LOS ANGELES — San Diego Men's Basketball hits the road for a three game stretch for the first time this season, beginning with a matchup north on the I-5 at Loyola Marymount Saturday afternoon.

The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ while Jack Cronin (X: @JackCroninPXP) will call the game over teh radio airwaves on USDToreros.com/watch. Inside coverage can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.

THE LION RUNDOWN

• San Diego leads the all-time series, 52 wins to 42, 24-21 in the City of Angels

• The Toreros have won four of the last six while the Lions have won the last two inside Gersten Pavilion

• LMU (NET No. 150) will be the third Quadrant 3 opponent of the season for USD, having lost both in games that were close until the very end; to Grand Canyon (then No. 107) 55-68 in a neutral site game and at home to Washington State (then No. 76) 61-65 last time out

LAST TIME OUT

•  The Toreros overcame a 16-point deficit to start the game and led for most of the second half but were eventually edged by Washington State, 61-65 in a thriller Thursday night

•  After a slow start that saw them go down early, the Toreros surged back, going ahead before the break on 13-2 and 9-0 runs, holding the Cougars to one made field goal in the final 14 minutes of the first half, none in the closing nine ... WSU shooting was revived in the second, however, led by Nate Calmese's 22 second-half points, taking the lead for good with only 1:43 remaining

•  The Toreros nearly pulled off the upset of the now 14-5 Washington State team. 

NOTABLE

- Freshman guard Tony Duckett was a spark for the Toreros, scoring 14 points and throwing down two big poster dunks, including one that put USD ahead for the first time just before halftime

- Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet was a rebound shy of his sixth double-double, scoring a team-high 17 points and a career-best three steals

- Senior center Steven Jamerson II in his return from illness also had nine rebounds 

- Redshirt-freshman guard Joey Chammaa scored 13 points with three 3-pointers and was a game-high +11

- The Toreros wound up with eight more rebounds, nine steals, more points in the paint, more second chance points, more fast break points and more points off the bench

HOW IT HAPPENED

- After a two-game absence due to illness, Jamerson II returned to the lineup, while freshman Kean Webb and grad Kody Clouet remained in the starting five, making the 11th different starting lineup for the Toreros this season

- Four WSU threes and four USD turnovers early saw the visitors build a 13-0 lead, eventually built to a game-high 18-2 six minutes in

- The Cougar drought began there however, going one for their next 12 from the field

- The Toreros took advantage of it and turned it into a 13-2 run of their own, cutting the deficit down

- Chammaa's third 3-pointer tying the game at 25 and Duckett's poster put them ahead right before the buzzer, ending the half on a 9-0 run

- Wazzu didn't score from the field in the final 9:30 of the first half, making just one field goal in a 14-minute span

- Trouet got going early in the second period to extend the Torero lead to six points while the second Duckett slam with an and-one conversion pushed it to seven

- Washington State shooting came back to life, however, taking back the lead with its first three since early in the first half, the score now reading 42-43 at the eight minute mark

- The Toreros would take it right back and stay up for a bit, however, exchanging scores with the guests, keeping the game within a score throughout

- San Diego foul trouble began catching up to it as four players had four fouls

- Another clutch three from Wazzu saw them take back the lead at 56-58 with 1:43 to go

- USD failed to score on the next two possessions, being forced to foul and a late deep three from junior guard Kjay Bradley Jr. wasn't enough in the end

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

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 11 different starting lineups 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