Nov. 17, 2008
GAME #2: The University of San Diego men's basketball team (0-1), under the direction of 2nd-year head coach Bill Grier, open up their home schedule on Tuesday, November 18th, with a contest against the Nevada Wolf Pack (1-0). Game time is 7:05 pm at the JCP. USD will be raising both its WCC Tournament and NCAA Tournament banners.
SERIES RECORD: This is the15th meeting between USD and Nevada with the Wolf Pack owning an 11-3 advantage... Nevada has won two straight, including last year's 76-62 victory in Reno on December 12th... Gyno Pomare (22 points) and Brandon Johnson (18 points) paced USD; Nevada's Brandon Fields (17) led five players in double digits.
TV/RADIO/INTERNET: The game is being televised locally on Channel 4 San Diego (Steve Quis & Jim Brogan), as well as by the Nevada Sports Network (Rich Cellini & Dave Bollwinkel). The radio broadcast will air on XX Sports Radio 1090 AM with Andy Masur (play-by-play) and John Kentera (color analyst) bringing you all the action.
COACH GRIER (2ND YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990), 45, enters his season season at the helm of the USD program... 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 BATTLE UNLV TOUGH BUT COME UP SHORT IN 65-60 LOSS: In their season opener on Saturday against UNLV, the Toreros shook off a slow start and gave the Runnin' Rebels everything they could handle before coming up short in a tough 65-60 loss... USD, playing without the services of De'Jon Jackson (knee) and three suspended players (Gyno Pomare, Trumaine Johnson, Clinton Houston), fell behind 12-4 out of the gates, but battled back to take five different leads in the first half, the last coming at 28-27 with 2:09 left on a Roberto Mafra tip-in...From there UNLV closed out the half with a 6-2 run... Danny Brown came off the bench to spark the Toreros in the first half by canning all three of his three-point attempts... In the 2nd half USD fell behind by as many as seven points, but would battle back to take the lead on three occasions, the last at 58-57 with 2:34 to go as Brandon Johnson cashed in on two free throws... From there UNLV would make 8-of-10 free throws to hold off the Toreros... Sophomore forward Rob Jones paced USD with 19 points and 10 rebounds... Brandon Johnson chipped in with 14 points, 5 assists and 3 steals, but struggle with his shooting (3-14 overall; 0-6 in threes)... Danny Brown finished with 9 points, while newcomers Roberto Mafra (8 points, 6 rebounds) and Matt Dorr (3 points, 4 rebounds) both played 30+ minutes.
TOREROS IN THE COMMUNITY: Along with raising the 2008 WCC Tournament Championship banner in USD's home opener against Nevada on November 18th, the Toreros are excited to be a part of the first annual San Diego "Tee-Off and Tip-Off" charity event. The two-day event, which culminates with a VIP reception and the USD-Nevada game, includes a dinner and auction at Fairbanks Ranch Country Club and a golf tournament with celebrity participation at La Costa Resort. Proceeds from these activities benefit the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund and San Diego-based Father Joe's Village. For further information and opportunities to participate, visit www.TEEandTIP.com. During the month of October the entire USD men's basketball team participated in the Making Strides against Breast Cancer Walk and the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes.
UPDATE ON TORERO SUSPENSIONS: On November 14th, Coach Grier announced the disciplinary timelines for three Toreros serving suspensions for unrelated violations of team rules - senior center Gyno Pomare (Oceanside, CA), sophomore forward Clinton Houston (Dallas, TX) and sophomore guard Trumaine Johnson (Houston, TX). In addition to having sat out the LBSU scrimmage and CSLA exhibition, Pomare served a one-game suspension (UNLV game) for violation of team rules. He is being reinstated for the Nevada game on Tuesday. Houston is serving a six-game suspension and will be reinstated to play December 1st provided he meets the criteria for reinstatement. His suspension is for a second violation of team rules. Houston continues to practice with the team but will not travel until his suspension has been served. Johnson has been suspended indefinitely due to behavior unbecoming of a USD student-athlete. His suspension will be re-evaluated when the team returns from the Paradise Jam Tournament. At that time, if he has taken the necessary steps to improve his behavior and has met certain criteria he will be reinstated; if he doesn't he will be faced with continued suspension or dismissal from the team. "These suspensions are for unrelated incidents," said head coach Bill Grier. "I am extremely disappointed with Gyno, Clinton and Trumaine. As a member of this basketball program and as a student-athlete at USD, there are expected standards of behavior on and off the floor, as well as in the classroom to be upheld. I am hopeful that all three will learn from their mistakes and understand that the decisions they make have a tremendous impact on our team and university."
WCC PRESEASON COACHES POLL: At the WCC Basketball Media Day that was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in mid-October, the Toreros were selected third in the WCC Preseason Head Coaches Poll. The Toreros, who return all five starters from last year's WCC Tournament championship team, received 39 points along with one first place vote. Gonzaga University, with 46 points (5 first place votes), edged out Saint Mary's College (44 points; 2 first place votes). Rounding out the coaches 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 points).
SCOUTING THE NEVADA WOLF PACK: Nevada comes to town with a 1-0 record after opening up their season with a 72-63 road win over Montana State... The Wolf Pack jumped out to a commanding 44-28 halftime lead... Freshman forward Luke Babbitt tallied a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds... Sophomore guard Armon Johnson came off the bench to chip in with 16 points and 7 rebounds, and junior wing Ray Kraemer added 12 points... Guard Lyndale Burleson is the lone senior on the nine-player Wolf Pack roster... Head Coach Mark Fox returns 7 lettermen and 2 starters from last year's 21-12 team that went 12-4 in the WAC and captured a share of its fifth consecutive WAC regular-season championship... Armon Johnson was tabbed the 2008 WAC Freshman of the Year... JaVale McGee was taken in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, and was the 18th overall pick in the draft.
TOREROS HEADING TO PARADISE JAM TOURNAMENT: Following the Nevada game the Toreros will head to the U.S. Virgin Islands where they will participate in a three-day, eight-team tournament. The Toreros will face Valparaiso in their opener on November 1st (4:30 p.m. local site time), followed by either Iona or Wisconsin in the second contest... The four other teams include Southern Miss, Miami, La Salle and Connecticut.
SAN DIEGO PARTICPATING IN BRACKETBUSTERS: The Toreros will be part of 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 from the pool of 102 teams. USD is one of 14 teams that appeared in last year's NCAA Tournament. The actual selection of participating teams will take place on February 2, 2009.
WCC TOURNAMENT HEADING TO LAS VEGAS: The Toreros will make a return trip to Las Vegas in March when the 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... Tickets are going fast... For more information visit WCCSPORTS.COM or USDTOREROS.COM.
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