Feb. 11, 2004
GAMES #24 & #25: The USD Toreros (1-7 WCC; 4-19) play two road games this week at Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. Thursday's game in Malibu will be a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against the Waves (5-4 WCC; 10-14) at Firestone Fieldhouse, while Saturday's contest at LMU (2-7; 11-11) is a 5:00 p.m. start at Gersten Pavilion.
SERIES RECORD: Pepperdine leads the all-time series, 50-19, including this season's contest in San Diego on Jan. 17th (88-79) ... the Waves have won 8 of the last 10 meetings. Loyola Marymount leads the overall series, 34-32; however, USD leads the WCC series, 29-21 ... the Lions won this season's meeting in San Diego on Jan. 15th (76-68) ... that win snapped a 5-game USD win streak in the series.
RADIO/WEBCAST/TV: Both games will be aired on KCBQ 1170 AM with Jerry Gross (play-by-play) and George Young (color) calling the action. The games can also be heard via the internet at www.usdtoreros.com and www.kcbq.com. The Brad Holland Show, hosted by Gross, airs 20 minutes before tipoff. Thursday's game will be telecast by Fox Sports Net2 (Bill Macdonald & Jack Haley), while Saturday's game is part of the WCC television package on Fox Sports Net West (Chris Marlowe & Krista Blunk).
Brad Holland (10TH YEAR): Coach Brad Holland (UCLA, 1979) is in his tenth season at the helm of Torero basketball. Last season he directed the Toreros to an overall 18-12 record and 2nd place finish in the WCC at 10-4. The Toreros won their first WCC Tournament title and played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in sixteen years. In 1999-2000, Holland was chosen WCC Coach of the Year by his peers for the second straight season after he guided the Toreros to a 20-9 mark -- including wins over every WCC foe. In 1998-99 he guided the Toreros to an 18-9 mark and 2nd place finish in the WCC (9-5; tie for 2nd). Holland's USD career mark heading into the Pepperdine game is 148-130; including two seasons at CS Fullerton, his overall coaching record is 171-161. Since the start of 1998-99 season, Holland is 92-75. Holland, who played four years of basketball at UCLA (1976-79), was the 14th player taken in the first round of the 1979 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a member of the 1980 NBA Los Angeles Lakers championship team. Brad and his wife Leslie, who reside in Carlsbad, have three children: twin daughters Kristin and Lisa, seniors at USD, and a 11-year-old son, Kyle.
WCC STANDINGS (thru 2-8-04): #7 Gonzaga (9-0; 19-2), Saint Mary's (5-3; 14-9), Santa Clara (5-4; 13-11), Pepperdine (5-4; 10-14), San Francisco (4-5; 14-11), Portland (4-5; 10-12), Loyola Marymount (2-7; 11-11), San Diego (1-7; 4-19).
TOREROS EARN FIRST WCC VICTORY, DOWN SCU 74-71: The USD men's basketball team defeated visiting Santa Clara 74-71 to earn their first WCC victory of the season and snap their 11-game skid. Junior center Brice Vounang scored a season-best 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting and Brandon Gay (18 points/10 rebounds) and Nick Lewis (11 points/14 rebounds) each contributed double-doubles in the winning effort. San Diego led at halftime for just the 5th time this season in taking a 32-27 intermission lead. Freshman guard Avi Fogel, who made four treys at Santa Clara on Thursday, buried one just before the halftime buzzer. In the 2nd half USD extended their lead to 7 points right away with a Vounang bucket, but then Santa Clara went on a 13-0 run to take a 40-34 lead with 16:48 to go. Both teams battled back and forth with Santa Clara taking a 53-46 advantage at the 8:27 mark on a Jim Howell jumper. Then Vounang (4 points) and Gay ( 6 points) went to work getting the Toreros back to a one point lead at 58-57 with 4:41 to go. The Toreros moved to a 67-57 lead with 1:47 to go before Santa Clara put another scare in USD and got within 2 points at 73-71 with :05 seconds left as Doron Perkins hit a trey and was fouled and made the charity. SCU fouled Brett Melton on the inbounds and he canned the second of two chances. SCU's Kyle Bailey, who matched USD's Vounang with 26 points, shot a running desperation three at the buzzer and it was long. San Diego outrebounded the Broncos 41-36, and turned the ball over just 14 times on the night. USD also executed better at the free throw line canning 71.4% (25-35). Santa Clara attempted 45 treys and made just 13 (28.9%). Deron Perkins added 19 points for the Broncos.
TORERO TIDBITS: The Toreros snapped their 11-game skid with their 74-71 win over SCU ... USD will now look for their first road win of the season where they are currently 0-14 this season ... Brice Vounang continues to lead the team in scoring ( 16.9 ppg), rebounding (6.9 rpg) and FG% (.546) - all three marks rank him 3rd among WCC players ... Brandon Gay ranks second on the team in both departments - 13.7 ppg (11th WCC) and 6.6 rpg (4th in WCC) ... Mike McGrain continues to rank second in the WCC in assists (6.6) ... in USD's 14 away games the Toreros are averaging just 64.4 ppg while giving up 81.0 ppg to its road opponents.
