San Diego Toreros (9-19, 2-11 WCC) • Saint Mary's Gaels (22-6, 9-4 WCC)
Saturday, February 22 • 5 p.m.
University Credit Union Pavilion (3,500) • Moraga, Calif.
TV • Stadium | Listen | Live Stats
SAN DIEGO – San Diego continues to face the conference's top teams to close out the regular season as it will travel to Saint Mary's for a 5 p.m. contest against the Gaels on Saturday.
USD has lost back-to-back games on a shot in the final seconds, including last Saturday against BYU on an alley-oop with eight seconds left and previously at Pepperdine on a three-pointer at the buzzer. Saint Mary's comes into the game 3-2 in its last five after a Thursday night win over LMU.
Saturday's game can be watched on Stadium, with Barry Tompkins and Jeff Goodman calling the action, and heard here, with the Voice of the Toreros Jack Cronin on the call.
ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST SAINT MARY'S
- Saturday will be the 90th all-time meeting between USD and Saint Mary's. The Toreros trail in the series, 36-53.
- In the first meeting of the season, the Toreros were up by five with under eight minutes remaining, but Saint Mary's made eight of its last 10 shots to pull away for a 66-60 win in San Diego on February 6.
- USD has lost 13 straight to the Gaels, seven of which were in Moraga.
- The Toreros have lost 12 in a row at Saint Mary's. Their last win on the road was on February 5, 2007 (W, 76-72).
- In the last two games, USD has been ahead in the final 10 minutes. In last year's WCC Tournament semifinal game, the Toreros were up 52-50 at the 9:02 mark and within one possession with under two minutes remaining, but the Gaels staved off the Toreros, 69-62.
NARROW DECISIONS
- Since losing to Saint Mary's at home - a game in which USD led late in the game - the Toreros have experienced three consecutive games with shots in the closing seconds of regulation helping determine the final result.
- On February 8 at home against Portland, Joey Calcaterra hit the game-tying three-pointer with six seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. The make came after Portland made it a three-point game by converting only one of its two free throws prior to the run of the length of the court by USD. The Toreros eventually claimed an 88-81 win in double overtime, thanks to 19 points by Calcaterra in the second half and extra periods.
- In the next game on February 13 at Pepperdine, Braun Hartfield missed a three-point attempt in a tie game with about six seconds remaining, which produced a rebound fielded by the Waves who then ran the length of the court and won the game with a three-pointer by Colbey Ross as time expired. The three-pointer by Ross produced the only lead in the second half enjoyed by the Waves.
- And finally last Saturday, a game that saw 19 lead changes and eight ties, BYU sank the game-winning shot on an alley-oop between TJ Haws and Yoeli Childs that put the Cougars up 72-71. After a timeout, the Toreros took the ball up the court before losing it off a BYU player out of bounds to set up an inbound play from the left side. Finn Sullivan inbounded the ball to Braun Hartfield, who pump faked and then took a three-pointer from the left corner as he was falling down to only see it hit off the rim as time expired.
- In addition to losing by a combined four points in the last two games, Saturday's loss to BYU was USD's closest loss all season and narrowest decision since a 91-90 win over San Francisco in overtime in February 2019.
- The Toreros have been in four straight games where the point margin is four points or less with under one minute to go.
- USD is 1-4 this season in games decided by four points or less.
LAST 4 GAMES
- In the last four games, USD has combined to outshoot (45.6% to 44.9%) and outrebound (34.3-33.0) its opponents while losing by an average score of 72.8-72.0. The overall point margin in the four-game stretch is -3.
- In addition to shooting 45.6% from the field (108-of-237), the Toreros are 28-of-83 (33.7%) in the last four games from beyond the arc. For the season, USD is shooting 31.8% from long distance.
- Defensively, USD is holding opponents to 24.7% from three-point range (18-of-73) as opponents are only averaging 4.5 three-pointers made per game. Opponents are shooting 31.5% from three against the Toreros, which is the second-best three-point defensive mark in the WCC (top-100 in the country).
- Hartfield leads the Toreros in scoring over the last four games (19.8 points) while Yauhen Massalski (11.8) and Finn Sullivan (11.5) are also averaging double-figures.
