LOS ANGELES — San Diego takes on Grand Canyon inside the Intuit Dome for the West Coast Hoops Showdown and what will be the Toreros final non-conference tune up before the start of WCC play. 

The West Coast Hoops Showdown double-header, with UCLA-Gonzaga taking place at 1:30 p.m., is the first college basketball games played in the state-of-the-art Intuit Dome, the recently opened new home of the Los Angeles Clippers. 

The game will not be televised, however, can be exclusively streamed for free on USDToreros.com/watch, with Jack Cronin and Braden Surprenant calling the action over the radio airwaves. USD Head Coach Steve Lavin and other members of the team will join the show pre-game and post-game. Inside coverage and game updates can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.

Tickets for the event can be purchased HERE

San Diego Toreros (3-9, 0-0 WCC)  • Grand Canyon Lopes (8-4, 0-0 WAC)

Saturday, December 28, 2024  •  3:30 PM PST

Intuit Dome (18,000) • Los Angeles, Calif.

Live Streaming (Radio) • USDToreros.com/watch • Live Stats • USDToreros.com

 X.com/USDMBB  •  Instagram.com/USDMBB

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE LOPES

• The Toreros own a perfect 3-0 record against Grand Canyon, having won by no more than 11 points in non-conference regular season games in 2013, '17 & '18 ... This will be the first meeting between the two on a neutral site

• The two sides share two common opponents this season, both having lost to Arizona State by double digits while the Antelopes are yet to play WAC foe Southern Utah

ANALYTICS AT A QUICK GLANCE

•  The Lopes (NET No. 128) will be the USD's first Quadrant Three opponent of the season ... In nine non-Q1 games, San Diego has lost by double digits just once

•  Saturday's affair could be a quick-paced affair as both sides rank in the top-25 for Torvik's metric for adjusted tempo (adjusted posessions per 40 minutes: USD #25 - 72.4, GCU #15 - 72.9

•  As of Friday, Dec. 27, San Diego has is among the 20 unluckiest teams nationally (-.120), according to Kenpom ... Grand Canyon has had slightly above average luck this season, rating No. 154 (+.022)

LAST TIME OUT

•   Torero Men's Basketball clawed back in the fight several times but was narrowly outlasted by crosstown rival UC San Diego Saturday night, 71-77 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

• The game boiled down to turnovers as the Tritons scored 31 points on USD's 23 turnovers, fronted by the nation's leader in steals, Hayden Gray's seven swipes. UCSD guard Tyler McGhie was 7-10 from three, 5-5 in the second half to keep the Toreros at bay.

• San Diego, however, not only out-rebounded their northern neighbors from La Jolla, but also shot better from the field (50.9%, 55.2% in the second), and scored 31 points off the bench to UC San Diego's six.

NOTABLE

•  Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet grabbed 20 rebounds in the contest, the third most in a single game by a Torero, most in 42 years. The Argentina international was a point shy of his fourth double-double of the season. He also added on a team-high two steals, a block and three assists. 

•  Fellow sophomore, guard Joey Chammaa, also had a career night, scoring 14 points in 17 minutes on 5-7 shooting as the lone Torero in double figures ... Chammaa became the 12th different Torero to scoring in double figures this season

HOW IT HAPPENED

- The Toreros ran out the same lineup as a week prior against Fresno State, with senior forward Bendji Pierre get his second nod of the season

- While USD led for 29 seconds, early turnovers and a UCSD scoring run took precedence at the start

- Six Toreros came in off the bench in the first 15 minutes of play, including Neel Beniwal who finished +3 in seven minutes … freshman guard Jackson Gaffney made his career debut

- A USD 9-0 run fueled by a 6-7 field goal hot streak while playing lock down defense saw the Toreros bring the game to 23-25 with less than five minutes remaining in the first period

- After having trailed by as much as 11, a Trouet jumper at 1:45 to go knotted the score at 28s, but UCSD went into the break leading by four

- Another turnover riddled start led to the Tritons expanding that lead to nine

- Yet again, a hot run of shooting from the field for the Toreros and another three-plus minute field goal drought by the guests on the other end saw USD pull back within three points

- The UCSD shooting came back to life inside eight minutes to extend the lead back to double-digits

- Three straight jumper makes from freshman guard Tony Duckett and an additional out of the hands of Chammaa reeled the game back to four points

- However, McGhie's sixth and seventh makes of the night put the game out of reach once and for all, extending the Triton advantage to as much as 12, 77-71 by game's end

SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY

• 10 different Toreros have featured in a starting lineup this season, the first career start for six

    - In their first career starts the six Toreros average 14.8 pts., 4.2 reb., 2 ast., 1.7 stl. and 1 blk..  

• The latest to capitalize on his first career start is freshman guard Tony Duckett, scoring 16 against Marian on Nov. 27 ... In his first two career starts so. forward Santiago Trouet has two double-doubles, averaging 14 pts. and 11.5 ast. ... Since his first DI start, junior guard Kjay Bradley Jr. is averaging 15.8 pts., 2.8 stl. and 3.7 ast. 

• Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet notched two straight double-doubles in his first two career starts and had three double-doubles in November, scoring double-digit points in his first three starts

HOT START

• In the win over Boston Univ. on Nov. 8, Junior guard Kjay Bradley Jr. became the first Torero to score 24-plus in the first two games of the season since fellow junior college transfer Isaiah Pineiro (28 and 25) at the start of the 2018 season, the first Torero to do so in his first two games of DI college basketball since at least 1999.

• On Nov. 10, his 26.0 ppg was good for T-17th best in the nation, third among players in their first DI games 

• The junior from Inglewood, Calif. recorded the highest scoring Torero performance (28) since Deuce Turner's 30 on March 2, 2024 against Pacific

BUILDING ON LAST SEASON'S SUCCESSES

• With year-to-year growth evident within the program, the Toreros look to continue to build on top of their successes in the 2023-24 season and return to prominent heights ... 2023-24's season highlights included:

    - The program's most wins (18) since 2018-19

    - The program's first winning record since 2018-19

    - The program's best regular-season WCC finish since 2014-15 (fifth)

    - The program's first win over a Power-5 opponent since 2018 (Dec. 9, 2023, over Arizona State)

    - Eight double-digit comeback wins, which led the nation

INTRODUCING, YOUR 2024-25 TOREROS

• Lavin and his staff have reloaded the roster of 21 players, 14 of which are underclassmen, both the most among WCC rosters and most for the program since at least 2005-06 ... The team's average age prior to opening day was 20.96 years

• USD also leads the WCC and is tied (Long Beach State) among all Californian DI programs with the most players from one state on the roster – 11 from California

• No Toreros were featured on the WCC's preseason all-conference team

KEY RETURNERS

• Senior center Steven Jamerson II is the top returner for San Diego, averaging 8.3 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game with six double-doubles in 2023-24

• Sophomore guard Dragos Lungu is coming off a stellar summer as he was 2024 FIBA U20 EuroBasket MVP and champion with Romania during the offseason, averaging 16.3 points per game, 7.9 rebounds per game and 18.4 EFF in the tournament

• Experienced guards, graduate guard Deven Dahlke and senior Dominic Muncey, also both return ready to make an impact in the USD lineup

KEY ADDITIONS

• The Toreros add nine newcomers to the roster: six freshmen and three transfers

• Graduate guard Kody Clouet returns to his native San Diego County and highlights the incoming class

    - Averaged 17.6 PPG, shooting 50.3% FG / 43% 3PT / 81% FT at SE Oklahoma State last season

• Redshirt senior Colby Brooks shifts WCC sides from Gonzaga in 2024-25

• Guard Tony Duckett and forwards Kean Webb and Gavin Ripp highlight the freshman class coming to San Diego

HEAD COACHES AS TORERO ASSISTANTS

• Also re-bolstered within the program for the 2024-25 season is the coaching staff; joining Lavin and his 14 years of DI head coaching experience on the bench is three other former head coaches

• The first key addition is former NBA veteran & head coach, Earl Watson, as an assistant 

    - Head Coach of Phoenix Suns, 2016-17, previously with the Raptors as an assistant from 2021-23

    - Watson played under Lavin for four seasons at UCLA, ranking top-5 in several all-time stats

    - Joins Fred Hoiberg (Nebraska), Rick Pitino (St. John's) and Mike Woodson (Indiana) as the only former NBA head coaches now in college basketball, the lone assistsant 

• Also new to the USD sideline in 2024-25 is volunteer Justin Hutson, previously the Fresno State head coach from 2018-24 and concurrently now an assistant for his wife with SDSU Women's Basketball

• John Moore, the all-time winningest head coach at NAIA Westmont College is geared up for his third season alongside Lavin as a USD assistant

THE REMAINING SCHEDULE

• USD plays each league opponent twice, except for preseason league favorites Gonzaga and Saint Mary's

• San Diego plays new WCC opponents Oregon State and Washington State in home-and-homes

YEAR THREE OF THE LAVIN ERA

• 2024-2025 marks head coach Steve Lavin's third season at the helm in San Diego after being hired in April of 2022.

• Prior to the start of the new season, Lavin had accumulated a record of 266-185 (.589) with 10 postseason appearances in 13 full seasons as a DI head coach.

• Prior to arriving at USD, he guided UCLA and St. John's to eight NCAA Tournament appearances in 11 years

• A staple in college basketball for over three decades, Lavin is the 14th head coach in program history and the Toreros' seventh head coach since USD moved to the NCAA Division I ranks in 1979-80.

• Most recently, Lavin served as a national college basketball broadcaster for Fox Sports and CBS Sports, previously working with ESPN, ABC, and the Pac-12 Network.