TRIO OF JUNIORS SOLID IN WCC PLAY: USD has three juniors playing their first season of WCC play and all three are making their mark - Brice Vounang, coming off 26 points against Santa Clara, is averaging 19.9 ppg, 8.4 rpg and shooting 58.8% in 8 WCC games ... Brandon Gay is close behind with averages of 15.6 ppg & 8.3 rpg, and Brett Melton is scoring at a 13.9 ppg clip, including 50.9% accuracy in three-point shots in WCC play.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Pepperdine is coming off a 71-67 win at Portland following a 93-73 loss at Gonzaga on Thursday ... Glen McGowan totaled 28 points/13 rebounds in win over Portland while Yakhouba Diawara paced four Waves with 24 points in loss at Gonzaga ... Diawara, who has played in just 7 games, is averaging 20.0 ppg ... McGowan averages 17.6 ppg and 5.5 rpg ... the Waves are 6-4 at home this season. Loyola Marymount dropped both games in the Pacific Northwest to Portland (74-59) and Gonzaga (87-57) ... their two WCC wins are over USD and Saint Mary's at home (82-77) on Jan. 31st ... forward Sherman Gay leads the Lions in scoring at 15.8 ppg ... he is followed by Keith Kincade (12.0 ppg) and Charles Brown (11.5 ppg) ... Chris Ayer is the team's top rebounder at 5.9 ppg ... LMU is 6-5 at home this season ... after opening the season 5-0, LMU has gone 6-11 since December 6th.
TORERO MASH UNIT: Junior forward Corey Belser (Tacoma, WA), USD's lone returning starter from last year's 18-12 club that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, was lost for the season in the team's second exhibition on Nov. 7th. After grabbing an offensive rebound 3 minutes into the contest, he injured his right knee. Belser and sophomore guard Travis Smith (right shoulder) are both out for the season. Abdou Sane (leg injury) is still out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his right leg; more than likely he is lost for the remainder of the season. FOLLOW USD ATHLETICS ON THE WEB: Get all the current notes and statistics on San Diego basketball, as well as all USD athletic teams, via the internet at www.usdtoreros.com.
UP NEXT: After LMU the Toreros return home for their final two home games against Saint Mary's on Wednesday, Feb. 18th and San Francisco on Sat., Feb. 21st.
USD PICKED 5TH IN WCC PRESEASON POLL: In the 2003-04 WCC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll the Toreros have been picked to finish 5th. Gonzaga was tabbed as the favorite after receiving 7 first place votes and 49 points. Saint Mary's received one first place vote and tied with Pepperdine for second with 37 points. They were followed by San Francisco (32), San Diego (23), Santa Clara (22), Portland (13) and Loyola Marymount (11).
TORERO SPOTLIGHT ON ESPN 800 AM: Every Tuesday and Friday the University of San Diego will air four 'Torero Spotlights' hosted by Jack Murray. Murray will interview USD coaches and student-athletes and promote upcoming Torero events. The Torero Spotlights air at 8:22 a.m, 1:22 p.m., 4:25 p.m. and 8:20 p.m. every Tuesday and Friday.
WCC TOURNEY RETURNS TO BAY AREA: For the first time in four years, the WCC men's and women's Basketball Championships return to the Bay Area. Santa Clara's Leavey Center will be the site of the 2004 championship, while San Francisco will serve as the host site in 2005. Santa Clara has hosted the men's championship on eight different occasions, and the last time was in 2000. The WCC will again use the championship format that was adopted in 2003 where the #5 through #8 seeds will compete in the opening round to determine who will advance to the next round of the tournament. Waiting for the winners in the quarterfinals will be the #3 and #4 seeds, who will have first round byes. The winners of the quarterfinal match-ups will go head-to-head with the #1 and #2 seeds, who will have byes through the first two rounds of the tournament.
A LOOK BACK: Last season the Toreros finished 18-12, won the West Coast Conference Tournament Championship with a 72-63 win over Gonzaga, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the program's first time in sixteen seasons ... the Toreros dropped a tough 77-69 decision to Stanford in the 1st round of the NCAA's played in Spokane, WA ... USD had the luxury of four seniors in the starting lineup that accounted for 73% of its scoring average of 75.5 ppg ... 6-10 center Jason Keep led the way with averages of 18.0 ppg an 9.1 rpg ... 6-8 forward Jason Blair wasn't far behind at 17.1 ppg and 7.4 rpg ... 6-2 guard Roy Morris chipped in 12.3 ppg and 6-2 point guard Matt Delzell added 8.0 ppg.
