USDvsSCU2016game15

GAME #15: The USD Toreros (5-9, 0-3 WCC) return to the JCP this Saturday, January 9th, to take on the Santa Clara Broncos (5-12, 1-4 WCC). Game time is slated for 7:03 pm.

SERIES RECORD: This is the 79th meeting between the USD Toreros and Santa Clara Broncos with SCU owning a 43-35 advantage... Santa Clara won the first meeting last season 59-56 on January 3rd at the Leavey Center... The USD Toreros held off a late rally by the Santa Clara Broncos to earn a hard-fought 69-64 victory at the JCP in the rematch on January 29th, 2015... Vasa Pusica came off the bench to score a season-high 16 points and the Torero bench outscored the Broncos bench 39-6.

RADIO/TV/VIDEO STREAM: All USD home and away games will be broadcast live on ESPN 1700AM with Jack Cronin (2nd season) bringing you all the action; his pre-game show airs 10 minutes prior to tip-off. The contest will also be broadcast by Time Warner Cable SportsNet (Steve Quis & Brad Holland). The game will also air on CSN California, ROOT Northwest, ROOT Rocky Mountain and TheW.tv (out-of-region).

WCC STANDINGS (thru Jan. 8th): Saint Mary's (5-0 WCC, 14-1), Gonzaga (4-0, 12-3), BYU (2-1, 11-5), San Francisco (3-2, 9-6), Pepperdine (2-2, 9-6), Portland (2-2, 8-9), Pacific (2-3, 3-11), Santa Clara (1-4, 5-12), San Diego (0-3, 5-9), LMU (0-4, 7-8).

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 FALL TO USF DONS 73-65: Despite a career-best 19 points from sophomore Vasa Pusica, and 15 points and 4 blocks from senior center Jito Kok, the USD Toreros dropped a hard-fought 73-65 contest to the visiting USF Dons. San Francisco received a game-high 22 points from guard Ronnie Boyce off the bench, and 16 points and 6 assists from guard Devin Watson. USD was without the services of leading scorer Duda Sanadze who sat out due to illness. In the first half the USF Dons converted 52.0% of their shots (13-25) and 57.1% from beyond the three-point arc (4-7) in taking a 31-24 intermission lead. USF would extend their lead to 40-29, but the Toreros would rally to pull within four points twice, the last time at 49-45 with 10:06 to play. Once again the Dons would pull ahead and go up by as many as 14 (67-53) with 4:45 to go, only to see the Toreros storm back down the stretch and get within five (70-65) with 47 seconds left. From there USD would miss their final five shots of the game, with four coming behind the three-point arc. For the game USF (9-6, 3-2 WCC) out-rebounded USD 38-33, and had four players reach double-digit scoring. The Dons made 8-14 threes for the game (57.1%) and 26-56 shots overall (46.4%). USD struggled from the field (20-58), but made a season-best 95.5% from the free throw line (21-22).

TORERO TIDIBITS: * The Toreros return to the Jenny Craig Pavilion where they are 3-2 this season... Vasa Pusica (13.8 ppg) and Duda Sanadze (13.0 ppg) lead the Toreros in scoring for home games... They are followed by Jito Kok (10.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg) and Brett Bailey (8.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg)... At the JCP the Toreros average 65.0 ppg & 39.0 rpg while limiting its opponents to 61.2 ppg and 35.4 rpg.

* The Toreros are 2-3 over their last five contests... Vasa Pusica tops Torero scorers in this stretch with his 12.8 points per game average... He is followed by Duda Sanadze (11.3 ppg) and Jito Kok (9.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg)... During this stretch USD has averaged 65.6 ppg & 33.8 rpg, with opponents averaging 69.4 ppg & 35.8 rpg.

* Redshirt junior center Brandon Perry (Fresno, Calif.) has decided to leave the basketball program... This season he appeared in 13 games (thru. Jan. 2) and averaged 5.7 ppg & 3.6 rpg... He totaled a season-high 12 points in USD's road loss at Western Michigan... Last season he appeared in 29 games with 6 starts and averaged 6.2 ppg and 3.4 rpg... He scored a career-best 16 points twice (@ LMU, 2-5-15; @UCLA, 12-7-14).

* Senior center Jito Kok ranks 1st in the WCC (#9 in nation thru games of Jan. 7) in blocked shots at 2.9 per game (41 in 14 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: 234 and counting... He ranks 5th all-time among WCC players, trailing #1 Hondre Brewer of USF, 279; #2 Omar Samhan of SMC, 258; John Bryant of SCU, 246; and #4 Diamon Simpson of SMC, 239... With a minimum of 16 games left in the season, Kok needs 46 more blocks (2.9 per game) to set a new all-time WCC record. He ranks seventh among active career Division I blocked shots leaders (234).

* Junior forward Brett Bailey notched his first career double-double against Denver with 11 points and 10 rebounds... In the team's recent game vs. USF, he combined for a 9 point / 6 rebound effort marking the eighth game he has led the Toreros in rebounding... Besides USF, he has also led the team in rebounding against Western Michigan (6), San Jose State (8), San Diego State (7), Denver (10), UC Davis (7), CSUN (8) and SMC (7) ... For the season he leads the team in rebounding at 5.6 per game (#11 WCC).

* Sophomore 6'7" forward Cameron Neubauer (Berlin, Germany) returned to action against UC Davis on December 15th after missing the team's first nine contests due to a fractured left arm... In the WCC opener at Pacific, Neubauer came off the bench to connect on 3-of-4 threes and finish with a career-best 11 points.

* USD knocked off San Diego State in the annual City Championship game played outdoors at Petco Park on December 6th by the score of 53-48... Senior Duda Sanadze turned in an inspiring peformance with 15 points (5-10 in threes), 6 rebounds and a career-best 5 steals... Freshman guard Olin Carter III helped USD to a 31-13 halftime advantage by making 4-of-5 threes in the first 20 minutes.

* The Toreros closed out the month of December with a 4-2 record... Senior Duda Sanadze averaged a team-best 12.7 ppg during the month with Vasa Pusica chipping in at a 10.8 ppg clip... Brett Bailey (8.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and Jito Kok (8.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.7 bpg) also played key roles.

* 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).

SCOUTING THE SANTA CLARA BRONCOS: The SCU Broncos come to town with an overall record of 5-12, and league mark of 1-4... They are coming off a 97-61 loss at BYU on Thursday night with junior guard Jared Brownridge the lone Bronco in double digit scoring (16 points)... SCU opened the New Year with a solid 84-77 home win over Portland... The Broncos have also had a couple of close contests against strong opponents, notably a 75-73 overtime loss to Arizona on November 26th, 2015 and a 79-77 home loss to Gonzaga on December 31, 2015... For the season Brownridge is averaging 20.2 points per game (#2 in WCC behind Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer, 20.8; #28 in the NCAA)... Through five WCC contests he ranks #1 in scoring at 23.2 ppg... Two other Broncos are averaging double-digit scoring on the season - forward Nate Kratch (10.6 ppg, 9.2 rpg) and freshman guard KJ Feagin (10.2 ppg)... The Broncos average 65.8 ppg and surrender 71.4 ppg on average to its opponents... Head Coach Kerry Keating is in his 9th season.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Toreros head to the Pacific Northwest for games at Portland (Thur., Jan. 14, 7 p.m., ROOT NW) and Gonzaga (Sat., Jan. 16, 5:00 p.m., KHQ/ROOT NW).