USDvsPEPgame20

GAME #20: The USD Toreros (6-13, 1-7 WCC) begin a 4-game homestand this Thursday against the Pepperdine Waves (13-7, 6-3 WCC). Game time is 7:35 p.m. at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

SERIES RECORD: This is the 103rd meeting between USD and Pepperdine with the Waves owning a 61-41 advantage... Last Thursday the host Waves dealt USD a 76-58 setback in Malibu... Last season the Waves knocked USD out of the 2015 WCC Tournament with a 50-47 loss (Mar. 7th)... During the regular-season, each team won on the road (USD 72-50, Feb. 7th in Malibu; Pepperdine 59-47 at the JCP, Jan. 10th).

RADIO/TV/VIDEO STREAM: All USD home and away games will be broadcast live on ESPN 1700AM with Jack Cronin (2nd season); his pre-game show airs 10 minutes prior to tip-off. The contest will also be broadcast by Time Warner SportsNet (Steve Quis and Casey Jacobsen). The game will also be broadcast regionally on CSN Bay and streamed out-of-market on the The W.tv.

WCC STANDINGS (thru Jan. 25th): Saint Mary's (8-1 WCC, 17-2), Gonzaga (7-2, 15-5), Pepperdine (6-3, 13-7), BYU (5-3, 14-7), San Francisco (4-5, 10-9), Pacific (4-5, 6-13), LMU (3-6, 10-10), Portland (3-6, 9-13), Santa Clara (3-6, 7-14), San Diego (1-7, 6-13).

WCC COACHES PRESEASON POLL: The Toreros were picked 9th in the 2015-16 WCC Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll... Team (First Place Vote) - 1. Gonzaga (9), 81 points; 2. BYU (2), 73 points; 3. Pepperdine, 62 points; 4. Saint Mary's, 58 points; 5. Portland, 43 points; 6. Santa Clara, 37points; 7. Pacific, 32 points; 7. San Francisco, 32 points; 9. San Diego, 17 points; 10. Loyola Marymount, 15 points.

COACH SMITH (1ST YEAR): Coach Lamont Smith (San Diego, 1998) 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, 40, 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.

TOREROS DROP CONTESTS AT PEPPERDINE & LMU: The USD Toreros get a chance for revenge this week against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount after dropping road contests to these programs last week... On Thursday, January 21st, the Waves dealt USD a 76-58 loss... Lamond Murray Jr. scored a game-high 21 points, while forward Stacy Davis chipped in with 18 points and 10 rebounds... USD's leading scorers, Brett Bailey and Olin Carter III, were held to 9 points... Pepperdine raced to a 38-23 halftime lead and were in control the rest of the way... The Waves converted 52.3% of their shots (23-44) while limiting USD to 37.9% (22-58). On Saturday it was the Toreros who jumped out to the halftime lead, 36-30. However, LMU forward Adom Jacko scored 17 of his game-high 23 points over the final 20 minutes to lead the Lions to a 67-63 victory... USD received an outstanding performance from sophomore guard Vasa Pusica who notched his first double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds... Freshman guard Olin Carter III chipped in with 12 points marking the third time this season he reached a dozen... USD out-rebounded LMU 43-29, but hurt themselves in the turnover department with 17 (LMU only had 5 turnovers).

TORERO TIDBITS:
* The Toreros begin a 4-game homestand at the JCP where they are currently 3-3 this season... A trio of Toreros average in double-digit scoring at home - Vasa Pusica (12.7 ppg), Brett Bailey (11.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and Duda Sanadze (11.0 ppg)... Senior center Jito Kok chips in with averages of 9.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 3.7 blocks per contest... As a team the Toreros average 63.0 ppg and 37.5 rebounds while holding opponents to 61.8 ppg & 35.0 rpg.

