SAN DIEGO – San Diego starts the final week of the regular season with a Thursday night matchup at #3 Gonzaga at 6 p.m. in the McCarthey Athletic Center.

USD, in the midst of its toughest stretch of the season as it has closed out the year with games against the top-five teams in the WCC standings, has lost three straight entering the game against Gonzaga. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, had their 19-game winning streak snapped last Saturday at BYU.

Thursday's game can be watched on ROOT Sports Northwest, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, AT&T SportsNet Southwest and the WCC Network. It can also be heard here, with the Voice of the Toreros Jack Cronin on the call.

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST GONZAGA
- Thursday will be the 96th all-time meeting between USD and Gonzaga. The Toreros trail in the series, 21-74.

- In the first meeting of the season, the Toreros were hindered by a slow offensive outing while Gonzaga got out to a hot start in a 94-50 loss on January 9. Gonzaga opened the game 9-of-12 shooting and established a 20-point lead nine minutes into the game. The Toreros, meanwhile, shot 32.8% on the night.

- USD has lost 11 straight to Gonzaga, a stretch that goes back to the 2014-15 season. The Toreros' last win occurred on February 22, 2014 in San Diego (69-66).

- The Toreros have lost 19 in a row at Gonzaga in the regular season and 22 overall when including the WCC Tournament hosted in Spokane. USD's last win at Gonzaga was in 2000 (82-70). 

- This is the fifth straight matchup between USD and Gonzaga in which the Bulldogs are ranked top-10 in the country. The Toreros are 2-27 against a Gonzaga team ranked in the AP poll (0-16 vs. top-10 Gonzaga).

LAST 5 GAMES
- In the last five games, the Toreros have experienced an uptick in their offense as they are outpacing their season averages in field goal percentage, points per game and assists per game.

 

Last 5 Games		Season
70.2	PPG	66.1
45.3%	FG%	41.7%
14.0	APG	12.6

- Driving part of the offensive improvement is Braun Hartfield (18.8 ppg, 3.6 apg) and Yauhen Massalski (12.0 ppg, 60.5% FG) averaging above their overall season output. Other scorers with higher than five-game scoring averages than their season averages include Finn Sullivan (9.2 vs. 7.4) and Jared Rodriguez (6.2 vs. 5.8).

BIG TIME BRAUN
- Braun Hartfield continues to be USD's most important scoring threat as the redshirt junior is averaging 20.2 points on 47.8% shooting (43-of-90) and 35% (14-of-40) from three-point range in the last six games (all in the month of February). He has three 20-point games in the stretch as well as double-digits in all six.

- 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 six games, Hartfield is shooting better (47.8%) 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 43.1% 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% is currently 8th in the conference.

- Hartfield has three 20-point efforts in the last six 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 on February 13 with 26. He has six 20-point games this year, which lead the team.

 

Last 6 Games (Since Feb. 1)		Previous 8 Games (Jan. 2-30)
20.2	Points	13.3
47.8%	FG%	35.8%
35%	3FG%	35.7%
4.3	Rebounds	4.6
3.0	Assists	1.6
1.5	Steals	0.8

COUNTING THE MINUTES
- Braun Hartfield has played a total of 999:15 minutes this season, which are fourth-most in the WCC and 39th in the country. He is averaging 34:27 per game, which is also fourth-most in the conference.

- In the upcoming game against Gonzaga, Hartfield will cross the 1,000-minute mark for the season, making him the 14th different Torero to do that since 2009-10. He could be the only Torero to cross that threshold this season. Last year, four different Toreros played 1,000+ minutes: Tyler Williams, Isaiah Pineiro, Isaiah Wright and Olin Carter III.

- Hartfield has played 34+ minutes in six straight games and has only played less than 30 minutes three times (none in WCC play).

TAKING CARE OF IT
- In the last five games, Marion Humphrey is averaging 4.0 assists and holds a 4.0 assist-to-turnover ratio thanks to his 20 assists and five turnovers.

- The taking-care-of-the-ball has been a longer term trend for the redshirt freshman point guard as he has a 3.6 assist-to-turnover ratio in the last nine games. For the season, he has a 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio in 29 games.

FRESHMAN ASSISTS
- Marion's Humphrey's 76 assists this season are the fifth-most by a USD freshman in the last 28 years (since 1992-93). Source: Sports Reference

- Humphrey's 76 assists are also the most by a Torero freshman since Christopher Anderson had 156 in 2011-12.

INSIDE THE LANE
- USD had 38 points in the paint at Saint Mary's last Saturday, as it has scored 30+ in the paint in four straight games.

- USD had not scored 30+ points in the paint in six straight games prior to the current stretch.

BENCH PRODUCTION
- USD had a season-high 40 points off the bench against BYU on February 15 (previous: 36 vs. Whittier, 12/29) as the Torero bench has scored 26 or more in four of the last five games. In the last five, USD's bench is averaging 28.4 points. In the three games prior, it was averaging 13.3 points.

- The Torero bench has scored 30+ points six times this season - twice in the last three contests - and 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 six of the last seven games and 15 times this year. He has a team-best 23 double-digit scoring efforts this season, six more than the next closest Torero, Joey Calcaterra (17).

- In overall games, Hartfield is 10th in the WCC in scoring (14.6 in overall) while in conference-only contests, he is 9th (16.2).

- Also in overall games, Hartfield is 11th in the WCC in rebounding (5.6) and 9th in field goal percentage (43.1%).

- In 14 WCC games, Hartfield is the only Torero averaging double-digit points (16.2) while he is second on the team in rebounding (4.5), assists (2.2) and steals (1.1). He is shooting 41.6% from the field (77-of-185) and 35.4% from three (29-of-82).

- Hartfield averages 13.2 field goal attempts per WCC game and has taken 23% of USD's shots in conference action. He accounts for 25.1% of the team's scoring (227 points, 901 team points).