Feb. 6, 2013
USDvsBYU 
GAME #25: The USD Toreros (12-12; 5-4 WCC), coming off a thrilling 69-68 overtime win at Loyola Marymount Monday night, return to the Jenny Craig Pavilion this Thursday to play host to the BYU Cougars (18-6, 8-2 WCC). Game time is slated for 7:05 pm.
SERIES RECORD: This is the 7th meeting between USD and BYU with the Cougars owning a 6-0 series lead... BYU won this year's meeting in Provo, 74-57 on January 19th... BYU received a game-high 25 points from Tyler Haws; Johnny Dee paced USD with 15 points... BYU won all three games last season in the Cougars first year as a WCC member... The first game was played on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31, 2011) in Provo with BYU running away with a 88-52 victory (Ken Rancifer, 12 points)... In the return contest at the JCP on January 16th, BYU won 82-63 (Johnny Dee, 12 points)... USD's best effort against BYU came in the WCC Tournament quarterfinal match-up on March 2nd, with the Cougars holding on for a 73-68 victory (Chris Anderson, 14 points-6 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals; Dennis Kramer, 17 points, 9 rebounds)... With 10 seconds to go USD was down just three points and Kramer's 3-point attempt from the top of the key glanced off the rim... BYU closed out the game with two free throws by Noah Hartsock.
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 be televised on BYUtv (Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler).
A LOOK AHEAD: Following Thursday's game with BYU, the Toreros close out the week with a Saturday 8:00 p.m. contest at the JCP against the Saint Mary's Gaels (19-4; 8-1 WCC).
WCC STANDINGS (thru Feb. 5th): Gonzaga (8-0 WCC, 21-2), Saint Mary's (8-1, 19-4), BYU (8-2, 18-6), Santa Clara (5-4, 17-7), San Diego (5-4, 12-12), San Francisco (3-7, 10-13), Pepperdine (2-7, 10-12), Loyola Marymount (1-8, 8-14), Portland (1-8, 8-16).
COACH GRIER (6TH YEAR): Coach Bill Grier (Oregon, 1990) is in his sixth season at the helm of the USD program... He enters the BYU contest with a 12-12 mark and 80-105 career 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 ended their 4-game losing skid with a dramatic 69-68 overtime win at Loyola Marymount on Monday night... USD found itself down 68-67 with LMU's Anthony Ireland at the free throw line with a 1-on-1 attempt with 5 seconds left... Ireland missed; Chris Manresa grabbed the rebound and tossed a perfect outlet pass to Christopher Anderson, and the Torero point guard bolted up the court and connected on a reverse lay-in in traffic with 0.2 seconds left for the game-winner... Anderson finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, with his acrobatic basket making ESPN's #10 play of the day... Johnny Dee led the Toreros with 15 points, but left the game with 9:09 to go in regulation after spraining his left ankle (status day-to-day)... Dee is the lone Torero averaging in double-digits at 14.7 ppg (9th in WCC)... He is followed by Ken Rancifer (9.6 ppg), Christopher Anderson (9.5 ppg) and Chris Manresa (8.6 ppg)... The Toreros rank 1st among WCC teams for all games in three-point field goal percentage defense (.307; 155x375) and 3rd in scoring defense (64.9).
TOREROS AT THE JCP: USD is 8-4 at home this season and have dropped their last two at home to Santa Clara (64-50, Jan. 26th) and No. 7 Gonzaga (65-63, Feb. 2nd)... Prior to those two contests they had won six straight at the Jenny Craig Pavilion... The Toreros are averaging 69.9 ppg while limiting opponents to 63.8 ppg (+6.1 scoring margin)... Johnny Dee averages 16.1 ppg at the JCP, and is followed by Christopher Anderson (10.3 ppg)... Ken Rancifer (9.4 ppg) and Chris Manresa (8.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg) just miss the double digit scoring mark.
ANDERSON A GUEST ON WCC LIVE TONIGHT AT 8:05 PM: Coming off his game-winning basket against the LMU Lions, sophomore guard Christopher Anderson (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) will be a guest tonight (Feb. 6th) on WCC Live with host Jeff Lampe... Anderson is averaging 9.5 points per game and currently ranks 2nd in the WCC in steals (2.2) and 3rd in assists (5.7)... The popular weekly West Coast Conference talk show can be heard each Wednesday night live at 8 p.m. PT. The show features live interviews with WCC basketball coaches and student-athletes, broadcasters, and national media personalities... Fans may ask questions on Twitter via hash tag #WCChoops or by e-mailing radio@westcoast.org... The show can be heard live at blogtalkradio.com/wccsports or downloaded for on-demand listening.
KOK CLOSING IN ON SINGLE SEASON SHOT BLOCK RECORD: Jito Kok, USD's 6'9" freshman center from Wageningen, Netherlands, currently owns 42 blocked shots on the season... He cruised past the previous USD freshman mark of 38 when he totaled 4 blocks against the Gonzaga Bulldogs... He currently ranks first in the WCC in this statistical category with 1.8 blocks per game... With a minimum of 9 games left in the season, Kok now has his sights on the all-time USD Division I mark... He currently is tied for 6th all-time, with following players ahead of him - #5- Scott Thompson, 44 ('86-87), #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).
DEE RECOGNIZED BY SAN DIEGO HALL OF CHAMPIONS: Johnny Dee, USD's 6'0" sophomore guard from nearby Vista, California, was recently recognized by the San Diego Hall of Champions as an amateur star of the month for January... Dee paced USD to a 4-3 West Coast Conference record during January, including a 4-0 start... He averaged a team-best 12.7 points per game during the month while converting 43.8% of his shots (28-64), 35.9% of his threes (14-39) and 90.0% of his free throws (19-21)... During a four-game stretch he paced the Toreros in scoring with double-digit outings - 17 points in win at USF, 17 points in win at Pepperdine, 15 points in win vs. LMU, and 15 points in road loss at BYU. For the season he leads the 12-12 Toreros in scoring (14.7 ppg) and ranks 9th overall in the WCC. He currently leads all WCC players in free throw percentage (89.2%)... Senior forward Ken Rancifer was a star of the month in December.
SCOUTING THE BYU COUGARS: The BYU Cougars (18-6; 8-2 WCC) come to town riding a 3-game WCC winning streak... This past Saturday they dealt the Santa Clara Broncos a 96-79 loss in Provo with sophomore guard Matt Carlino scoring 28 points and being named the WCC player of the week... Last Thursday he buried a three-pointer with 14 seconds left as the Cougars held off Pepperdine 63-61 in Malibu... For his efforts Carlino was named the WCC player of the week... Sophomore guard Tyler Haws leads the WCC in scoring for all games at 20.7 points per game, and second in WCC games at 20.3 ppg... He is followed in scoring by senior forward Brandon Davies (17.9 ppg and 7.8 rpg)... Carlino is the third Cougar averaging double-digits with his 11.3 ppg mark... BYU is 5-3 in "true" away games and 7-5 overall away from the Marriott Center where they sport a 11-1 home record... BYU ranks 2nd to Gonzaga in scoring at 78.0 points per game, and first in assists (16.4) and steals (9.0)... Head Coach Dave Rose is in his 8th season at the helm of the BYU Cougars program and owns a career mark of 203-60... BYU media contact is Kyle Chilton (kyle_chilton@byu.edu).
