SAN DIEGO — Torero Men's Basketball returns to the Jenny Craig Pavilion to host Long Beach State in a Tuesday night non-conference affair. 

The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Jack Cronin (PxP, X: @JackCroninPXP) and Braden Surprenant (analyst, X: @b_surp) calling the action. Inside coverage can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.

San Diego Toreros (3-6, 0-0 WCC)  • Long Beach State (3-8, 2-0 BW)

Tuesday, December 10, 2024  •  7 PM PST

The Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) • San Diego, Calif.

Live Streaming • ESPN+ • Live Stats • USDToreros.com

 Social  •   X.com/USDMBB  •  Instagram.com/USDMBB

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BEACH

• The Toreros will look to even the all-time record against LBSU, currently trailing 3-4, 2-3 at home ... USD took the last meeting in the JCP, 74-70 on Dec. 1, 2018

• This will be the first time the two sides have met since 2019, just the third meeting in the 21st century, previously having met five other times between the turn of the century and the first meeting in 1982

•  Long Beach State and San Diego are the two Californian DI programs with the most players from one state on the roster – 11 from California

• LBSU plays six common opponents as USD in 2024-25; Portland, San Francisco, Gonzaga, Pepperdine, UC San Diego and Fresno State

LAST TIME OUT

•  Torero Men's Hoops fell to cross-town rival No. 24 San Diego State in Viejas Arena Saturday night by a final score of 57-74.

•  The underdog Toreros led early in the second half in their first matchup with SDSU in five years, but were out-rebounded and ceded costly turnovers that allowed the Aztecs to pull away.

NOTABLE

•  Senior forward Bendji Pierre had a career night, scoring a personal best and matching the game high with 17 points ... The native of Irvington, N.J. hadn't converted on a three coming into the game but broke out with five in the contest.

•  Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet was one rebound shy of his fifth game with double-digit boards but held the tied game high with nine, also notching two steals and a block.

HOW IT HAPPENED

- Head Coach Steve Lavin ran out the same starting five of Trouet, Jamerson II, Bradley Jr., Dahlke and Duckett for the third consecutive game

- The Toreros notched two blocks early to lead a strong defensive front reciprocated on the other end, seeing the two sides tied 11-11 at the first media timeout

- Just one field goal was made by the ensuing under-12 media timeout, the Aztecs leading 13-11

- A 9-0 run by SDSU created the first separation of the contest

- Both teams had field goal droughts of nearly four minutes in length, ended by a finish under the basket by redshirt senior forward Colby Brooks to cut the lead to 18-27

- The Toreros would go on to a 12-2 run, headed by three Pierre buckets from within the arc, coming within one of the hosts, 28-29

- At the half the Toreros trailed 31-33, however leading their neighbors east on I-8 in field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, also out-rebounding the Aztecs in the first 20 minutes of play

- Four made free throws to start the second period saw USD take a 34-33 lead, its first since early in the game

- In fact, the Toreros first six points, 9 of 14 to start the second, came at the charity stripe as struggles shooting from the field emerged

- The Aztecs took advantage of that and took control of the paint, going on an 8-0 run to open a 10-point lead

- Pierre made two more threes, his fourth and fifth on the night, to surpass his previous career high and bring the Toreros within four points

- Another SDSU 8-0 outburst saw them put the game out of reach with inside three minutes remaining, leading by as much as 18

- The game concluded with the final score reading 74-57 in favor of the hosting San Diego State program

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, set to be a focal point in the San Diego offense

    - 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

• 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 SCHEDULE

• The Toreros kick off the regular season with seven November home games before their first road affair, at Arizona State on Dec. 3

    - The Toreros' marquee win last season was the 89-84 triumph over ASU on Dec. 9 in San Diego

• San Diego's MTE is in the home confines of the JCP against Southern Utah (11/22) and Idaho (11/24)

• USD will play at San Diego State on Dec. 7, the first matchup with the cross-town rival since 2019 and first in the Viejas Arena since the win over the Aztecs in 2018

• Toreros will wrap up the non-conference slate facing Grand Canyon in the Intuit Dome (Inglewood, Calif.) on Dec. 28 as a part of the West Coast Hoops Showdown, the first college basketball games ever in the newly constructed Intuit Dome, home of the LA Clippers

• 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.