Feb. 8, 2010
GAME #26: The USD Toreros (9-16; 2-7 wcc), under the direction of 3rd-year head coach Bill Grier, travel to the Pacific Northwest this week for two games. On Thursday, February 11th, USD will face the Portland Pilots (14-8; 5-3 wcc) in a 8:05 p.m. contest at the Chiles Center (5,000 capacity).
SERIES RECORD: This is the 65th meeting between USD and Portland with the Toreros owning a commanding 41-23 series advantage... The Pilots won this year's meeting at the JCP on January 14th, 63-54... USD was paced by Brandon Johnson with 19 points... Last year USD saw its 4-game winning streak against the Pilots snapped in Portland on January 29th (69-55)... USD won at the JCP on Feb. 26th with a 66-60 victory - Matt Dorr chipped in with 17 points.
TV/RADIO/INTERNET: Thursday's game will be telecast on ESPNU (Steve Andress & Miles Simon). The contest will also air on XX Sports 1090 AM and San Diego 1700 AM, with Andy Masur calling the action. The radio pregame show begins at 7:45 pm. The game can also be heard via the internet at www.usdtoreros.com.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Toreros close out their trip with a Saturday contest against the Gonzaga Bulldogs (19-4; 7-1 wcc). Game time is 7:05 p.m. from the McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000 capacity) and will be televised on ESPNU (Greg Heister & Krista Blunk), and air on both XX Sports 1090 AM and San Diego 1700 AM (Andy Masur).
WCC RECORDS (thru Feb. 7th): Saint Mary's (8-1; 21-3), Gonzaga (7-1; 19-4), Portland (5-3; 14-8), San Francisco (4-5; 9-15), LMU (3-5; 12-12), Pepperdine (3-5; 7-17), San Diego (2-7; 9-16), and Santa Clara (2-7; 10-16).
WCC PRESEASON COACHES POLL: In the 2009-10 West Coast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll the Toreros are picked to finish 6th. The following lists the coaches predictions with first place votes in parenthesis - 1. Gonzaga (6), 48 points; 2. Portland (2), 44 points; 3. Saint Mary's, 34 points; 4. San Francisco & Santa Clara, 26 points; 6. San Diego, 21 points; 7. Pepperdine, 13 points; 8. Loyola Marymount, 12 points.
COACH GRIER (3RD YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990), 46, is in his third season at the helm of the USD program... He enters the Portland game with a 9-16 record and three-year mark of 47-46 (.505)... This year's win over #25 Oklahoma was Grier's 4th against a top-25 program... Last year's 16-16 mark was highlighted by road wins over Oregon and Mississippi State... 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. 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 two daughters, Giselle & Ashley.
JACKSON CAREER COMES TO ABRUPT END: Senior guard De'Jon Jackson (Fresno, CA) suffered a season-ending injury (ALC tear in left knee) in USD's 72-70 overtime loss to USF last Thursday. This season Jackson appeared in 22 games with 21 starts and was 2nd on the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game. Additionally, he averaged 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.3 steals. He shot 42.3 percent from the floor (88-208), 36.1% from beyond the arc (35-97) and ranked second in the WCC with his 87.1% clip (54-62) from the free throw line. He reached double digit scoring in 13 games with a season-high 22 points in an 82-78 home loss to New Mexico. One of the school's most consistent and toughest performers at both ends of the floor throughout his career, De'Jon made USD's biggest basket in school history on March 21, 2008, when his step-back 18-footer with 1.2 seconds left in overtime gave the Toreros an improbable 70-69 victory over 15th-ranked Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament in Tampa, Florida. For his career he appeared in 113 games with 82 starts and finished with 880 points (7.8 average), 342 rebounds (3.0 average), 248 assists (2.1 average) and 105 steals. His final shooting numbers were 39.7% from the floor (310-779), 31.6% from three-point range (75-237) and a solid 74.2% from the free throw line (185-249). He reached double-digit scoring in 36 contests, four times going for 20 or more points. His career-high for a game came on March 8, 2008 when he netted 24 points in a 73-55 victory over Pepperdine at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in the quarterfinals of the 2008 WCC Tournament.
GAME #25: SCU BRONCOS DEAL TOREROS 59-43 LOSS (FEB. 6): Down just 2 points at halftime to the visiting SCU Broncos, the Toreros were outscored 33-19 over the final 20 minutes of action as they converted just 5-of-18 field goal attempts in the 2nd half... Although all 11 Toreros that played scored at least 1 point, no player managed to reach double-digits... Senior Roberto Mafra led the way with 8 points and was followed by junior guard Devin Ginty... Senior guard Brandon Johnson, who missed Friday's practice due to a stomach bug, and who wasn't at 100% for the game, finished with 6 points (2-8 shooting) and 3 assists... SCU was paced by Robert Smith (16 pts).
