SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Following a defeat to open the conference season, the Toreros quickly look to bounce back with the back end of a two-game road trip on Saturday at Santa Clara.

The Toreros, who have continued their recent stretch of strong defensive efforts in the game at LMU, are looking to avoid an 0-2 start to the conference season against the 13-win Broncos. USD has averaged less than 60 points against over the last six games while Santa Clara is averaging 80.3 points per game this season.

Saturday's game can be watched on the WCC Network and heard here, with the Voice of the Toreros Jack Cronin on the call.

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST SANTA CLARA
- Saturday will be the 87th all-time meeting between USD and Santa Clara. The Toreros trail in the series, 38-48.

- The series is split over the last three seasons, 3-3. Neither side has swept a season series since 2015-16 (Santa Clara won two). The Toreros, meanwhile, won the last meeting, a 62-45 triumph in the second round of the 2019 WCC Tournament (March 8, 2019).

- USD is 1-4 in its last five games at Santa Clara.

- USD head coach Sam Scholl, who was an assistant at Santa Clara for six years (2007-13) as well as an associate head coach for two (2013-15), is 1-1 against the Broncos in his head coaching career.

LOOKING AHEAD
- The Toreros return home for a two-game week at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. USD will play host to No. 1 Gonzaga on Thursday, January 9 (7 pm) followed by Pepperdine on Saturday, January 11 (7 pm).

LAST 6 GAMES: GETTING DEFENSIVE
- The Toreros have improved their defensive effort in the last six games, holding opponents to an average of 58.7 points on 38.4% shooting (132-of-344).

- In addition to a defensive effort on shots, the Toreros have improved their rebounding average in the last six. They are averaging 38 rebounds a game, compared to the opponents' 31.5.

- Opponents only have 67 assists on 132 field goals made (50.7%) during the stretch while they have an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.78 (67 assists, 86 turnovers).

Last 6 Games vs. First 10 Games
USD Defense
 

Last 6 Games		First 10 Games
58.7	Points Allowed	72.5
38.4%	FG % Allowed	44.6%
26.6%	3FG % Allowed	30.2%
45.0%	2FG % Allowed	51.5%
+6.5	Rebounding Margin	-3.2

UNDER 60
- USD has held opponents to less than 60 points four times this season, going 4-0 in such contests.

- Last year, the Toreros held 10 opponents to 59 points or less and posted a 10-0 record in those games. They have won 15 consecutive games, dating back to 2017-18, when holding teams to less than 60 points.

- The Toreros are 14-0 under head coach Sam Scholl when they hold teams to 59 points or less (30-25 overall in his two-plus seasons as the head coach).

HUMPHREY'S HELPERS
- Marion Humphrey has turned in back-to-back five-assist games entering Saturday. The redshirt freshman point guard had a career-high seven against Whittier on December 29 followed by five at LMU on Thursday.

- Humphrey is averaging 5.0 assists per game over the last three contests. Over the same stretch, his assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.14 (15 assists, 7 turnovers).

- Humphrey's effort against Whittier was only the fourth time in the last 10 seasons a Torero had 7+ assists and no turnovers (source: Sports Reference). It was the first time since Isaiah Wright had 8 assists and no turnovers against Weber State in last year's season opener on November 6, 2018.

- In addition to Humphrey and Wright, Christopher Anderson also turned in the feat for USD, once in 2013-14 (vs. San Diego Christian) and then in 2014-15 (vs. Boise State).

BLOCK BY BLOCK
- Yauhen Massalski had a block at LMU on Thursday, giving him 13 in seven games this year (1.9 average). 

- Massalski currently ranks fifth in program history with 106 career blocks. He is only the fifth Torero to have 100+ blocks in a career, and he has 40+ blocks in each of his first two seasons at USD. He enters the game against Santa Clara on pace for 42 blocks this year in the regular season.

- The Belarus native has a block in all seven games this year and eight straight dating back to last season. He has at least one block in 53 career games, which are the third-most since 2010-11 by a Torero (source: Sports Reference). Jito Kok (2013-16) had 111 career games with at least one block to lead the program.

STARTING ON THE ROAD
- The Toreros are opening their conference slate with back-to-back road games for the first time since 2016-17. In that season, USD opened at San Francisco (L, 74-80) followed by at No. 19 Saint Mary's (L, 60-72).

- USD has started WCC play with back-to-back road games four times since 2010-11, going in 0-2 in each instance. The last time the Toreros started a conference schedule with consecutive road contests and won at least one game was 2009-10 (W, at Santa Clara - 55-46; L, at San Francisco - 71-87).

FROM LONG DISTANCE
- USD is coming off a game at LMU in which it attempted a season-high 28 three-pointers. It was its most long range attempts since March 2, 2019 at BYU (29). 

- The Toreros only shot 28.6% (8-of-28) from three against the Lions. It was their lowest three-point shooting percentage with 28 or more attempts since December 12, 2018 at Oregon (25%, 7-of-28).

OPPOSING THREES
- While on one end the Toreros took a season-high three-point attempts, on the other end they held LMU to 13.6% from beyond the arc. It was the lowest three-point shooting percentage allowed by the Toreros since March 9, 2019 at BYU (5.9%).

- USD is first in the WCC and 35th in the country this season in three-point field goal defense (28.8%).

YAUHEN IS BACK
- Junior Yauhen Massalski, who missed nine games due to injury, has returned in a big way for the Toreros. The native of Belarus is averaging 9.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in the last six games (three off the bench, three as a starter).

- The difference of Massalski on the floor has been stark as he has a +60 plus/minus in the last six games. USD is outscoring its opponents 243-183 when Massalski is in the game, compared to 159-169 when he is on the bench.

- In the last six games, the Toreros are outscoring their opponents in the paint 188-154 and holding them to 47.2% (77-of-163) on shots inside the key.

JOEY BUCKETS
- Joey Calcaterra led the Toreros in scoring on Thursday at LMU with 14 points. It was the sixth time this year the redshirt sophomore led USD in scoring and second time in the last three games.

- The team's leading scorer, Calcaterra has seven games of 14+ points. Last year, he had double-digit points twice.

- Calcaterra also had four three-pointers against the Lions, his third game this season with four three-pointers. He leads the team with 31 three-pointers made and is third on the team in three-point shooting percentage. The 31 three-pointers are also seventh-most among WCC players while his 86 long range attempts are fifth-most.