SAN DIEGO – Six points were all that separated the Toreros from one of the biggest upsets and comebacks in program history as the Toreros were edged by No. 7 Gonzaga, 99-93 Tuesday night.
USD trailed by as much as 21 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, 16 with a minute and change to go. However, backed by a season-best crowd of 3,521 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion – most of whom remained in their seats to the very end – the Toreros would go on an incredible run to pull within two scores; just five points with 11 seconds remaining.
San Diego (6-8, 1-1 WCC) is the first team outside of national No. 2 Michigan to score 93-plus on Gonzaga (14-1, 2-0 WCC), the NET No. 2 Zags' smallest margin of victory this season. The Torero offensive efficiency came by way of high volume 3-point shooting and improved second-half field goal shooting, distributed by 21 assists.
For the first time this season, five Toreros finished in double figures, led by junior guard
Ty-Laur Johnson's fourth 20-plus point game (21) in the last five games on his best shooting day of the season, 9-12 from the floor.
Freshman forward
D'Arrae Goodwin broke out for a career-high 15 points in 11 minutes off the bench. Grad guard
Adrian McIntyre was all over the stat sheet with 12 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and two steals. Guards
Juanse Gorosito and
Toneari Lane scored 16 and 10 respectively.
How it Happened
- Head coach Steve Lavin rolled out the same starting five as the previous three games
- It was a back-and-forth game to start as both teams went out to 4-6 shooting starts
- USD led 11-9 after the first media timeout, but Gonzaga would go on a 10-0 run and lead the rest of the way
- The Toreros stayed within reach with a series of three straight and-ones and a separate 9-0 run on three 3-pointers
- At the half, the Toreros trailed 48-37, shooting 46.4% from the field vs. one of the nation's best offense's 57.1%
- Gonzaga's two All-American built bigs Braden Huff and Graham Ike got into foul trouble, giving USD promise while being overpowered on the glass
- In a game of runs, the two sides were really exchanging them in the second half
- The Zags took their largest lead of the game at 21 points on a 10-0 run with 9:50 remaining
- Not long after, San Diego ignited on an 11-3 run but GU responded with an 8-point swing of its own
- Down 16 with 1:02 left, the Toreros would go on an 11-0 run in a span of 51 seconds to trim the deficit to five
- It was too late, however, as the top-10 Bulldogs held on for the 99-93 decision
Notable
- Entering the night 21st nationally in free throw percentage, the Toreros left a critical eight points at the charity stripe Tuesday night (15-23, 65.2%)
- San Diego shot 46.4% from the field in the first half, but 58.8% in the second, 53.2% for the game while one of the nation's best offenses finished 56.5% overall
- The Toreros were 12-31 (38.7%) from three, while Gonzaga shot a better 44.4% clip on 13 fewer attempts
- USD's 21 assists are the second most this season, most since the season-opening 23 vs. non-DI Occidental (Nov. 4)
- Redshirt-freshman forward Gavin Ripp made his first career three on his second career attempt
Up Next
After the New Year, USD heads to the Bay Area for its first WCC road trip of the season, facing its fifth and sixth consecutive top-100 NET opponents, taking on San Francisco on Friday, Jan. 2 and Santa Clara on Sunday, Jan. 4.
