SAN DIEGO – San Diego Men's Basketball wrapped up 2024 with a WCC-opening 75-65 win over Pacific in the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Monday night.
A team effort guided USD to victory, with four different players scoring in double figures and nine combined for a season-high 20 assists and six for a season-best 11 steals with just 11 turnovers.
Senior center
Steven Jamerson II led the way with his first double-double of the season, scoring a season-high 21 and grabbing 11 rebounds. Off the bench, junior guard
Kjay Bradley Jr. led the effort in sharing the sugar with a team tied season best seven assists – all in the second half – and 10 points.
San Diego led by as much as 14 in the first half but Tiger 50%+ shooting from the both the field and beyond the arc saw the guests take the lead early in the second half. Graduate guard
Kody Clouet in his second game back from injury hit three big 3-pointers to kick start a 13-0 and eventual 21-2 run for the Toreros while Pacific went a cold 1-15 from deep in the second half, seeing USD reclaim a sizable lead for good.
The Toreros grab their fourth win of the season, first in six games in December and first conference opener won since 2017.
Notable
- The Toreros won the first WCC-opener since a win over San Francisco on Dec. 28, 2017, when the team went on to win the first three games of conference play
- Recorded team season-highs in assists (20, prev. 16) and steals (11, prev. 10)
- A season best nine different Toreros contributed assists
- Steven Jamerson II records fifth Torero double-double of the season, first with 20-plus points, the 21 points also a personal season high with nine made field goals … He doubled the single-game best +/- for a Torero (+28, prev. +14)
- Kjay Bradley Jr. notched his 10th game in double figures this season, second game with team-best seven assists
- Kody Clouet, returning from injury, hit multiple threes for the first time since the season-opener on Nov. 6
- Senior forward Bendji Pierre added 13 points on three made 3-pointers and USD's first eight points of the night
- Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet continued his run of form, finishing two boards shy of his fifth double-double of the season, also scoring 13 with eight rebounds
- San Diego scored a point shy of its season-best 76 points
How it Happened
- The same line up as Saturday ran out, with freshman guard Tony Duckett making his second straight start
- Pierre got the hosts out front early, scoring the team's first eight points including two threes
- San Diego scored on five straight possessions going into the first timeout of the game ahead 17-9
- Both teams would go on runs but USD took better advantage of size inside and Pacific turnovers, leading 30-17 with 6:40 to go in the first period
- A Tiger 8-0 run saw them get back within 5, eventually silenced by a San Diego three
- At the half, USD led 35-31 while Pacific was shooting over 50% in all categories and San Diego had just five turnovers with eight steals, fronted by Pierre's 10 points
- Pacific would tie the game early in the second half on a three – fortunately for San Diego the Tigers would go on to miss each of their next 13 from deep the rest of the game
- Both teams went three minutes without scoring before the visitors took their first lead of the game six minutes into the second half, turning in a 7-0 run to take a five-point advantage
- A 13-0 and 21-2 run ensued for USD over a span of six minutes to flip the game on it's head, ignited by Clouet's first made 3-pointers since Nov. 24, Jamerson II's work in the paint and additional deep tres from Bradley Jr. and Pierre
- The Toreros were undeterred by foul trouble, something that cost them the last time out, building to an eventual 15-point lead at 64-49
- USD would close out the win at 75-65, shooting 53.6% FG and 50% 3pt in the second period, both good for 45%-plus for the game
Up Next
The Toreros will continue the home conference stand taking on Santa Clara for 2025's first game, Thursday, Jan. 2 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion at 7 p.m., streaming live on ESPN+.
Post Game Quotes
Senior Center Steven Jamerson II
On how it feels to get a win…
It's wonderful, we haven't had a win in such a long time. We kind of forgot what it felt like to have a win, so to have this win going into 2025, it's great, it's very uplifting. It's going to boost more wins for us in the future. Starting off WCC play with a win, right?
On his first double-double of the season…
Grateful that my work is finally paying off, and I'm actually doing the stuff that I should be doing. Hopefully I can keep that train running and help the team win in the best way that I can.
On what went well as a team tonight…
We started off strong passing the ball, moving the rock, and the defense too. I know we ended up keeping their three point percentages in the low numbers, and overall just getting stops on the defensive end is really what helped us get the win.
