SAN DIEGO — San Diego Men's Hoops hosts the slumping Washington State Cougars Thursday night in the Jenny Craig Pavilion for what will be the first meeting for the two sides as conference opponents. 

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

THE COUGAR RUNDOWN

• Thursday's winner will go ahead in the all-time series of four games, currently tied at 2-2 ... The last meeting was in Dec. 2018, a Torero loss in Las Vegas, the last game in San Diego being on Jan. 29, 1974 ... USD's two wins were in 2009 by 36 in Anchorage, Alaska and in 1975 in the lone meeting in Pullman, Wash.

• San Diego Head Coach Steve Lavin is 14-0 in his career against Wazzu, his last time crossing paths with the Cougars being in 2003 PAC-12 play at UCLA ... Assistant Coach Earl Watson was 8-0 against the Cougars as a player

• Washington State (NET No. 76) will be just the second Quadrant 3 opponent of the season for USD, having lost to Grand Canyon (then No. 107) 55-68 on neutral site in a game that was close until the very end and featured 36 made free throws and just 15 made field goals by the Lopes

• Like the Toreros, the Cougars lost by 13 at Gonzaga last week, but on Jan. 9 Washington State lost at home to Pacific on a buzzer-beater in overtime ... USD topped Pacific at home, 75-65 on Dec. 30 

LAST TIME OUT

•  Torero Hoops was topped by conference-undefeated Saint Mary's inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday night by a final score of 103-56.

•  The 15-3 Gaels did most everything well, shooting 52.9% from the field, 51.7% with 15 made from beyond the arc, dishing out 26 assists and going +20 on the rebounds ... SMC scored 1.65 points per possession against USD's top-90 defense, the most points per possession by any DI team in a road game in 18 years and most in any game since 2021 according to Torvik. 

NOTABLE

- Redshirt freshman Joey Chammaa highlighted USD's day with a tied career best 14 points on 7-11 shooting 

- Freshman Tony Duckett was a point shy of his fourth straight game in double figures

- The wounded Toreros, with nine guys inactive due to injury or illness, did see the return of senior guard Dom Muncey to the court for the first time since Dec. 7

HOW IT HAPPENED

- Graduate guard Kody Clouet returned to the starting lineup for the first time since a Nov. 24 win over Idaho, freshman Kean Webb made his second career start

- Junior Kjay Bradley Jr. came off the bench and picked up where he left off last time out against Gonzaga, hitting a three to see USD down 3-6 at the first media timeout

- San Diego turnovers picked up briefly and SMC capitalized, going up 19-10

- Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet got going, but the Gaels opened a 6-0 run and 25-13 lead

- Saint Mary's really started taking over on the glass and shooting well inside five minutes to go, going on another 8-0 run and opening a 41-24 lead at the half

- SMC continued to kill USD on the boards to start the second half

- The Gaels used more runs to contribute to their ever-growing lead

- The guests made 10 threes in the second half at a 58.8% clip, and all 10 of their free throws

- The Toreros did however find a spark late in the game behind Chammaa and others off the bench, going on a 7-9 field goal shooting stretch

MANY MEN DOWN

•  USD leads DI MBB with 13 players having missed at least one game due to injury, the most by four ... As many as nine have been out at once on multiple occasions while only three players of 21 on the roster have played in each game this season

•  Across the 2023-24 season, 15 San Diego players combined to miss over 900 days of practice and/or competition due to health

PUSHIN' THE PACE

•  Saturday's affair could be a quick one as USD is among the top 45 teams in the nation in Torvik's Adjusted Tempo at 71 adjusted possessions per 40 minutes while the Cougars are the 26th-fastest in the metric at 71.8

A TOREROS DOZEN

•  As of Jan. 12, the Toreros rank tied for third in the nation for most players with double-digit games (12), after a game on Dec. 21, they were tied for second ... In a narrow loss to Q2 opponent UC San Diego on Dec. 21, Joey Chammaa's 14 points made him the 12th Torero to score in double figures in the 12th game of the season  ... Eight USD players have been in double-figures multiple times

•  Eight different Toreros have led the team in scoring in a game

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL

•  USD had a stretch of decreased turnovers in four straight games from Dec. 21-Jan. 2; a whopping 23 vs. UC San Diego, to 15 vs. GCU on Dec. 28, to 11 in a WCC-opening win over Pacific (and a season best 20 assists) on Dec. 30 and a season low five vs. Santa Clara

•  Junior point guard Kjay Bradley Jr. has guided the effort each time off the bench, including a six assist, no turnover line against Santa Clara and seven assists to two turnovers in the Pacific win

•  San Diego had 13 turnovers against Oregon State on Jan. 4 but were back down to nine against No. 18 Gonzaga on Jan. 8

AN OVERDUE WCC-OPENING WIN 

•  San Diego broke a six-game losing streak in the month of December with a strong 75-65 win over Pacific to kick off league play in the Toreros' final game of 2024

• The Toreros won their 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

•  The winning formula consisted of season-highs in assists (20, prev. 16) and steals (11, prev. 10) ... A season best nine different Toreros contributed assists ... Steven Jamerson II notched his first 20-point game and double-double of the season, also doubling the single-game best +/- for a Torero thus far (+28, prev. +14)

TOUGH LUCK

•  As of Friday, Jan. 10, San Diego is among the 28 unluckiest teams nationally (-.098), according to KenPom ... Saint Mary's has slightly above average luck, ranked 112th with a value of +.043

•  In USD's loss to GCU in the Intuit Dome on Dec. 28 the Lopes made 36 free throws and 27.8% of field goal attempts ... No Division I team had ever won a regulation-length game by making 35 or more free throws and shooting less than 30% from the field until the Lopes did so, according to the Stathead database

•  In a 13-point loss at No. 18 Gonzaga on Jan. 8, the Toreros became the the first team to make the same or more field goals as Gonzaga and not come out winners since Jan. 25, 2024

•  USD's defense entered a Jan. 11 matchup with Saint Mary's as a top-80 defense nationally in KenPom's metric for efficiency ... The Gaels scored scored 1.65 points per possession on terrific shooting, the most points per possession by any DI team in a road game in 18 years and most in any game since 2021 according to Torvik

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 another double-double and added on a team-high two steals, a block and three assists in the contest 

SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY

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

    - The first six Toreros to make their first career starts this season averaged 14.8 pts., 4.2 reb., 2 ast., 1.7 stl. and 1 blk.. in those games

• The latest to capitalize on his first career start is freshman guard Tony Duckett, scoring 16 against Marian on Nov. 27

• 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's roster ranks 354th/364 in DI MBB experience according to KenPom

• 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, 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.