* Senior center Jito Kok ranks 1st in the WCC (#16 in nation thru games of Jan. 24) in blocked shots at 2.53 per game (48 in 19 contests)... He owns all three USD records for blocked shots - single game: 9 vs. UC Davis, 12-15-15; single season: 75 in 2014-15; career: 239 and counting... He is 4th all-time among WCC players, trailing only #1 Hondre Brewer of USF, 279; #2 Omar Samhan of SMC, 258; and #3 John Bryant of SCU, 246... With a minimum of 11 games left in the season, Kok needs 18 more blocks to move into the #2 spot, and 39 to set a new all-time WCC record... He ranks tied for 6th among active career Division I blocked shot leaders (241).

* Sophomore guard Vasa Pusica (Belgrade, Serbia) has improved his production since the start of WCC play... Thru eight league contests he is averaging 10.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg and 2.8 assists... He is coming off a 17 point, 11 rebound double-double effort at LMU... Through 11 non-conference games his averages were 6.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 1.7 apg.

* Sophomore guard Marcus Harris (San Antonio, TX) made it back into the line-up at LMU after missing four games due to an eye injury suffered late in the USF game on January 7th... Against the Lions, Harris chipped in with 7 points and his three-pointer with 1:02 left in the game pulled the Toreros to within 63-61... For the season he has appeared in 15 games with 13 starts and averages 7.9 points per game.

* The WCC announced on January 22nd the adjusted WCC Men's Basketball Championship bracket. It has been revised to a nine-team format after the WCC membership reconfigured its men's basketball tournament due to the University of the Pacific's withdrawal. The #8 and #9 seeds will play on Friday, March 4th in a 6:00 p.m. contest (BYUtv, TheW.tv) with the winner advancing to play the #1 seed on Saturday, March 5th, in the 7:00 p.m. contest (ESPN2/WatchESPN).

* Four recent Toreros are currently playing professionally overseas - Gyno Pomare, '09 (Kanazawa Samuraiz; Kanazawa, Japan), Dennis Kramer, '14 (EWE Baskets; Oldenberg, Germany), Johnny Dee, '15 (Polpharma; Starogard Gdanski, Poland) and Christopher Anderson, '15 (Weissenhorn Youngstars; Weissenhorn, Germany).

* The USD basketball team teamed up with the Poway Youth Basketball League Challenged Division with a clinic on January 19th... The Poway Challenged League is open to all players with intellectual disabilities... The division has been around for over 20 years and has grown from a handful of players to more than 100 participants... USD coaches and players assisted with warm-up drills, skills stations, and some entertaining three-point contests between selected USD players and PYBL Challenged participants... The fun event took place at Meadowbrook Middle School in Poway from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 pm... A recap with video can be found at www.usdtoreros.com.

SCOUTING THE PEPPERDINE WAVES: The Pepperdine Waves (13-7, 6-3 WCC) have won six of their last seven league contests, including a solid 67-64 win over Saint Mary's on January 9th... They are in sole possession of 3rd place in the WCC standings... This past weekend they extended their winning streak to three games with victories over USD (76-58) and BYU (71-65)... Lamond Murray Jr. (21 points) and Stacy Davis (18 points, 10 rebounds) paced the Waves past the Toreros... Murray added 20 points against BYU with Jett Raines chipping in 18 points... For the season Pepperdine has three starters averaging double-digit scoring - Murray Jr. (15.9 ppg), Stacy Davis (13.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg), and Jett Raines (12.0 ppg)... Murray Jr. leads the team in WCC scoring (17.8 ppg)... Head Coach Marty Wilson is in his 5th season.

A LOOK AHEAD: USD returns to the JCP on Saturday to host the Loyola Marymount Lions (Sat., Jan. 30, 1:00 p.m.). The game will be televised by Time Warner Cable SportsNet. The Toreros close out their 4-game homestand next week with contests against Pacific (Thur., Feb. 4, 7pm, FSSD TV) and Saint Mary's College (Sat., Feb. 6, 6pm, FSSD TV).