Feb. 26, 2010
USD-PEP Game Notes 
GAME #30: The USD Toreros (9-20; 2-11 wcc), under the direction of 3rd-year head coach Bill Grier, close out their regular-season schedule on Saturday when they host the Pepperdine Waves (7-22; 3-10 wcc). Game time is 6:05 p.m. from the JCP. USD will pay tribute to its four seniors during a pre-game ceremony - Brandon Johnson, De'Jon Jackson, Chris Lewis and Roberto Mafra.
SERIES RECORD: This is the 87th meeting between USD and Pepperdine with the Waves owning a commanding 53-33 series advantage... USD earned a solid 66-44 win over the Waves in Malibu back on January 30th... Chris Manresa led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds... Last season Pepperdine snapped USD's 9-game winning streak in the series on Feb. 14, 2009 by the score of 57-52 in Malibu... USD won the first meeting last year at the JCP by the score of 62-47 on January 15th.
RADIO/INTERNET: Saturday's game will air on XX Sports 1090 AM and San Diego 1700 AM with Andy Masur calling the action. Audio & video streaming is also available at www.usdtoreros.com.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Toreros head to the 2010 West Coast Conference Tournament next week in Las Vegas and will be one of four teams playing on Friday, March 5th (opponent/time to be determined).
WCC RECORDS (thru Feb. 26th): Gonzaga (11-2; 23-5), Saint Mary's (10-3; 23-5), Portland (9-4; 18-9), LMU (7-6; 16-13), San Francisco (7-6; 12-16), Santa Clara (3-10; 11-19), Pepperdine (3-10; 7-22), San Diego (2-11; 9-20).
WCC PRESEASON COACHES POLL: In the 2009-10 West Coast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll the Toreros are picked to finish 6th. The following lists the coaches predictions with first place votes in parenthesis - 1. Gonzaga (6), 48 points; 2. Portland (2), 44 points; 3. Saint Mary's, 34 points; 4. San Francisco & Santa Clara, 26 points; 6. San Diego, 21 points; 7. Pepperdine, 13 points; 8. Loyola Marymount, 12 points.
COACH GRIER (3RD YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990), 46, is in his third season at the helm of the USD program... He enters the Pepperdine game with a 9-20 record and three-year mark of 47-50... This year's win over #25 Oklahoma was Grier's 4th against a top-25 program... Last year's 16-16 mark was highlighted by road wins over Oregon and Mississippi State... In his rookie year he guided the Toreros to an overall mark of 22-14 and 3rd place finish in the WCC race at 11-3... He guided the Toreros to three wins and the championship title at the WCC Tournament (hosted by USD) with wins over Pepperdine, Saint Mary's and No. 20 Gonzaga... The Toreros then upset No. 15 UCONN in the NCAA Tournament opener with a 70-69 overtime victory, before falling to Western Kentucky in the second round... His 11 WCC wins were the second most for league wins in a single season in program history... 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... His 22 wins were also the most by a Torero coach in his first season at USD. In addition to knocking off Kentucky on the road, 81-72, the Toreros earned three wins over Top-25 teams: #21 Saint Mary's, #20 Gonzaga and #15 Connecticut... Prior to USD Grier spent 16 years at Gonzaga, including the last 8 seasons as Mark Few's top assistant. Bill and his wife, Nicole, have two daughters, Giselle & Ashley.
TORERO SENIORS PLAYING LAST HOME GAME: It is a Torero Tradition to pay tribute to thos seniors playing in their final home game. Saturday night in a pre-game ceremony, USD will recognize four seniors - forward Roberto Mafra (Recife, Brazil), forward Chris Lewis (Bedford, TX), guard De'Jon Jackson (Fresno, CA) and guard Brandon Johnson (Houston, TX)... Mafra is a two-year performer who has appeared in 61games with 25 starts... This season he has averages of 8.1 ppg and 4.2 rpg, and this past Thursday tied a school record with 6 blocked shots; Lewis has appeared in 127 games with 65 starts... This season he owns a team-best 27 starts and leads the Toreros in rebounding (5.7 rpg)... With his 13-point effort vs. LMU on Thursday he now has 700 career points; Jackson appeared in 113 games with 82 starts before going down with a season-ending knee injury against USF on Feb. 4th... In 2008 he made the program's biggest basket in school history with his 18-foot stepback jumper with 1.2 seconds left in overtime in USD's 70-69 NCAA overtime win against the 15th-ranked UCONN Huskies; Johnson received a 5th year after going down in game eight last year with a season-ending injury... With 97 career starts in 131 games, this season he became the school's all-time leader in both points and assists... He is the only player in WCC history to lead his school in both scoring (1,761points) and assists (512).