Graduate Guard Kody Clouet
On how it feels to get the win…
It feels great. It's been a tough little go at it, but starting off WCC play 1-0 feels really nice for everybody.
On his success shooting the ball tonight…
It felt awesome today. I'm just grateful my teammates were able to find me in some good positions. And it was rough, but you know, hopefully we can just build off this momentum, and keep seeing the ball go through the net.
On the support from his teammates…
That was so awesome. It just goes to show that everybody on the bench is rooting for you. All the coaches, and all the players just made me feel special out there.
On how to continue this momentum into 2025…
We've had some really good practices lately. We just need to keep building, building, building, building. It's nice to get a win, so we just need to keep going with that.
Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening Statement…
We're glad to get a win. Getting back to the winner's circle is important in terms of our morale, and to be able to do it at home in the first game of conference play was great. As we close the book on 2024, we've got some momentum now going into 2025, and this was a big week for us, so getting this win under our belt and now preparing for Santa Clara, our guys are in the right mindset and they're going to take advantage of this opportunity, and that's on us in terms of our preparation as we get ready for Santa Clara.
On what it means to get the win…
Our players have had a couple good weeks of practice. I think we've made progress. And sometimes your team's improving, but it doesn't pay off with a win. And there are other times when you're winning games, but you're actually regressing. So while that seems counterintuitive, we've spoken specifically about that, even though we haven't had a breakthrough with a win until tonight, we had been making some progress, in particular on defense. I thought tonight we went on a couple big runs, 13-0 and a 21-2 run that was decisive and allowed us to pull away. UOP did a nice job of counter-punching after our good start — they came back after we had a lead of 14 in the first half — and they ended up taking the lead in the second half. Basketball is a game of runs, and you expect that when the other team is trying to beat you, but ultimately we had the decisive run that allowed us to put them away.
On Jamerson II's performance in the victory…
He got through some foul trouble and still put up really impressive numbers in terms of his shooting percentage. We took advantage of the size tonight, UOP was playing a smaller lineup for the majority of the game, and so our ability to get inside for point-blank shots was really big, and Steven was the central figure in that regard.
On how well the team shared the ball…
20 assists was really encouraging. I believe it's the most assists we've had this season. There were nine different players that had assists. It was a number of players that were sharing the ball, looking for the open man, and when you do that offensively, good things are going to happen. We've struggled with that at times in terms of turnovers. But tonight, we only had 11 turnovers. That means more shots on the rim, and also it helps your defense, because when you don't have live-ball turnovers, you're forcing opponents to play against your set defense. So a good offense really goes alongside a good defense. I thought also when we were in the desert, and had some tough stretches, we still hung in there, and in particular, answered the bell in the second half. It was really an impressive, dominant half.
On the team rallying around Clouet…
We have some terrific young people in our program, and you can feel that they are genuinely excited. They're genuinely happy when their teammates do well, and that's a great trait to have as a team, because they care about one another. Kody has been through it with the back injury, and because of that back injury, he's had some early season shooting struggles. He missed some games as well, so he's trying to get his conditioning, his timing and his rhythm back. So just very pleased, I think he's handled this difficult stretch with maturity, and that comes from experience, and it's one of the things we really value about Kody. He's almost like an extension of our staff on the floor, because he's an older person. He's got more years than anyone on this team, and so we're not going to call him 'Grandpa', but he might be in the 'Papa' category because of his experience.
On turning the page from 2024 into 2025…
Eager to get back on the practice floor and continue to improve defensively. In the second half, we really tightened the screws. We held them to just 7% from the three-point line in the second half after they shot 57% and lit us up in the first half from the three-point line, and from the field for that matter. We held them to 42% overall from the field, and 23% from the three-point line. So really, all the defensive goals that we have, we reached them, and that more often than not, is going to lead to a win, so we just need to continue improving at both ends of the floor tonight. Getting back in the win column for our morale is really important, because now you come to practice with a little more pep in your step, the wind in your sails, as they say, and we want to take advantage, and to hold serve in league play on our home court. Santa Clara beat us two out of three last year, and they ended our season in the West Coast Conference tournament in our second game over in Las Vegas. So, there's plenty of motivation. It's 2025, and we're starting a new year. It's kind of a fresh start and a reset, league play does that, as does the New Year's.
