Feb. 18, 2013
USDvsPORT2 
GAME #28: The USD Toreros (13-14; 6-6 WCC) head to the Pacific Northwest this week for their final regular-season road games against Portland and Gonzaga. First up is the Portland Pilots (10-18; 3-10 WCC) on Thursday, February 21st, at 7:00 p.m. at the Chiles Center (4,852 capacity).
SERIES RECORD: This is the 72nd meeting between USD and Portland with the Toreros owning a 44-27 series edge... USD has won the last three, including this season's WCC opener back on January 3rd at the JCP (61-50)... Guard Christopher Anderson, who missed his first collegiate game in USD's previous outing (Morgan State) with the flu, returned to the lineup to spark the Toreros with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Forward Ken Rancifer chipped in with 10 second half points and center Chris Manresa just missed on his third straight double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds. Prior to last season's two Torero wins, the Portland Pilots had won five straight in the series.
RADIO-TV: All USD home and away games will be broadcast live on The Mighty 1090 or ESPN 1700 AM with Andy Masur (6th season) bringing you all the action; his pre-game shows air 15 minutes prior to tip-off. Thursday's game airs on The Mighty 1090. The game will also be televised on ROOT NW (Tom Glasgow, Bill Krueger & Jen Mueller).
A LOOK AHEAD: Following Thursday's game with Portland, the Toreros head over to Spokane, Washington to take on the No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday, February 23rd, in a 4:00 p.m. contest at the McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000 capacity).
WCC STANDINGS (thru Feb. 18th): #3 Gonzaga (12-0 WCC, 25-2), Saint Mary's (11-2, 22-5), BYU (9-4, 19-8), Santa Clara (7-5, 19-8), San Diego (6-6, 13-14), Pepperdine (4-9, 12-14), San Francisco (4-9, 11-15), Portland (3-10, 10-18), Loyola Marymount (1-12, 8-18). OTHER WCC GAMES: (Feb. 21) USF at LMU (7pm), BYU at Saint Mary's (8pm). (Feb. 23) SCU at Portland (2pm), Creighton at Saint Mary's (3pm), USD at Gonzaga (4pm), Pepperdine at USF (6pm), Loyola Marymount at Cal Poly (7pm).
COACH GRIER (6TH YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990) is in his sixth season at the helm of the USD program... He enters the Portland contest with a 13-14 mark and 6-6 WCC record... Last season's squad finished 13-18, but won 4 of its final 6 regular-season WCC games and then advanced to the quarterfinals of the WCC Championships before falling to BYU by just 5 points... The 2010-11 season was highlighted by a 74-66 home win over #23 Saint Mary's, along with a 67-64 win over Utah... The 2009-10 season was highlighted by wins over Stanford, #25 Oklahoma, Houston and Boise State... His 2008-09 campaign (16-16) was highlighted by road wins over Oregon and Mississippi State... In his rookie year (2007-08) 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 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... 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 in 2007-08 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... Bill and his wife, Nicole, have two daughters, Giselle & Ashley.
TORERO TIDBITS: The Toreros hit the road this week where they are currently 4-7 in "true" away games and 4-9 overall away from the JCP... USD is 3-3 in WCC road games with Johnny Dee (14.5 ppg) and Ken Rancifer (11.0 ppg) leading the way in those six league contests... For the season the Toreros are being paced by Dee's 15.0 points per game (8th in WCC) and his league-best 89.9% from the free throw line (#7 in NCAA)... Rancifer joins Dee in the double-digit column at 10.0 ppg (25th in WCC)... Point guard Christopher Anderson continues to rank among the league's best in steals (2.2, 2nd WCC; #24 NCAA) and assists (5.5, 4th in WCC; #34 NCAA)... Closing in on the end of his second season, Anderson has 57 games under his belt with 299 assists (5.2) and 120 steals (2.1)... Both Dee (8 rebounds) and Jito Kok (9 rebounds) set new personal-bests in this category at Santa Clara last Thursday... In fact, Dee owns a team-best 5.8 rpg average over the team's last six games... With his 17 point effort last week at Santa Clara, senior Ken Rancifer upped his season total to 270 points and pushed past his previous single season total of 257 points (2010-11)... He owns 887 career points over 115 career games (7.7 ppg average).
