REGULAR SEASON SLATE RIGHT AROUND CORNER: The Toreros will open their regular season schedule with six road games during the month of November. USD's season opener will be at USC (Fri., Nov. 13th, 5pm) followed by Western Michigan (Tue., Nov. 17), Cal State Fullerton (Sat., Nov. 21, 3pm) and three games at the GCI Great Alaska Shootout (Nov. 25-28). USD's home opener will be against Bethesda on Wednesday, Dec. 2nd (7pm).

CRONIN RETURNS AS VOICE OF THE TOREROS: Including Saturday's exhibition, all of USD's home and away contests will air on ESPN 1700AM with Jack Cronin calling the action. Cronin returns for his second full-time year as Voice of USD Men's Basketball.

NEW COACHING STAFF ONBOARD: Coach Smith is in his first head coaching position and comes from New Mexico where he was the Associate Head Coach... Prior to that he spent time at Washington, Arizona State, Santa Clara, Saint Mary's College and Saint Louis University... Smith returns to USD where he was a member of the men's basketball team from 1994-99... He started all 27 games his senior year in 1998-99 for the 18-9 Toreros... He was named the Toreros' Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 and 1999 and served as the team captain from 1997-99... Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of San Diego in 1998... Lamont and his wife Kimberly have two daughters -- Payton and Olivia. Coach Smith welcomes three new assistant coaches - Russell Springmann (comes from the University of Texas), Sam Scholl (comes from Santa Clara University) and Chris Gerlufson (comes from Hartford University). Scholl returns to USD where he was a teammate of Coach Smith and following graduation was part of the USD basketball staff for seven seasons. Ryan Harbour returns for his third year as Director of Operations, while Da'Mon Perry enters his first year as Video Coordinator.

KOK AND SANADZE LONE SENIORS ON 2015-16 CLUB: USD returns just two seniors in 2015-16, center Jito Kok (Wageningen, Netherlands) and wing Duda Sanadze (Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia)... Kok returns after setting all three school records for blocked shots - career (193), season (75 in 2014-15) and game (8 vs. LMU, 1-8-15)... He appeared in 30 games with 25 starts and averaged 5.1 points per game, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks (#1 in WCC)... Sanadze appeared in 29 games with 14 starts a year ago... He averaged 6.6 points per game and 2.4 rebounds... Duda scored a season-high 20 points against Pacific (2-12-15) and totaled seven games in double digits.

BAILEY AND PERRY COMPLETE UPPER CLASS: Joining Kok and Sanadze as upperclassmen are junior forward Brett Bailey (Spokane, Wash.) and redshirt junior center Brandon Perry (Fresno, Calif.)... Bailey, a third year performer, started 12 of 30 games he appeared in last season and finished with averages of 2.3 points and 2.6 rebounds... He turned in a solid 7 point/9 rebound effort in win over Princeton... Perry, who wrapped up his first year of competition with the Toreros, earned six starts in 29 games and finished with averages of 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds... His breakout game came at UCLA (12-7-14) with 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting; he matched his 16 point effort at LMU (2-5-15) when he made 7-of-12 shots.

SOPHOMORE QUARTET RETURN WITH EXPERIENCE: Four sophomores return that received experience in their first year - guard Vasa Pusica (Belgrade, Serbia), who averaged 4.6 points; guard Marcus Harris (San Antonio, TX), who averaged 3.3 points; forward Cameron Neubauer (Berlin, Germany), who averaged 2.1 points; and guard Khalil Bedart-Ghani (Inglewood, Calif.), who appeared in six games. Neubauer is expected to be out another six weeks with a fractured left arm with hopes of returning for the start of West Coast Conference play.

COACHING STAFF EXCITED WITH INCOMING CLASS: Coach Smith and his staff are excited by the five freshmen coming onboard this season... The three scholarship players include 6-5 guard Tyler Williams (Plano, TX), 6-2 combo guard Olin Carter III (Allen, TX) and 6-8 forward Alex Floresca (Webster Groves, MO)... They will be joined by walk-ons Hunter Summy (6-4 guard; Southlake, TX) and Christian Oshita (6-6 guard; Torrance, CA).

KEY LOSSES FROM 2014-15 CLUB: Four seniors (Johnny Dee, Christopher Anderson, Thomas Jacobs, Simi Fajemisin) and a redshirt junior (Chris Sarbaugh) have moved on... Combined they accounted for 55.4% of last year's scoring... Dee was a two-time All-WCC First Team selection and left as the program's all-time leading scorer with 2,046 points... Anderson left as the program's all-time leader in assists (757) and steals (254)... Dee (17.0 ppg), Anderson (7.7 ppg) and Jacobs (6.7 ppg) were the team's top three scorers a year ago.

TICKETS ON SALE FOR USD-SDSU DEC. 5TH GAME AT PETCO PARK: Tickets are now available to the public for the USD-SDSU game on December 5th at Petco Park. Tickets can be purchased online at padres.com/bball, by phone (619-795-5555) or by visiting the Petco Park box office. Additionally, from Nov. 30 through Dec. 5, the Bill Walton Basketball Festival will be held at Petco's grounds as well. For season tickets to USD Basketball, please visit usdtoreros.com or call the JCP Ticket Office at 619-260-7550.