San Diego Toreros (8-17, 1-9 WCC) • Portland Pilots (9-16, 1-9 WCC)
Saturday, February 8 • 7 p.m.
Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) • San Diego, Calif.
TV • WCC Network | Live Stats
SAN DIEGO – Following a narrow defeat to Saint Mary's, San Diego returns to its home court on Saturday when it hosts Portland at 7 p.m. in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
USD beat Portland in the first meeting of the season three weeks ago after dominating the second half in shooting and rebounding. The Toreros have won four straight against the Pilots.
Saturday's game can be watched on the WCC Network, with the Voice of the Toreros Jack Cronin calling the action.
ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST PORTLAND
- Saturday will be the 88th all-time meeting between USD and Portland. The Toreros lead the series, 56-31.
- San Diego has won four straight against the Pilots, including this season's first meeting on January 18 in Portland. USD shot 57% in the second half and outrebounded by an eight-board margin in the final 20 minutes.
- USD won the last meeting at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, a 63-52 decision on February 21, 2019. The Toreros have won three of the last four in San Diego.
- The Toreros are 27-13 all-time against Portland at home.
- In addition to winning four straight against Portland, USD has won five of the last six and 10 of the last 12 matchups. Since the 2011-12 season, the Toreros are 15-4 against the Pilots.
22 OVER THE LAST 2
- Braun Hartfield continued his strong scoring effort as of late as he led the team with 18 points against Saint Mary's on Thursday. The redshirt junior is averaging 22.5 points in the last two contests.
- Fueling his recent scoring performances is a 56.7% field goal shooting percentage (17-of-30) in the last two. He is also 5-of-12 from three-point range (41.7%). For the entire season, Hartfield is shooting 43.1% from the field and 33.6% from three.
- In the two games prior to the current two-game stretch, Hartfield averaged 10.0 points on 7-of-23 (30.4%) from the field and 1-of-6 (16.7%) from three.
ALL-AROUND EFFORT
- Braun Hartfield became the first Torero in the last 10 years to have 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in the game against Saint Mary's. He is only the fourth Torero to have a game with 5+ rebounds, 5+ assists and 3+ steals since 2010-11 (others: Christopher Anderson (8 times), Isaiah Wright (3 times), Isaiah Pineiro (once)).
MOST VALUABLE
- Braun Hartfield, the team's leading scorer, has paced the Toreros in scoring in three straight games and 12 times this year. The Cleveland, Ohio native has a team-best 19 double-digit scoring efforts this season, four more than the next closest Torero, Joey Calcaterra (15).
- In overall games, Hartfield is 11th in the WCC in scoring (13.9) while in conference-only contests, he is also 11th with a 15.1 scoring average.
- In 10 WCC games, Hartfield is the only Torero averaging double-digit points (15.1) while he is second on the team in rebounding (4.9), assists (1.8) and steals (0.9). He is shooting 40.8% from the field (51-of-125) and 37% from three (20-of-54).
SQUIRREL'S SCORING
- Yauhen Massalski logged his first double-digit scoring game since this year's WCC opener when he tallied 10 points against Saint Mary's on Thursday. The junior has five games of 10+ points this season.
- He was 4-of-7 from the field to tally the 10 points as he is now shooting a team-best 51.5% from the field this year. The seven shot attempts were Massalski's most in a game since he took eight at Portland on January 18. He has seven or more field goal attempts in eight of his 16 games played this season.
ON THE BOARDS
- Yauhen Massalski's 10 points also helped him nearly log his second double-double of the season as he had nine rebounds (three offensive, six defensive).
- Since January 18 - the first game of the season against Portland - Massalski is averaging 8.8 rebounds. His season average is a team-best 6.9.
- In WCC-only games, Massalski is tied for fifth in the conference in rebounding (6.6).
Top-5 Rebounding in the WCC (Conference-Only Games)
- Jahlil Tripp (Pacific), 9.4
- Kameron Edwards (Pepperdine), 8.2
- Malik Fitts (Saint Mary's), 8.1
- Filip Petrusev (Gonzaga), 7.4
- Eli Scott (LMU), 6.6 & Yauhen Massalski (USD), 6.6
BLOCK PARTY
- Yauhen Massalski has nine blocks in the last five games and a team-best 23 blocks this season (1.4/game). His 1.1 blocks/game in conference-only games is tied for eighth in the WCC.
- He also has three or more blocks in four games this year and twice in the last four.
- Massalski currently ranks fifth in program history with 116 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.
- The Belarus native has a block in 12 of his 16 games this year. He has at least one block in 58 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) - 116
THE SIXTH MAN
- Finn Sullivan added another double-digit scoring effort on Thursday against Saint Mary's as the sophomore now has 10+ points in back-to-back games and in five of the last seven.
- In the last seven games, Sullivan is averaging 11.7 points - the second-best average on the team over the stretch - on 44.4% shooting (28-of-63). He also has 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.6 steals in that span.
- For the season, Sullivan is averaging 7.1 points on 38.8% shooting.
- Coming off the bench, Sullivan is averaging 6.4 points on 41.2% shooting (42-of-102) in 17 games. In the last four games as a non-starter, though, the San Diego native is averaging 12.8 points on 55.2% shooting (21-of-38).
- Sullivan has at least one steal in seven straight games and has totaled 11 over the stretch. He had seven steals in his first 14 games of the year.
FROM BEYOND THE ARC
- USD is averaging 13.0 three-point attempts in the last three games, after averaging 21.0 attempts in the first 22 games this year.
- The Toreros are 9-of-39 (23.1%) from beyond the arc in the last three games. For the season, they are 31.4% from three-point range.
