Nov. 30, 2007
USD-Hawaii Game Notes 
GAME #9: The University of San Diego men's basketball team, under the direction of first year head coach Bill Grier, return home this Sunday for a rematch game against the Univ. of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. Game time is 2:05 p.m. at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
SERIES RECORD: This is the 7th meeting between these two teams and the Toreros own a commanding 5-1 advantage... USD coach Bill Grier earned a 73-72 win over Hawai'i in his collegiate debut back on November 9th... This is just the second meeting between these two teams in San Diego, the first coming during the 1976-77 campaign... USD has won five straight, and by two or less points in the last three meetings - 65-64 ('92-93), 65-63 (2000-01) and 73-72 (this year's season opener).
RADIO/INTERNET: The game will air live on XX Sports Radio (1090 AM & 105.7 FM) with Andy Masur (play-by-play) and John Kentera (color analyst) bringing you all the action. Pregame begins at 1:45 pm. The audio broadcast is also available at www.usdtoreros.com and www.XXSportsRadio.com.
WCC STANDINGS (as of Nov. 29): Saint Mary's (5-0), Gonzaga (6-1), Santa Clara (5-1), San Francisco (3-3), Pepperdine (3-4), San Diego (3-5), Portland (2-5), LMU (2-5).
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 3-5 into the Hawaii 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 DROP 77-71 DECISION AT BOISE STATE: The USD Toreros dropped a 77-71 decision to the Boise State Broncos at the Taco Bell Center Wednesday evening in Boise, Idaho. Brandon Johnson scored a game-high 23 points but the host Broncos shot 55.1% from the field while the Toreros managed just 43.1% overall and just 3-18 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. Chris Lewis chipped in with a double-double of 11 points & 10 rebounds, and Rob Jones added 10 points and 8 boards. Gyno Pomare pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds as the Toreros outrebounded the Broncos, 45-27. The host Broncos bombed in 8 of 19 three-pointers and were led by Reggie Larry (20 points) and Matt Nelson (19 points, 11 boards). USD trailed 39-35 at halftime, and everytime they made a run in the 2nd half, Boise State answered and pushed the lead back up.
TORERO TIDBITS: Among WCC players, Brandon Johnson ranks 4th in scoring (17.1 ppg), 3rd in steals (2.38), 6th in assists (3.5), 10th in free throw shooting (.783) and 11th in assist/turnover ratio (0.93); Gyno Pomare ranks 8th in scoring (13.8), 6th in rebounding (8.0), 8th in field goal percentage (.545); Ray Murdock ranks 9th in blocked shots (0.75)... USD has just 18 former Toreros that have scored 1,000+ career points in the men's program - juniors Gyno Pomare (898 points) and Brandon Johnson (824 points) are both on track to reach this plateau in their third season... Pomare also owns 479 career rebounds while Johnson has 302 career assists... The Toreros return to the JCP Wednesday to take on San Jose State (7 pm)... USD is currently 1-2 in games played at the JCP this season - Torero leaders at the JCP include Pomare (17.7 ppg/8.7 rpg), B. Johnson (14.7 ppg) and Murdock (10.3 ppg)... USD is averaging 68.7 ppg while giving up 70.3... The Toreros are also outrebounding their opponents in games at the JCP - 35.3 to 28.0.
SCOUTING THE HAWAII RAINBOW WARRIORS: Hawaii comes to town with a 2-3 record... The Rainbow Warriors are coming off an easy 79-58 home win over Coppin State on Nov. 27th... After missing the first four games of the season, senior point guard Matt Gibson returned to the lineup and led UH with a team-high 18 points and six assists... Prior to Coppin State they dropped a hardfought 79-77 decision to Illinois, beat Alcorn State (84-55) and lost at New Mexico (89-60)... 6-6 senior forward Bobby Nash, the son of first-year head coach Bob Nash (Hawaii, 1984), is the team's leading scorer at 18.6 ppg... 6-5 senior wing Riley Luettgerodt is chipping in 15.6 ppg and 6-5 Jared Dillinger is adding 12.0 ppg a game... Coach Nash is no stranger to the program, having spent nearly three decades at UH as a player and coach, the last 20 as an associate coach - he replaced Riley Wallace (program-best 334 wins)... UH returns seven seniors and three starters from last year's 18-13 club... A member of the WAC, they finished 8-8 in league last year, good for 5th place... This season they are picked to finish 6th in a vote by both media and coaches
TOREROS WIN OPENER OVER HAWAII (Nov. 9): The Toreros opened their 2007-08 campaign with a solid 73-72 win at Hawaii. With the game tied at 72-all and UH with the ball, Gyno Pomare stole a pass and dribbled the length of the floor where he was fouled with two seconds left. He made the first of two free throws to seal the win. Pomare finished with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, while guard Brandon Johnson ran the team and scored a team-high 19 points. USD shot the ball well in the first half in building a 40-33 intermission lead. In fact, the Toreros made their first six three-point attempts. USD held a 14 point lead (37-23) with 3:15 to go after a Nathan Lozeau bucket, but the Rainbows closed out the final three minutes on a 10-3 run. Hawaii came out of the break and quicky established itself as Bobby Nash hit a three to make it 40-36, but every time UH made a run, USD answered with a key bucket. The game stayed close throughout and the host Rainbows tied the game at 70-all with 1:31 to go on a trey by Jared Dillinger. They took their first lead of the game with 0:43 seconds left on a Riley Luettgerodt bucket, but Pomare knotted it at 72-all with 0:21 seconds, then provided the last second heroics. Rob Jones would finish the game with 8 points and 9 rebounds in 32 minutes of action in his first collegiate game. Ray Murdock also added 8 points, while Chris Lewis (7 points) and Danny Brown (6 points) contributed as well. For the game the Toreros shot 45.9% from the field (28-61), 53.8% from 3-point range (10-21) and outrebounded UH, 44-40.
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.
UP NEXT: USD's next home game will be on Wednesday, Dec. 5th, against the San Jose State Spartans. Game time is 7:05 p.m. at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
