SAN DIEGO — San Diego men's basketball will travel across town for a battle with its neighbors in La Jolla's LionTree Arena, taking on the UC San Diego Tritons at 7 p.m. Friday night.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Steve Quis and John Kentera calling the action. Voice of the Toreros Jack Cronin (X: @JackCroninPXP) will have the call over the radio airwaves on USDToreros.com/watch. Inside coverage can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.
THE TRITON RUNDOWN
• UC San Diego is 10-1 to start the season, winners of their last ten at home ... With a Triton NET ranking of No. 50, Friday will be USD's first Quad-1 opportunity of the season in a stretch of three in four and four in six games, the second top-100 NET opponent for the Toreros in what will be a stint of six in eight games.
• San Diego leads 20-3 in the all-time series that dates back to 1968-69 season as the Toreros would go on to win 19 games in a row, however, the Tritons have taken both victories in the last two season's meeting
LAST TIME OUT
- USD bounced back with a home win Saturday evening, 78-69 over Northern Arizona inside the JCP
- Improved shooting was the difference for the Toreros, who collected their fourth win of the season, first of December ... San Diego went 10-23 (43.3%) from beyond the arc, an overall 50% from the field in a game in which it led for all but four minutes
- Junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson led the way for the hosts with a USD season-high 23 points on six made field goals, drawing 10 fouls and going 10-12 from the free throw line, adding four assists without any turnovers as he found success getting to the rim
- Grad guards Toneari Lane and Adrian McIntyre were crucial off the bench as the latter posted 10 points, a major part in a game-icing run, and Lane took all of his shots from behind the arc, at a 5-for-9 clip to finish with 15 points for a third time this season
- Head Coach Steve Lavin made one change to his starting lineup from Tuesday's defeat to USC, plugging in junior forward Vuk Boskovic
- A slow shooting start for both sides was refreshed by the first subs off the bench
- USD then went on to make four straight attempted threes as the nation's 12th-ranked team in free throw percentage got into the bonus early
- That factored into the launching of a 10-0, 15-3 run for the Toreros to lead by as much as 13
- Freshman guard Brandon Benjamin made an impact off the bench, posting seven points in just over six minutes
- San Diego held NAU scoreless from the field for the last 4:16 of the first half, seeing the Toreros hold a 40-29 at the break
- The Lumberjacks stayed in the game and even cut the lead down to one in the early stages of the second period following empty USD possessions
- The mostly back-and-forth second half was put to an end by a quick 9-0 Torero run led by Johnson and McIntyre to put the hosts back up by 12 with a minute remaining
- San Diego held out for the 78-69 victory at the final buzzer
NOTABLE VS. NAU
- USD improves to 8-0 all-time over Northern Arizona when playing on their home floor, an overall fifth straight win for a 12-8 series record
- The Toreros have scored exactly 78 points in three of its four wins on the season
- It was San Diego's first time shooting over 40% (43.3%) from deep since its Nov. 12 victory over Idaho
AT THE CHARITY STRIPE
• As of Dec. 17, USD ranks 12th nationally in free throw percentage at 78.3% ... The Toreros are one of three WCC teams in the top-16 of free-throw shooting sides nationally
FORCING TURNOVERS
• In a recent surge on defense, San Diego also ranks tied for 49th nationally in turnovers as of Dec. 17th with 15.1 takeaways per game
• USD has forced 17-plus turnovers out of its opponents in each of the last three games in December: 17 vs. NAU (Dec. 13), 21 vs. USC (Dec. 9) and 22 at San Jose State (Dec. 5)
MURDERERS' ROW
• In a stretch of eight games from Dec. 9 to Jan. 4 the Toreros will face six top-100 NET teams, including a stretch of four Quad-1 opportunities in a six-game stand, three in four games
ALUMNUS MIKE BROWN GUIDES KNICKS TO NBA CUP TITLE
• USD men's basketball alumnus Mike Brown ('93) – one of five former Torero players to become NBA head coaches – added NBA Cup Champion to his long list of accolades as he led the New York Knicks to the 2025 mid-season title on Tuesday, Dec. 16
• Brown, a multiple-time NBA Coach of the Year, guided the Knicks to the third edition of the Emirates NBA Cup with a 124-113 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena as his team went 6-1 overall in the tournament
• Brown played for the Toreros Men's Basketball program under Hank Egan from 1990-92 after transferring from Mesa Community College ... In 1993, Brown earned a degree from USD in Business Finance ... As a senior at USD in 1991-92, Brown started in 19 of 28 games, averaging 7.6 points and 3.1 rebounds ... He deserved the team's Bugelli Leadership Award and was also a recipient of the Zable Athletic Excellence Award
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