SANTA CLARA DEALS TOREROS 61-52 LOSS: The USD Toreros dropped a 61-52 decision at Santa Clara last Thursday in a pivotal WCC matchup. The Toreros were paced by senior forward Ken Rancifer (17 points), Johnny Dee (15 points, career-high 8 rebounds) and John Sinis (13 points). With the loss the Toreros fell to 13-14 overall and 6-6 in the WCC; Santa Clara improved to 18-8 and 6-5. The host Broncos were paced by forward Marc Trasolini with 17 points. The SCU Broncos jumped out to a 14-2 lead to start the game as USD missed on its first six attempts and turned the ball over five times. Torero forward John Sinis came off the bench to hit three treys and 5-of-7 shots for 13 first half points and give the Toreros a 25-23 halftime lead. The Toreros founds themselves down 16-5 when Sinis hit a jumper at the 10:17 mark. He would add 7 more points over the next 2 1/2 minutes with another three dropping to get USD within 18-17. In the final two minutes Ken Rancifer would add three free throws and a three-pointer for USD's two-point cushion at the break. In the 2nd half USD held three different three-point leads, the last coming at 38-35 on a Christopher Anderson layup with 9:33 to go. That would be USD's last lead of the game as the Broncos would go on to up their advantage to as many as 11 points with 2:28 to go (57-46) on two Trasolini free throws. For the game Jito Kok grabbed a season-high 9 boards.
KOK CLOSING IN ON SINGLE SEASON SHOT BLOCK RECORD: Jito Kok, USD's 6'9" freshman center from Wageningen, Netherlands, currently owns 47 blocked shots on the season... He cruised past the previous USD freshman mark of 38 when he totaled 4 blocks against the Gonzaga Bulldogs (Feb. 2, 2013)... He currently is tied for first in the WCC with 1.7 blocks per game... With a minimum of 5 games left in the season, Kok now has his sights on the all-time USD Division I mark... He currently is 5th all-time with 47 blocks, with the following players ahead of him - #4- Gyno Pomare, 48 ('07-08), #3- Scott Thompson, 49 ('84-85), #2- Scott Thompson, 52 ('85-86) and #1- Dondi Bell, 55 ('88-89). Thompson owns the USD career mark with 183 (1983-87).
SCOUTING THE PORTLAND PILOTS: The Portland Pilots (10-18, 3-10 WCC) return to the Chiles Center after playing their last two WCC games on the road... They earned a solid 78-76 win at San Francisco on Feb. 14th, and in their most recent outing, dropped an 86-72 contest at BYU on Feb. 16th... In win at USF, Kevin Bailey (18 points) paced four Pilots in double digit scoring... At BYU, center Thomsa Van Der Mars led the way with 19 points... This season the Pilots are 7-7 in home games, but just 1-5 in home league games... In their last two home games they beat LMU 69-60 (Feb. 7th) and dropped a tough 72-68 overtime decision to Pepperdine (Feb. 9th)... For all games the Pilots are being paced by forward Ryan Nicholas (13.0 ppg, 8.9 rpg) and guard Kevin Bailey (11.1 ppg)... The same two players lead UP in WCC games - Nicholas (12.3 ppg) and Bailey (10.2 ppg... Through 13 league games the Pilots are averaging 58.9 points while surrendering 70.1 ppg... For all games they are scoring at a 61.1 ppg clip while opponents are averaging 67.9 points on average... In the game at USD on Jan. 3rd, the Pilots were led by Van Der Mars (12 points, 8 rebounds) and Nicholas (11 points, 9 rebounds)... Head Coach Eric Reveno (Stanford, '89) is in his 7th season at Portland.