DORR & GINTY EARN WCC ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS: The 2010 WCC Winter All-Academic teams honor some of the league's finest examples of the consummate scholar-athlete. Near the completion of each athletic season, the WCC selects an all-academic squad for each of the participating sponsored sports. A total of 12 players are making their second consecutive appearance on the Winter All-Academic Team. On the men's side, USD junior guard Devin Ginty (Alta, CA) has been named for the second straight year. Ginty, who has appeared in all 28 games this season with 11 starts, carries a 3.33 grade-point average as a History major. Joining him on this year's 11-man team is Torero junior guard Matt Dorr (Spokane, WA) who owns a 3.20 grade-point average as a Business major. This season Dorr has appeared in 27 games with 24 starts and is converting 48.2 percent from beyond the three-point line. GAME #25 - LMU LIONS SNEAK PAST TOREROS, 72-69: The USD Toreros gave the resurgent LMU Lions a battle Thursday night at the JCP but came away with a tough 72-69 loss... LMU's Drew Viney was on fire as he scored a career-high 35 points to go with 8 rebounds... He made 13-18 shots and 4-of-7 threes... USD received solid efforts from Chris Lewis (13 points; 3-3 in threes), Patrick McCollum (12 points, 8 rebounds) and Roberto Mafra (12 points, 5 rebounds, 6 blocked shots)... Mafra's 6 blocks tied the USD school record set by three other players.
TOREROS AT THE JCP: This season USD owns a record of 4-9 in games played at the JCP... USD will be looking to snap a six-game home losing skid after losses to Portland (63-54), Gonzaga (68-50), San Francisco (72-70, ot), Santa Clara (59-43), Saint Mary's (61-49) and LMU (72-69)... The Toreros are averaging 64.7 ppg and 29.8 rebounds while surrendering 67.1 ppg and 33.5 rpg to its opponents... Brandon Johnson is the lone active player averaging in double digits (16.4 ppg); De'Jon Jackson (13.3) was the other before his injury. Matt Dorr (55.0%; 22-40) leads the Toreros in three-point shooting at the Slim Gym... As a team, USD is shooting 43.7% from the floor, 38.5% from 3-point land and 68.1% from the FT line.
SCOUTING THE PEPPERDINE WAVES: The Pepperdine Waves (7-22; 3-10 wcc) come to town looking to snap a 10-game skid... This past Thursday they suffered a 76-49loss at the hands of the Saint Mary's Gaels in Moraga... Pepperdine was paced by forward Mychel Thompson with 11 points... Two Pepperdine players are averaging in double digits - guard Keion Bell (18.9 ppg) and wing Mychel Thompson (12.0 ppg)... This same duo also leads their team in WCC games - Bell (17.8) and Thompson (12.9)... The Waves opened up WCC play with three straight wins (LMU, SCU, USF) before starting their current 10-game skid with a hard-fought 91-84 road loss at Gonzaga back on January 21st... In that game Bell scored 34 of his career-high 37 points in the 2nd half... Head Coach Tom Asbury (8th year) is in his second stint at the helm of the Waves program.
WCC TOURNEY TO REMAIN AT THE ORLEANS ARENA THROUGH 2012: On July 22, 2009, the WCC and the Orleans Arena announced a three-year contract extension that will keep the WCC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships in Las Vegas through 2012. The extension comes after the West Coast Conference sold out the Orleans Arena for the 2009 WCC Basketball Championships. The 2009 championship, which was the WCC's first-ever at a neutral site, set conference records for both total championship attendance (33,320) and single session championship attendance (7,845). Tickets for the 2009-10 event are available by visiting www.orleansarena.com or calling 1-888-234-2334. Tickets and hotel rooms going fast.
LESENAROVA TO ENTER WCC HALL OF HONOR: Former USD women's tennis great Zuzana Lesenarova will be inducted into the second WCC Hall of Honor class at the upcoming WCC Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas. She'll formally be inducted at the 2010 WCC Hall of Honor Brunch on Saturday, March 6 at the Orleans Hotel. She will be joined by Jeff Brown (Gonzaga, MBB), Bo Kimble (LMU, MBB), Dr. Gail Hopkins (Pepperdine, BASE), Joe Etzel (Portland, AD/Baseball Coach), Anja Suomalainen (SMC, WBB), Bob St. Clair USF, FB), and Brandi Chastain (SCU, WSOC). Lesenarova is USD's lone NCAA Division I champion after winning the 1999 NCAA Women's Tennis Singles Championship. A four-time ITA All-American, she won WCC Player of the Year honors three times and was the 1999 ITA National Player of the Year. For information on attending the event, contact the WCC office by phone at 650-873-8622.
