Dec. 26, 2007
USD-Kentucky Game Notes 
GAMES #15 & #16: The University of San Diego men's basketball team (6-8), under the direction of first year head coach Bill Grier, will close out 2007 with first time games at the University of Kentucky (Dec. 29th) and Marshall University (Dec. 31st).
SERIES RECORD: This is the first meeting for USD against both Kentucky & Marshall.
TV/RADIO/INTERNET: Saturday's 11:00 a.m. (PST) game at Kentucky will air live on ESPN2. Lou Canellis (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (color analyst) call the action. Both games will also be broadcast on XX Sports Radio (1090 AM & 105.7 FM) with Andy Masur (p-by-p) bringing you all the action. The audio broadcast is also available at www.usdtoreros.com and www.XXSportsRadio.com.
WCC STANDINGS (thru Dec. 26): Saint Mary's (10-1), Gonzaga (9-3), Santa Clara (7-5), San Diego (6-8), Pepperdine (5-8), Portland (4-8), San Francisco (4-8), LMU (3-10).
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 6-8 into the Kentucky 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, 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 BEAT TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO 69-54: The USD Toreros (6-8) snapped their 3-game skid with an all-around solid 69-54 victory over visiting Texas-San Antonio (5-5). Junior guard Brandon Johnson scored a game-high 18 points, and was followed by Gyno Pomare (15 points, 3 blocks), Rob Jones (13 points, 8 rebounds), and Trumaine Johnson (10 points). The Toreros converted 57.1% of their shots (28-49) and outrebounded UTSA, 28-24. "I'm really pleased with the guys in the way they responded after being off with finals, and coming off a tough loss to Stephen F. Austin," stated head coach Bill Grier. "We got good guard play, especially in the first half, and Gyno continues to be very efficient. We did a good job spreading things out and driving to the basket." In the first half UTSA jumped out to a 7-point lead at 11-4 with 14:42 to go. USD took its first lead of the game at 19-18 on a Gyno Pomare dunk with 8:38 to go. With the game tied at 26-all with 5:50 left in the first half, USD closed out the half on a 14-2 run led by Brandon Johnson's 8 points including at three-pointer with 00:31 seconds left. In the 2nd half USD extended their lead to as many as 16 points at 46-30, then saw the Roadrunners battle back to within 6 points at 49-43 with 9:27 to go. Rob Jones scored 5 of the team's next 7 points that gave USD a 12-point cushion, and that would be as close as UTSA would get. UTSA was led by Melvin Smith off the bench with 14 points.
TORERO TIDBITS: Among all WCC players, Brandon Johnson ranks 5th in scoring (16.1 ppg), 4th in steals (2.00), 5th in assists (3.36), 3rd in 3-pointers made per game (1.93) and 5th in assist/turnover ratio (+1.04); Gyno Pomare ranks 8th in scoring (14.8), 7th in rebounding (6.9), 3rd in field goal percentage (.583), 2nd in offensive rebounds per game (2.93) and 7th in blocked shots (0.93)... Pomare leads the team with 3 double-doubles this season, the last coming against SDSU (20/10)... The 6-8 junior from Oceanside owns 13 career double "D's"... Brandon Johnson sits in the 4th spot all-time for career dishes with 321 - Dana White (1997-01) holds down the #3 spot with 325... Pomare, with 512 career rebounds, needs 29 caroms to move into the 5th spot all-time among USD's Division I records (1979-present).
TOREROS ON THE ROAD: USD is 1-3 in "true" away games, and just 2-5 overall in games played away from the JCP... Torero road wins include their season-opening 73-72 victory at Hawaii, and a 60-57 neutral site win over UC Irvine at the Anaheim Classic... Brandon Johnson leads the Toreros in scoring away from the JCP at 17.3 ppg... He is followed by Gyno Pomare (11.9 ppg/6.9 rpg)... USD is averaging 59.7 ppg, but giving up 68.0 ppg.
TORERO 1,000 POINT CLUB: During the past 52 seasons (1955-2007) of USD men's basketball, there have been just 20 Toreros to reach the 1,000 point mark... The most recent addition to this list was guard Ross DeRogatis last season who sits tied at #15 with 1,090 points... This year's squad has two juniors that will crack this milestone this season - Gyno Pomare (995 points) and Brandon Johnson (913 points). With his upcoming 5th point, Pomare will become just the 12th Torero to total 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds - he currently owns 512 career rebounds.
SCOUTING THE KENTUCKY WILDCATS: Kentucky (5-5) snapped a four-game skid with a 69-47 home win over Tennessee Tech on Dec. 22nd... Patrick Patterson, a 6-9 freshman, posted season-highs with 24 points and 15 rebounds as Kentucky snapped its longest losing streak in 17 years... The Wildcats, under the direction of first year head coach Billy Gillispie, are 5-2 in home games... The two home losses are to Gardner-Webb (84-68) and North Carolina (86-77)... Patterson leads the team in scoring (17.2) and rebounding (8.9)... He is followed by 6-5 senior Joe Crawford (16.9 ppg), 6-2 senior Ramel Bradley (12.4 ppg) and 6-4 sophomore Jodie Meeks (11.7 ppg)... For the season UK is averaging 70.2 ppg and 35.1 rpg while holding opponents to 63.0 ppg and 32.2 rpg.
A LOOK AT MARSHALL: The Thundering Herd improved to 6-3 with last Saturday's 66-60 home win over Princeton... Junior Markel Humphrey tallied game-highs of 19 points and 7 rebounds in the win... The victory was also Marshall's 6th straight at home this season, and 7th straight dating b ack to last season... Season leaders include Humphrey (16.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg), 6-2 senior guard Mark Dorris (12.9 ppg) and 6-6 freshman forward Tirrell Baines (12.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg)... First year head coach Donnie Jones inherits 3 starters and 8 lettermen from last year's 13-19 club (7-9 in Conference USA)... Marshall will take on Lipscomb on Dec. 29th before hosting the Toreros on New Year's Eve.
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.
UP NEXT: Following this trip the Toreros will return to San Diego for their final tuneup before WCC play. USD will host Cal State Bakersfield on January 9th before opening up league play against USF (Jan. 12th).