LAST 4 GAMES … IN THE SECOND HALF
- Over the second half and overtime in the last four games, USD is shooting a combined 47% from the field (57-of-121) while its opponents are shooting 53.7% (65-of-121).
- In the last five minutes of regulation since February 6 (last four games), the Toreros are 15-of-29 from the field (51.7%) while their opponents are 13-of-24 (54.2%).
BIG TIME BRAUN
- Braun Hartfield continues to be USD's most important scoring threat as the redshirt junior is averaging 21.2 points on 49.3% shooting (37-of-75) and 40% (14-of-35) from three-point range in the last five games (all in the month of February). He has three 20-point games in the stretch as well as double-digits in all five.
- In the previous eight games - the first eight WCC contests this season - Hartfield averaged 13.3 points on 35.8% shooting (34-of-95).
- In the last five games, Hartfield is shooting better - nearly 50% (49.3%) - while also averaging 15 field goal attempts. In the eight games prior, Hartfield only averaged three less shots (11.9) while shooting below his season average (35.8%). He is shooting 43.2% this year.
- The recent stretch has helped bring Hartfield into the WCC's top-10 for effective field goal percentage. Hartfield's clip of 50.4% is currently ninth in the conference.
- Hartfield has three 20-point efforts in the last five games. He set a new season-high of 27 at Pacific to start the stretch and then fell one point short of matching it at Pepperdine last Thursday with 26. He has six 20-point games this year, which lead the team.
| Last 5 Games (Since Feb. 1) |
|
Previous 8 Games (Jan. 2-30) |
| 21.2 |
Points |
13.3 |
| 49.3% |
FG% |
35.8% |
| 40% |
3FG% |
35.7% |
| 4.6 |
Rebounds |
4.6 |
| 3.0 |
Assists |
1.6 |
| 1.8 |
Steals |
0.8 |
FINN'S IMPACT
- Finn Sullivan has back-to-back games of 16 points, which are tied for his second-highest scoring output this season. Against BYU on Saturday, he was 6-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three.
- In the last two games, Sullivan is shooting 55% (11-of-20) and 45.5% from three (5-of-11).
- While averaging 16.0 points, Sullivan is also averaging 4.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals in the last two contests. He has a 4.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.
- For the season, Sullivan is averaging 7.8 points on 40.4% shooting. In the last 10 games, though, he is second on the team with 11.8 points on 45.6% shooting (41-of-90).
J-ROD IS HEATING UP
- Jared Rodriguez is coming off back-to-back games where he played 20+ minutes and combined to shoot 50% from the field (8-of-16).
- In the last two games, Rodriguez is averaging 10.5 points on 50% shooting and also has 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 23.5 minutes.
- Prior to the two game stretch, Rodriguez had not played 20 or more minutes in a game since January 11 (vs. Pepperdine) and averaged 5.0 points on 42.4% (14-of-33) shooting in the five-game stretch.
BENCH PRODUCTION
- With the help of double-digit efforts from three Toreros, USD had a season-high 40 points off the bench against BYU last Saturday (previous: 36 vs. Whittier, 12/29). The Torero bench has scored 30+ points six times this season, including in both of the last two games. USD is 3-3 in games in which its bench scores 30+.
MOST VALUABLE
- Braun Hartfield, the team's leading scorer, has paced the Toreros in scoring in five of the last six games and 14 times this year. He has a team-best 22 double-digit scoring efforts this season, five more than the next closest Torero, Joey Calcaterra (16).
- In overall games, Hartfield is 9th in the WCC in scoring (14.6) while in conference-only contests, he is 7th with a 16.3 scoring average.
- Also in overall games, Hartfield is top-10 in the WCC in rebounding (10th, 5.6) and field goal percentage (10th, 43.2%) in addition to scoring.
- In 13 WCC games, Hartfield is the only Torero averaging double-digit points (16.3) while he is second on the team in rebounding (4.6), assists (2.2) and steals (1.2). He is shooting 41.8% from the field (71-of-170) and 37.7% from three (29-of-77).
BLOCK PARTY
- Yauhen Massalski, who has seven blocks in the last four games, currently ranks fifth in program history with 120 career blocks and is nine 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 27 blocks this season with at least four games remaining.
- The Belarus native has a block in 14 of his 19 games this year. He has at least one block in 60 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) - 120