GAME #24: USF DONS RALLY FOR 72-70 OVERTIME WIN OVER TOREROS (FEB. 4): The USD Toreros dropped a hard-fought 72-70 overtime decision to San Francisco Thursday night... With the Toreros holding a 70-68 lead in the closing seconds of overtime, USF's Michael Williams connected on a three-pointer from the left wing with 4 seconds left; he was fouled by Matt Dorr on the play and converted the free throw for the final 72-70 score... USD senior guard Brandon Johnson, who scored a team-high 25 points, got off a three-point attempt at the buzzer but was off the mark... USD's Chris Lewis (13 points, 8 rebounds) sent the game into overtime when he canned a three from in front of the USD bench with 9 ticks left in regulation to knot the score at 58-all... USF's Dior Lowhorn led all scorers with 26 points while Williams chipped in with 20 points.
JOHNSON CLOSING IN ON USD SCORING RECORD: With his 6 point outing against Santa Clara, senior Brandon Johnson (1,721 points) needs just 5 points to break former teammate Gyno Pomare's USD scoring record of 1,725 points ... Johnson has scored in double-digits in 16 of the 23 games he has played this season, including a career-high 31 points in the team's 77-68 home loss to Mississippi State... He leads the team in scoring with his 14.6 points per game... Already the school's all-time assist leader (504), when Johnson passes by Pomare, he'll become the first player in WCC history to lead his team in both career points and assists. TOREROS ON THE ROAD: This season USD owns a record of 3-6 in "true" away games and 5-9 overall in all games played away from the Jenny Craig Pavilion... Brandon Johnson leads active USD players in "true" away game scoring (10.1 ppg) and for all 14 away games (12.2 ppg)... For all away games, USD is averaging 60.8 ppg and shooting 37.9 percent from the field; Torero opponents are averaging 65.4 ppg and converting 44.3 percent from the floor... Over Thanksgiving week the Toreros placed 2nd at the Great Alaska Shootout, beating #25 Oklahoma (76-64) and Houston (72-65), then falling to Washington St. in final (93-56)... Brandon Johnson, De'Jon Jackson and Chris Lewis were named to the 10-player All-Tourney team.
USD RANKINGS IN WCC STATISTICS (as of Feb. 7th): As a team among WCC schools for all games played the Toreros rank 1st in scoring defense (66.2) and turnover margin (+0.2); 2nd in free throw percentage (.726), and 3rd in 3-pointers made per game (6.9)... USD Toreros that rank in the top-10 among all WCC players include Brandon Johnson (1st in steals, 1.8; 6th in 3-pointers made, 2.1; 7th in scoring, 14.6 ppg; 7th in assist-turnover ratio, +1.5; 8th in assists, 3.3; and 10th in FT%, .779); De'Jon Jackson (2nd in FT%, .871; and 7th in steals, 1.4); Roberto Mafra (10th in FG%, .491; 7th in blocks, 0.7); Chris Lewis (9th in rebounding, 6.1), and Matt Dorr (3rd in 3-PT%, .481)... For WCC contests only, USD ranks 1st in steals (7.6) and turnover margin (+2.7), and 2nd in scoring defense (64.2).
SCOUTING THE PORTLAND PILOTS: The Pilots (14-8; 5-3 WCC) saw their four-game winning streak snapped last Thursday with a 76-49 road loss at Gonzaga... Portland currently holds down 3rd place in the WCC standings behind Saint Mary's (8-1) and Gonzaga (7-1)... Portland struggled with their shooting against the Zags making 35.8% fromt the field (19-53) and 27.3% from three-point land (6-22)... The Pilots found themselves down 41-21 at intermission... Forwards Robin Smeulders (12 points) and Ethan Niedermeyer (11 points) were the lone Pilots to reach double digits... On the season four Pilots average in double-digit scoring: guard Nik Raivio (14.1 ppg), Smeulders (13.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg), guard T.J. Campbell (12.9 ppg) and guard Jared Stohl (10.9 ppg) off the bench... The Pilots are 8-2 in home games this season... In WCC play the Pilots are averaging 71.1 points and 33.9 rebounds while holding league opponents to 62.6 ppg and 31.1 rpg... Head Coach Eric Reveno (3rd year) owns a record of 32-53.
|
|
 |
