Feb. 24, 2008
USD-SMC Notes 
GAME #29: The USD Toreros (16-12; 9-2 wcc), coming off a 66-62 WCC win at Santa Clara, play a key league contest Monday at #20 Saint Mary's College (23-4; 10-1 wcc). SMC is coming off a 65-57 nonconference home loss to Kent State this past Saturday. With Saturday's win the Toreros secured no worse than a No. 3 seed for the upcoming WCC Tournament.
SERIES RECORD: Monday marks the 64th meeting between USD and SMC with the Toreros holding a 33-30 advantage. This past Jan. 28th the Toreros upset then No. 20 Saint Mary's College, 63-55 - Brandon Johnson scored 20 of his 25 points in the 2nd half.
RADIO/INTERNET: The game will also be broadcast on XX Sports Radio (1090 AM & 105.7 FM) with Andy Masur bringing you the play-by-play. The pre-game show will begin at 6:45 pm. The audio broadcasts are also available at www.usdtoreros.com and www. XXSportsRadio.com.
WCC STANDINGS (thru Feb. 24th): #20/#23 Saint Mary's (10-1 wcc; 23-4), Gonzaga (10-1; 21-6), San Diego (9-2; 16-12), Santa Clara (5-6; 13-13), Pepperdine (4-8; 10-18), San Francisco (3-8; 7-19), Portland (2-9; 8-19), LMU (2-10; 5-23). WCC Games (Feb. 25th) USD at SMC (7 pm), USF at Santa Clara (7 pm), Gonzaga at Portland (8 pm).
COACH GRIER (1ST YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990) is in his first season at the helm of the USD program, and his first at the NCAA Division I level. He brings a record of 16-12 (9-2 wcc) into the Saint Mary's 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 211-52 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 HOLD OFF SANTA CLARA 66-62: Freshman forward Rob Jones scored a game-high 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting to help the USD Toreros defeat Santa Clara 66-62... The win keeps the Toreros just one game back of both Saint Mary's and Gonzaga, with three WCC games to go, and also secures no worse than a No. 3 seed for the upcoming WCC Tournament... USD made the most of their free throws, converting 20-of-23, including 10-of-11 in the final 2 1/2 minutes of play... USD also received double digit scoring from three other starters - Brandon Johnson (14 points, 7 assists, 5 steals), De'Jon Jackson (11 points) and Gyno Pomare (10 points, 8 rebounds)... USD won just their third game this season in fifteen tries when trailing at halftime (30-29)... For the game USD shot 51.2% from the field (22-43) after starting the game just 4-16... SCU was paced by center John Bryant (18 points) and forward Mitch Henke (16 points).
TORERO TIDBITS: Saturday's win at Santa Clara marked USD's fifth straight WCC road victory... The win also secured no worse than a No. 3 seed in the upcoming WCC Tournament, and kept the Toreros in the chase for the WCC championship (one game back of SMC & Gonzaga with three games to go)... A win Monday would also match USD's best ever WCC road record of 6-1 (1986-87), and give USD the tiebreaker edge against the Gaes for WCC Tourney seeding scenarios... USD's win over No. 20 Saint Mary's marked just the third time the Toreros had knocked off a ranked opponent, and the first time in the JCP - USD's other wins came at No. 14 UCLA (86-81, ot, 11-26-02) and over No. 25 Gonzaga in the USD Sports Center (75-59, 2-4-99)... Among WCC players for all games, Brandon Johnson ranks 3rd in scoring (16.4 ppg), 1st in steals (2.33), t-4th in assists (3.48), 1st in 3-pointers made per game (2.15), and 7th in assist/turnover ratio (+1.03)... With his 7 steals at Gonzaga (1-19-08), Johnson tied the school record held by Corey Belser and Mike Whitmarsh... For all games among WCC players, Gyno Pomare ranks 6th in scoring (13.7), 7th in rebounding (7.2), 3rd in field goal percentage (.538), and 6th in blocked shots (1.39)... Pomare leads the team with 6 double-doubles this season, the last coming against Santa Clara (11/10) - he owns 16 career double "D's"... Freshman Rob Jones ranks 6th in the WCC in FG% (.518) and 10th in rebounding (5.4)... In WCC games only, USD ranks 1st in scoring defense (58.0 ppg) and 3-point FG% defense (.310; 49-158).
TOREROS ON THE ROAD: The Toreros are 8-7 in games played away from the Jenny Craig Pavilion... USD is 7-5 in "true" away games and 1-2 in neutral site contests... USD's last road game resulted in a 66-62 win at SCU... The Toreros have won five straight on the road, all WCC wins, also getting victories against USF (73-62), Pepperdine (61-58), LMU (72-48) and Portland (64-61)...Back on Dec. 29th USD claimed a big road victory, a 81-72 decision over the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena before 23,756 fans... USD also owns road wins over Hawaii (73-72), and UC Irvine (60-57) at the Anaheim Classic... Junior guard Brandon Johnson leads the Toreros in road scoring at 17.7 ppg... He is followed by Gyno Pomare at 12.0 ppg and 6.6 rpg... USD averages 64.3 ppg while giving up 66.3 ppg... In USD's six WCC road contests thus far, the Toreros are averaging 67.7 points while limiting its opponents to 61.8 points per game (+5.9 scoring margin).
A LOOK AT THE SAINT MARY'S GAELS: The 20th-ranked Gaels (23-4, 10-1 wcc) share the WCC lead with Gonzaga at 10-1... SMC suffered its first home loss this season (14-1) on Saturday with their 65-57 ESPN BracketBuster game against Kent State... Diamon Simpson led the Gaels with 24 points and 15 rebounds in the loss... Monday's game will be senior night and the Gaels' last home contest of the season... Last week freshman guard Patty Mills was named the WCC Player of the Week after leading SMC to road wins over LMU (80-49) and Pepperdine (100-64) - he averaged 20.0 points in the two victories... On the season Mills leads the team in scoring (14.8 ppg) and is followed by Diamon Simpson (12.7 ppg) and Omar Samhan (11.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg)... Mills led the Gaels with 13 points in their 63-33 loss to USD back on Jan. 28th... Head Coach Randy Bennett (8th year) owns a career record of 125-87.
WCC 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. San Diego media need to go online to secure a credential at either www.wccsports.com or www.usdtoreros.com.
UP NEXT: The Toreros return to the JCP for its final two regular-season WCC contests against Pepperdine (Mar. 1st, 6 pm, 4SD TV) and Loyola Marymount (Mar. 3rd, 7 pm, ESPNU).
