San Diego Toreros (9-17, 2-9 WCC) • Pepperdine Waves (13-12, 6-5 WCC)
Thursday, February 13 • 8 p.m.
Firestone Fieldhouse (3,104) • Malibu, Calif.
TV • Spectrum Sportsnet | Live Audio | Live Stats
SAN DIEGO – Playing on the road for the first time in nearly two weeks, San Diego travels to Pepperdine to take on the Waves on Thursday at 8 p.m.
USD, which is coming off a double-overtime victory over Portland, begins a five-game stretch to close out the regular season in which it will face the WCC's top-five teams. Pepperdine enters the week fifth in the conference standings with a 6-5 record.
Thursday's game can be watched on Spectrum Sportsnet and heard here, with the Voice of the Toreros Jack Cronin on the call.
LAST TIME OUT: TOREROS RALLY TO BEAT PORTLAND IN DOUBLE-OVERTIME
- Joey Calcaterra scored all 19 of his points in the second half and overtime, including three on a game-tying shot in the final seconds of regulation, to help lift San Diego to an 88-81 double-overtime win over Portland on Saturday at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Braun Hartfield scored a game-high 23 points in 48 minutes while Yauhen Massalski had his second double-double of the season with a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds as USD (9-17, 2-9 WCC) swept the season series against the Pilots (9-17, 1-10 WCC) and snapped its four-game losing streak. The Toreros trailed by as much as seven in the second half before working their way out of the hole, culminating with the shot by Calcaterra. In the first overtime, Hartfield gave the Toreros a 73-70 lead with one of his two three-pointers a minute-and-a-half in, but the Pilots took control with baskets on consecutive possessions that made it 74-73 with two minutes to go. Neither side made their next six combined shots, but Hartfield came through by sinking the back end of his two free throws with 32 seconds left to help send the game into double overtime. In the final period, the Toreros never trailed thanks to Calcaterra's seven points and the team shooting 3-of-5 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. On the other side, Portland was held to 3-of-8 from the field. The victory also extended USD's winning streak over Portland to five games.
ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST PEPPERDINE
- Thursday will be the 111th all-time meeting between USD and Pepperdine. The Toreros have lost three straight to the Waves and trail in the series, 46-64.
- In the first meeting of the season, Finn Sullivan scored a career-high 25 points off the bench, and the Toreros cut an 18-point deficit down to one before losing 85-78 in San Diego on January 11.
- USD has won two of the last three on the road in the series, with its last win in Malibu being February 8, 2018 (W, 68-66).
- The Toreros are 8-5 at Pepperdine since 2007 but 13-27 all-time.
- The last four games in the series have been decided by a combined 17 points.
LOOKING AHEAD
- The Toreros return home for their fifth home game in a seven-game stretch for a Saturday night matchup against BYU on CBS Sports Network. It is the first of four straight contests against the WCC's top-four in the standings to close out the season.
BIG TIME BRAUN
- Braun Hartfield has stepped up in a big way in the last three games as the redshirt junior is averaging 22.7 points on 47.8% shooting (22-of-46) during the stretch.
- In addition to averaging 22 points, the Cleveland, Ohio native is averaging 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.7 steals in the last three games. He is also shooting 35% (7-of-20) from three-point range.
- In the two games prior to the current three-game stretch, Hartfield averaged 10.0 points on 7-of-23 (30.4%) from the field and 1-of-6 (16.7%) from three.
MOST VALUABLE
- Braun Hartfield, the team's leading scorer, has paced the Toreros in scoring in four straight games and 13 times this year. He has a team-best 20 double-digit scoring efforts this season, four more than the next closest Torero, Joey Calcaterra (16).
- In overall games, Hartfield is 10th in the WCC in scoring (14.2) while in conference-only contests, he is 8th with a 15.8 scoring average.
- In 11 WCC games, Hartfield is one of two Toreros averaging double-digit points (15.8) while he is second on the team in rebounding (5.1), assists (2.0) and steals (1.0). He is shooting 39.7% from the field (56-of-141) and 35.5% from three (22-of-62).
DOUBLE DOUBLE
- Yauhen Massalski is averaging a double-double in the last two games as the junior has 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds over the stretch. He is also averaging 3.0 blocks and shooting 57.1% from the field (12-of-21).
- Massalski's double-double against Portland this past Saturday was his second of the season (last: Dec. 29 vs. Whittier) and fifth of his career. His 19 points against the Pilots was also a new career-high, besting his previous high of 17 set earlier this season against Whittier (Dec. 29).
- Massalski has double-digit points in two straight games for the third time this season entering Thursday. He has never scored 10+ points in three consecutive games in his career.
ON THE BOARDS
- Yauhen Massalski has led the team in rebounds in each of the last two games and five times in the last seven contests.
- In the last six games, Massalski is averaging 9.3 rebounds. His season average is a team-best 7.2.
- In WCC-only games, Massalski is tied for fifth in the conference in rebounding (7.1).
Top-5 Rebounding in the WCC (Conference-Only Games)
- Jahlil Tripp (Pacific), 9.9
- Kameron Edwards (Pepperdine), 7.9
- Filip Petrusev (Gonzaga), 7.7
- Malik Fitts (Saint Mary's), 7.5
- Yauhen Massalski (USD), 7.1
BLOCK PARTY
- Yauhen Massalski has three blocks in each of the last two games and 12 in the last six games.
- He also has three or more blocks in five games this year.
- Massalski currently ranks fifth in program history with 119 career blocks and is 10 shy of fourth place. 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 has 26 blocks this season with at least six games remaining.
- The Belarus native has a block in 13 of his 17 games this year. He has at least one block in 59 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.
All-Time Career Blocks
USD History
- Jito Kok (2012-15) - 193
- Scott Thompson (1983-87) - 183
- Gyno Pomare (2005-09) - 158
- Dondi Bell (1987-1991) - 129
- Yauhen Massalski (2017-Current) - 119
THIEVERY
- Finn Sullivan has eight straight games with a steal, totaling 13 over the stretch. He is currently third on the team in average steals (0.9).
- Sullivan had seven steals in his first 14 games of the year.
- Sullivan's two steals against Portland helped USD total nine in the game, its most in a game since earlier this season against Stanford (10) on December 21. The nine steals were also the most by the Toreros against a WCC opponent since March 7, 2019 against Portland in the WCC Tournament.
AT THE LINE
- Joey Calcaterra has proven to be one of the best free throw shooters in the conference as the redshirt sophomore is second in the WCC with an 81.3% at the line in all games.
TAKING CARE OF IT
- Marion Humphrey, who is ninth in WCC-only games in assists (3.2), had a career-best eight assists against one turnover against Portland last Saturday. He became only the second Torero in the last 10 years to have 8+ assists and one or no turnovers in a game (other: Isaiah Wright, 11/25/17 vs. Grand Canyon).
- In the last six games, Humphrey has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 5.3. He is averaging 3.5 assists over the same stretch.
