Nov. 28, 2008
GAME #6: The University of San Diego men's basketball team (2-3), under the direction of 2nd-year head coach Bill Grier, will try to snap a two-game skid following back-to-back losses to top-25 teams (#25 Wisconsin & #22 Miami) when they host San Diego Christian College on Saturday, Nov. 29th, at 2:00 p.m. at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
SERIES RECORD: This is the first meeting between USD and San Diego Christian.
RADIO/INTERNET: The game will be broadcast on XX Sports Radio 1090 AM with Andy Masur (play-by-play) and John Kentera (color analyst) bringing you the action. The game can also be picked up via the internet at www.usdtoreros.com.
WCC STANDINGS (thru Nov. 27th): #9 Gonzaga (3-0), San Francisco (4-1), Portland (3-1), Saint Mary's (3-1), San Diego (2-3), Pepperdine (1-4), Santa Clara (1-4), LMU (0-5).
COACH GRIER (2ND YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990), 45, is in his season season at the helm of the USD program... He enters the San Diego Christian game with a career record of 24-17... 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.
#22 MIAMI RUNS PAST TOREROS, 80-45 (Nov. 24th): The 22nd-ranked Miami Hurricanes had too many weapons for the Toreros in the 3rd place game of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam as they came away with a convincing 80-45 victory... In the first half the Toreros fell behind 19-8 with 11:39 to go, but battled back to get within four points (32-28) on a Brandon Johnson three-pointer with 3:39 left... Miami would close out the half on a strong note in taking a 38-30 intermission lead... In the second half USD would pull to within five points (40-35) with 17:51 to go on a jumper by Gyno Pomare, but that would be as close as San Diego would get... Over the next 8 1/2 minutes Miami strung together a 20-0 run to run away with the contest... USD junior forward Chris Lewis turned in a solid effort as he totaled a team-high 11 points to go with 6 rebounds... Johnson chipped in with 10 points and 3 assists... Miami had six players score 8 or more points with Brian Asbury leading four double-digit scorers with 14 points.
FINAL PARADISE JAM STANDINGS: 1st Place, #2 Connecticut; 2nd Place, #25 Wisconsin; 3rd Place, #22 Miami; 4th Place, Southern Mississippi; 5th Place, San Diego; 6th Place, Iona; 7th Place, La Salle; 8th Place, Valparaiso. Second-ranked UCONN downed Wisconsin by the score of 76-57 in the championship game... UCONN's Hasheem Thabeet was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
#25 WISCONSIN TOO MUCH FOR TOREROS, 64-49 (Nov. 23rd): The Toreros battled No. 25 Wisconsin, but struggled on the offensive end of the floor in falling to the Badgers, 64-49. UW's Trevon Hughes scored 22 points to lead the Badgers into the title game against No. 2 UCONN. San Diego will play No. 16 Miami for 3rd place. USD was paced by senior guard Brandon Johnson who scored 19 points and converted 5-of-8 from beyond the three-point arc. Sophomore forward Rob Jones, who entered the game as the team's leading scorer, picked up two quick fouls and only played 4 minutes in the first half as USD went into the locker room trailing 26-20. Although USD made some runs at the Badgers in the second half, they didn't convert on opportunities that would have pulled them to within one point on a couple of occasions. At the end of the game USD fouled to stop the clock and Wisconsin pulled away for the final 64-49 score. Wisconsin shot 48.8 percent, while holding the Toreros to 34.5 percent, and had a 22-16 advantage in points in the paint. The Badgers also had a 20-11 advantage in points off turnovers. USD's Gyno Pomare was the only other Torero in double digits with 10 points. UW forward Keaton Nankivil added 10 for the Badgers.
SCOUTING THE SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN HAWKS: San Diego Christian is an NAIA program located in nearby El Cajon, California... The Hawks are off to a 2-2 start and are coming off a 65-56 win over Trevecca Nazarene of Tennessee on Nov. 21st... Junior center Paul Wolf paced the Hawks with 10 points and 11 rebounds... Senior guard Kevin Dillon chipped in with 13 points... Their Nov. 20th game scheduled against Pacific Union was cancelled... San Diego Christian played Pepperdine University in an exhibition on Nov. 11th and dropped a 88-63 decision... Sophomore forward Viktar Asaciovas (Lithuania) led the Hawks with 12 points against the Waves... SDCC opened the year with a 78-62 win over UC Santa Cruz, then dropped back-to-back games against Westminster (93-61) and Montana Western (71-69)... Second-year coach Jason Smith returns 3 starters and 4 lettermen from last year's 5-23 team.
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 pts).
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.
UP NEXT FOR USD: Following Saturday's game USD will play two road games at CS Bakersfield (Dec. 1; 7 pm) and across town at San Diego State (Dec. 6th; 7 pm).
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