SAN DIEGO — San Diego Men's Basketball will look to kick off the New Year with it's second WCC win in as many games, hosting Santa Clara on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. 

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.

THE BRONCO RUNDOWN

• The Toreros are 39-54 vs. Santa Clara, dropping two of three meetings in the 2023-24 season as the Broncos ended USD's season in the second round of the WCC Tournament ... USD is 18-25 against SC on home court, the last win being on Jan. 25, 2018

• The two WCC foes faced two common opponents in their non-con slates, both having lost to Arizona State away from home while the SC topped Fresno State at home and the Toreros fell to them on the road

LAST TIME OUT

•   The Toreros 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.

•   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 ignite 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 grabbed their fourth win of the season, first in six games in December and first conference opener won since 2017.

NOTABLE

- 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.

- 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 recorded his 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

ENOUGH BOARDS TO BUILD A HOUSE

•  In a narrow loss to UC San Diego on Dec. 21, sophomore forward Santiago Trouet grabbed 20 rebounds, the third most in a single game by a Torero, most in 42 years (Robby Roberts, 21 vs. NAU on Nov. 11, 1982 & Gus Magee, 24 vs. Trinity on Jan. 7, 1969) ... The Argentina international was a point shy of his fourth double-double of the season and added on a team-high two steals, a block and three assists in the contest 

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

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

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 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 

    - 2016-17 Phoenix Suns Head Coach and four years as an assistant with the Spurs, Suns and Raptors

    - 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 assistant 

• 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

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.