PULLMAN, Wash. — San Diego Men's Basketball will play in it's final road affair of the 2024-25 season, taking on the Washington State Cougars on Thursday afternoon, the team's first trip to Pull man since 1975.

The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Ted Robinson and Dan Belluomini on the call. Voice of the Toreros Jack Cronin (X: @JackCroninPXP) will also be calling the action over radio airwaves on USDToreros.com/watch. Inside coverage can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.

THE COUGAR RUNDOWN

• USD will look to even the all-time series three in just the second meeting since 2018, the first at Wazzu since 1975  ... USD's two wins were in 2009 by 36 in Anchorage, Alaska and by a score of 74-48 on Jan. 7 1975 in the lone meeting in Pullman, Wash.

• San Diego Head Coach Steve Lavin is 14-1 in his career against Wazzu, 7-0 in Pullman, his last trip there being in 2003 PAC-12 play while at UCLA ... Assistant Coach Earl Watson was 8-0 against the Cougars as a player

• This season's first meeting:  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 on Jan. 16 ... 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.

LAST TIME OUT

•  San Diego Men's Hoops fought from start to finish but ultimately fell to Oregon State 73-83 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion Saturday afternoon in a game that had nine lead changes, six ties and no lead larger than the 10.

•  The Toreros led at the half behind a strong shooting start; 56% from the field and 6-8 (75%) from three. By game's end while San Diego had six more made field goals and three more made threes, the visiting Beavers took advantage of 30 more free throw attempts and 12 more rebounds.

NOTABLE

- For the second straight game, a season-best attendance at the Jenny Craig Pavilion was reported

- Grad guard Kody Clouet led the USD effort with a tied career-best 19 points on 7-11 shooting from the field and 4-6 on 3-pointers

- Freshman guard had a career-best five assists to just one turnover and 10 points scored while playing all but 28 seconds of the game

- Redshirt-freshman guard Joey Chammaa also scored in double figures with 11

- Senior center Steven Jamerson II was a point shy of his third double-double of February, logging 10 rebounds and nine points

- San Diego distributed the ball well with 16 assists and limiting turnovers to 10

- It was USD Head Coach Steve Lavin's 450th career game as a head coach in DI MBB

HOW IT HAPPENED

- The Toreros sent out their 16th different starting lineup of the season, now standalone in first place in DI MBB for most starting five combinations used

- The score read 9-10 at the first media after a deep three made by Clouet at the buzzer, the first of six from beyond the arc in the period for USD

- A back-and-forth game continued from then

- San Diego gained it's biggest lead of the night at six after made treys from Clouet, sophomore David Simon and Chammaa

- The Beavers answered with a run to tie it up

- USD would go back out front before the half however, 40-37 at the break

- At the start of the second half, Oregon State went on a 10-0 run in a 1:30 minute stretch and retained the lead from then on out

- San Diego's defense returned to holding strong, but the offense and shot-making ability began to go cold

- The Toreros hung tough using a burst to bring the deficit back down to two with eight minutes to go

- USD was passing the ball well, cutting the lead down to one inside five minutes remaining, forcing a Beaver timeout

- OSU kept steady down the stretch, keeping the hosts at bay and icing the game with converted free throws after starting the day poor from behind the charity stripe (62.5% in first half)

COACH'S MILESTONE

•  A Feb. 22 contest against Oregon State marked the 450th career game as a head coach on the DI men's basketball sidelines for USD Head Coach Steve Lavin, entering the game with 259 career wins

A TOREROS DOZEN

•  As of Feb. 10, the Toreros rank tied for second in the nation for most players with double-digit games (13)

•  Six different Toreros have scored 20+ this season while nine USD players have been in double-figures multiple times and eight have led the team in scoring in a game

•  Lavin has used 16 different starting lineup thus far this season, featuring 15 different Toreros

YOUTH MOVEMENT

•  True freshmen Duckett and Webb and redshirt freshman Joey Chammaa are fronting a youth movement on America's Most Beautiful campus, a roster of which 14 are underclassmen, 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 with nine newcomers

MANY MEN DOWN

•  As of Feb. 7, 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 two 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

SCORING RECORD + SC TOP 10 = WCC HONOR

•  Tony Duckett garnered WCC Freshman of the Week honors after setting an all-time San Diego freshman single-game record with 31 points on 11 made field goals on Jan. 18 against LMU ... He posted a career-high 20 points in the first half alone and grabbed a career-high five rebounds

•  The Carlsbad, Calif. native was also the spark for the Toreros' 16-point comeback against Washington State on Jan. 16, scoring 14 points and connecting on two big dunks, including one that put USD ahead for the first time just before halftime ... The other dunk was No. 9 on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays on Jan. 17

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. 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

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)

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) ...  At the time it was the season single-game high in NCAA DI, currently tied for fourth

SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY

• 15 different Toreros have featured in 15 different starting lineups this season, the first career DI start for nine ... 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 

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

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

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

• 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

• 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