THE SANTA CLARA BRONCOS: Santa Clara (11-13 overall; 3-4 in WCC) come to town riding a four-game winning streak, all victories coming at home... This past weekend they beat LMU (82-56) on Thursday, Jan. 29th, then followed up with a win over Pepperdine (64-52) on Saturday... The streak began with a 70-54 win over USF back on January 23rd, followed by a nonconference victory over Houston Baptist (85-59)... Prior to the team's win over USF, the Broncos had lost six straight (five of the games by 5 points or less)... In their most recent victory over Pepperdine, 6-11 senior center John Bryant posted his 17th double-double of the year, and 7th straight, with 19 points and 17 rebounds... Against LMU, Bryant pulled down 22 boards while freshman guard James Rahon poured in 25 points...Bryant ranks 2nd in the nation in rebounding (13.5 rpg), 10th in blocked shots (2.7) and 18th in FG% (.600)... He leads the Broncos in scoring at 17.1 ppg (3rd in WCC)... Following Bryant in the scoring department are two freshmen guards - Kevin Foster (13.5 ppg) and James Rahon (11.4 ppg; Torrey Pines HS)... Both Foster (59 made threes) and Rahon (49 made threes) have had success from long range... In earlier meeting with Toreros this season the Broncos were paced by Bryant with 19 points and 12 rebounds... Head Coach Kerry Keating (Seton Hall, '93) is in his second season with the Broncos and owns a record of 26-29.
WCC TOURNAMENT HEADING TO LAS VEGAS: The Toreros will make a return trip to Las Vegas in March when they play in the WCC Tournament (Mar. 6-9)... This will mark the first time in WCC history that the conference's premier event will be held at a neutral site... The event will be held The Orleans Arena... Visit WCCSPORTS.COM or USDTOREROS.COM... Approximately 250 tickets out of 7,354 remain available for sale... Besides the championship game airing on ESPN, it will also be broadcast on Westwood One Radio for the first time.
WCC PRESEASON COACHES POLL: At the WCC Basketball Media Day that was held in mid-October, the Toreros were selected third in the WCC Pre-season Head Coaches Poll. San Diego, the 2008 WCC Tournament champions, received 39 points along with one first place vote. Gonzaga, with 46 points (5 first place votes), edged out Saint Mary's (44 points; 2 first place votes). Rounding out the poll is No. 4 Santa Clara (30 points), No. 5 USF (23 points), No. 6 Portland (19 points), No. 7 LMU (12 points) and No. 8 Pepperdine (11 pts).
UP NEXT FOR USD: Following Thursday's game the Toreros will host the USF Dons this Saturday, Feb. 7th, in a 6:00 p.m. contest at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
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