SPOKANE, Wash. – The Toreros had an efficient offensive night but were bested by the nation's fifth most efficient offense in No. 18 Gonzaga on Wednesday night, falling by a final score of 80-93.
 
San Diego made the same amount of field goals as the hosts with 28 for a tied-season best 80 points and 11 made 3-pointers while five players scored in double figures. USD ultimately suffered the consequences of fouling and being beaten on the boards. The Bulldogs out-rebounded USD 48-31, 23-13 in the first half, and scored 27 points at the free throw line.
 
The visiting Toreros played an even 46-46 second half, limiting overall turnovers to nine, forcing 11 out of the Zags on seven steals and are the first team to make the same or more field goals as Gonzaga this season and not come out winners. San Diego falls to 1-3 in league play, 4-13 overall.
 
Junior Kjay Bradley Jr. led San Diego with 21 points off the bench, his sixth game this season with 20-plus. Three other Toreros scored 13-plus points; graduate guard Kody Clouet, senior forward Bendji Pierre and sophomore forward Santiago Trouet, who also notched a game-high four blocks with seven rebounds.
 
Gonzaga's Ben Gregg, who entered the game shooting 17% from beyond the arc on the season, went 3-3 on the night and finished with a game-best 23 points. Zags forward Graham Ike snagged 19 rebounds but the All-American honorable mention was forced to score 13 of his 15 points at the free throw line. Shooting 55% in his career and 58.3% from the field on the year, he was held to one or less field goals for just the fourth time in his career, first by a non-P5 team The nation's assist leader Ryan Nembhard tallied 11 for the hosts.
 
How it Happened

• Head Coach Steve Lavin lined up four forwards to start against a big Gonzaga team, including the former Bulldog of four years Colby Brooks, who made his first career start, on his old home court
• Freshman forward Kean Webb also made his first career start, filling in for Steven Jamerson II, who was out with an illness
• Both teams had a slow 1-6 start from the field, the Toreros trailing 3-4 at the first media timeout
• Pierre scored 10 of the Toreros next 12 points with two threes, seeing USD take it's first lead at 15-14 before the under-12 timeout
• Gonzaga responded with a 7-0 run, fueled by free throws
• Bradley Jr. hit two deep threes as Clouet added his first of three from beyond the arc, bringing the game back within three
• The Zags were able to get their first double-digit lead of the afternoon right before the break with 3-pointers of their own and more free throw conversions
• At the half the Toreros trailed 34-47 with seven made threes
• San Diego gave the hosts a taste of their own medicine to start the second period, using points at the charity stripe and off Bulldog turnovers to claw back to within single digits
• The USD defense held the nation's fifth most efficient offense to nearly four scoreless minutes, but couldn't capitalize on it on the other end as shots just wouldn't fall
• Similar to the first half, the Zags scored eight of their first 17 points in the second half at the charity stripe
• Gonzaga would pull away to a game-high 22-point lead as foul trouble caught up to Webb, Pierre, freshman guard Tony Duckett and others
• The Toreros ended the game on a high note, however, going on a 9-0 run by the final buzzer with persistent efforts from Trouet, Clouet and Brooks

 
Up Next
After a six-day stay in the Pacific Northwest, the Toreros return home to the sun and America's Finest City for the second time in 2025, hosting league-leading 13-3, 4-0 Saint Mary's Gaels Saturday night. Tip is set for 7 p.m. in the Jenny Craig Pavilion while the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Postgame Quotes
 
USD Head Coach Steve Lavin
 
Opening statement…
Well, I thought our aggression in the second half was a bit better. We played them even 46-apiece in the second half. First half, there were some stretches where we broke down defensively, not having Steven Jamerson II to anchor us on both ends of the floor was a factor. He's out with some type of virus that's running through our team, so we have a number of guys who were challenged this week. I'm proud of Kean Webb to be prepared for this moment and to make the most of the opportunity. Graham Ike only had one field goal.
 
He did get himself to the foul line, as did the entire Gonzaga team. We were equal with field goals made with 28-apiece. We had one more 3-pointer than the Zags, but they got to the charity stripe and that's still an issue we're addressing, especially when you're on the road and you've got a razor-thin margin for error and you're not going to get a favorable whistle. So, we have to do a better job of moving our feet, showing our hands and not using our hands in terms of guarding the ball because that leads to foul trouble. Just a big issue on moving the feet, getting the high hand … being aggressive, but also purposeful … playing with the right intensity, but we also have to be intelligent with our approach defensively or your [opposing] teams are going to get to the charity stripe, as Gonzaga did tonight.
 
There were some positives, [against] just a really good team, a very high-powered offense and I'm proud that our guys continue to fight late, we closed the game on a 9-0 run to cut away into the deficit. Hopefully that carries over to Saint Mary's Saturday.
 
On RS-Sr. F Colby Brooks and Fr. F Kean Webb performing well in their first career starts in an all-around good offensive night for the team...
They did. It was nice to see the ball go through the net from long distance for Kody Clouet, just for his confidence. He's had other games where he saw the ball go through the net, but he seems to be finding a better rhythm. Bendji [Pierre] knocked down some big shots for us. We've fought through a lot of foul trouble, hence the free throws for Gonzaga, and then we were challenged in terms of getting to the foul line ourselves. When we did get to the bonus in the second half, we didn't take advantage of it to get ourselves there. At times we would settle for shots that were less than ideal. We need to put the ball down, put it in the paint and be smart with our purposeful, useful use of the dribble and be ready to kick it but also try and get to the rim so we can benefit by getting to the charity stripe. Kjay [Bradley Jr.] was outstanding, he fought through a virus as well, showed some toughness. His turnovers – he's taking care of the ball in terms of ball security and scoring in a variety of ways, at mid-range … he's really showing some maturity. And so, I'm proud of Kjay, proud of Kean, Santi had some good stretches as well and as we mentioned Bendji and Kody hit some shots from range.
 
We've just got to improve defensively. There are stretches where we're not aggressive and not as purposeful as we need to be on the defensive end of the floor. We can't allow missing some shots to affect the energy and the toughness. That has to be more constant. I know we're young; 14 underclassmen and second consecutive year as the youngest team in program history.  We've got eight players that are injured, with Steven out, we had nine players on the 'injured reserve list' in terms of not being active and then a number of players that were active but really weren't at full strength. We can't make excuses just have got to get better; life keeps coming.  The Gaels are coming to town, another really good team and an opportunity for us, a true test on Saturday at home.