Nov. 23, 2007
USD-South Alabama Game Notes 
GAME #6: The University of San Diego men's basketball team, under the direction of first year head coach Bill Grier, will take on the South Alabama Jaguars (2-2) today in second day action at the inaugural Anaheim Classic. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. (ESPNU). Saturday is an off day with the tourney concluding on Sunday.
SERIES RECORD: This is just the second meeting between these two programs with the Jaguars holding a 1-0 lead... South Alabama beat USD 77-72 on Dec. 3rd, 1989 in the consolation game of the St. John's Tournament.
TV/RADIO/INTERNET: The game is being televised by ESPNU... Steve Physioc (play-by-play) and Bob Wenzel (color analyst) call the action. The game will also air live on XX Sports Radio (1090 AM & 105.7 FM) with Andy Masur (play-by-play) bringing you all the action with pregame beginning at 6:45 pm. The audio broadcast is also available at www.usdtoreros.com and www.XXSportsRadio.com.
COACH GRIER (1ST YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990) is in his first season at the helm of the USD program, and also his first head coaching position at the NCAA Division I level. He brings a record of 2-3 into the South Alabama game. 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. The 44-year-old Grier spent the past 16 years at Gonzaga University, including the last 8 seasons as Mark Few's top assistant. Over the past eight years Gonzaga compiled a 21-52 record; won the WCC regular-season title seven times; the WCC Tournament title seven times; advanced to the NCAA Tournament eight times, including three trips to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Overall with Grier as an assistant coach, the Bulldogs combined for an overall record of 381-126; won 11 regular-season WCC titles; won nine WCC Tournament titles (33-7 WCC Tournament record); advanced to nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments, and ten overall, including four Sweet 16 appearances and the 1999 Elite Eight. Bill and his wife, Nicole, have one daughter, Giselle.
TOREROS BATTLE USC - DROP 60-50 DECISION: The USD Toreros dropped a hardfought 60-50 decision to the USC Trojans Thursday at the Anaheim Classic... San Diego battled all night against the athletic Trojans, but 22 turnovers and struggles in the shooting department probably was the difference... Behind 13 first half points from Brandon Johnson, the Toreros were within 27-23 heading into the intermission break... USC opened the 2nd half with a 7-0 run to take a 34-23 lead, but the Toreros continued to battle and stay in the game... Trailing 47-37 with 5:41 to go, USD's De'Jon Jackson connected on back-to-back buckets, the seond a three-pointer, to pull USD to within 47-42 with 4:21 to go... A Ray Murdock three-pointer with 2:08 to go made it 51-47, but Murdock's three-point attempt at the 1:17 mark rimmed out that would have made it a 1-point game... From there O.J. Mayo scored the next 5 points to put the Trojans up 56-47, and after a Brandon Johnson trey, USC closed out the game making 4 straight free throws... USD's Johnson was the lone Torero in double figures with 19 points.
SCOUTING THE SOUTH ALABAMA JAGUARS: The South Alabama Jaguars dropped a 64-59 decision to Miami-Ohio to fall to 2-2 on the season... The Jaguars rallied late to make it a game, but couldn't overcome the 2nd half play of Michael Bramos who scored 25 of his 28 points in the final 20 minutes for the Redhawks (2-0)... Junior forward Brandon Davis led the Jaguars with 13 points & 7 rebounds, but South Alabama managed to make just 8-of-21 free throw attempts (.381)... Four-game leaders for the Jaguars include senior guard Demetric Bennett (16.8 ppg), senior guard Daon Merritt (12.0 ppg) and junior guard Domonic Tilford (11.3 ppg)... Head Coach Ronnie Arrow is in his second stint with the Jaguars - he previously held the head post for South Alabama between 1987-94... He has 2 starters and 6 letterwinners back from last year's 20-12 club.
SAN DIEGO - SOUTH ALABAMA CONNECTION: The late Bill Musselman was the Jaguars head coach for two seasons between 1995-97, taking the Jaguars to the NCAA Tournament in 1997 with the team finishing 23-7 overall and 14-4 in the Sun Belt Conference... Musselman's son, Eric, is a 1987 USD graduate who played four years (1983-87) for the Toreros with two of those teams advancing to the NCAA Tournament (1984 & 1987)... Eric is also a former NBA head coach for both the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings.
ANDY MASUR & JOHN KENTERA TEAM UP ON XX SPORTS RADIO: Andy Masur will call all the Torero basketball games, home and away, on XX Sports Radio (1090 AM & 105.7 FM)... He will be joined by color analyst John Kentera for home contests.
TOREROS PICKED THIRD IN WCC PRESEASON COACHES POLL: The USD men's basketball team has been picked to finish in 3rd place in the WCC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll. Gonzaga edged out Saint Mary's as the favorite to capture their eighth consecutive regular-season WCC crown. The Zags earned 5 first place votes and 61 points, followed by Saint Mary's with 3 first place votes and 59 points. The Toreros (43 points) were followed by Santa Clara (38), San Francisco (34), Pepperdine (22), Portland (16) and Loyola Marymount (15).
WEST COAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO SAN DIEGO: The Jenny Craig Pavilion will be the site for the 2008 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships (Mar. 6-10). San Diego last hosted this event for a three-year run between 2001-03. For the sixth consecutive season, the men's championships will use an 8-team/Play-in format, while the women's championships will use the traditional 1 vs. 8 format with no byes for the fourth straight year. The men's games will begin on March 7th.
