SEATTLE — Facing each other for the first time in 46 years, reunited West Coast Conference opponents USD and Seattle U will face off in the Redhawk Center, Thursday at 7 p.m.
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ while Jack Cronin (PxP, X: @JackCroninPXP) will be calling the action over the radio on USDToreros.com/watch. Inside coverage can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.
THE REDHAWK RUNDOWN
• Seattle U started the season a blitzing 11-2 but are 1-4 thus far in its maiden WCC voyage ... The Redhawks took No. 7 Gonzaga to overtime on the road on Jan. 2 just days after USD's 6-point loss to the Zags ... A non-conference common opponent between the two is Washington, who the Toreros saw in their first trip to Seattle on Dec. 22 and the Redhawks bested just days prior
• Thursday is the first meeting between the two since Feb. 28, 1980 ... Seattle U has taken the only other two ever meetings before Thursday ... The Toreros faced the Redhawks once at home and once on the road during the 1979-80 season as WCA (now the WCC) opponents, then Seattle U's last season in the conference and USD's first
LAST TIME OUT
- USD men's basketball dropped a 77-70 decision at Pacific on Saturday evening, splitting the season series with the NET No. 126 Tigers.
- Junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson led the Toreros in scoring again, tallying 19 in the Alex G. Spanos Center to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. Despite holding Pacific's Elias Ralph – who entered the game averaging 18.2 points in WCC contests – to six points, USD was overwhelmed by TJ Wainwright, who scored a game-high 25 points.
- The Toreros started the game with terrific one-on-one defense, leading to a 10-0 run over a five-minute span. Later, San Diego would go on another hot streak to find itself up 34-24 at the half.
- USD kept the pressure on to start the second half, extending its lead to as much as 17 less than three minutes into the period.
- Pacific would start to chip away, however. First, on a 14-3 run that cut the deficit to just six. After a brief stand by the Toreros, things went cold. The Tigers went on an 18-2 run to take the lead at 63-62 with over three minutes to go.
- The hosts got the job done by getting to the free throw line – 24 times in the second half as opposed to the first – while USD struggled to get in the bonus. Wainwright came from outside while Tigers found success inside with points in the paint, while USD couldn't get any field goals to go in a stretch of over five minutes.
- It cumulated in Pacific holding out for a 77-70 final score, avoiding being swept by the Toreros after the latter came out on top less than two weeks ago in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
5 x 1,000 =
• On Jan. 8, Juanse Gorosito surpassed 1,000 career NCAA points to join four other current teammates in the 1K-point club: Dominique Ford (1,120+), Toneari Lane (1,391+), Adrian McIntyre (1,300+) and Tim Moore Jr. (1,248+)
• Three of the five achieved 1,000 points solely in DI hoops – Gorosito (prev. Ball State, Portland), Ford (prev. Southern Utah, Idaho) and Lane (prev. Georgia State, Winthrop)
MAKING BIG WAVES
• The dominant 83-63 win over Pepperdine in the JCP on Jan. 8 was San Diego men's hoops' largest margin of victory over a conference opponent since a March 9, 2019 WCC Tournament quarterfinal, 80-57 win over BYU
• In a well-rounded team game, USD shot a season-best 54.2% from the field, 45.8% from three, dishing out 21 assists with 12 steals and finishing +8 in rebounds
FIRST 10-ASSIST DOUBLE-DOUBLE SINCE...
• In the Jan. 8 thumping of Pepperdine, a red-hot Ty-Laur Johnson notched a 14-point, 10-assist double-double, USD's first of it's sort since Isaiah Wright had three during the 2017-18 season ... Wright's and the Toreros' most recent was a 14-point, 11-assist performance in a CIT win over Hartford on March 15, 2018
TY-LAUR'S TAKEOVER, TAKEAWAYS
• In conference play, 6-foot, 155-pound Ty-Laur Johnson is averaging 19.4 points, 3.4 steals and 5.4 assists and 3.6 rebounds in five games
• The Brooklyn native led the Toreros to a WCC-opening 66-54 victory over NET No. 101 Pacific on Dec. 28 ... Johnson was 6-13 from the field, a career-best 5-8 from three, and 5-6 from the line as his 22 points were one shy of his USD season best ... He also swiped six steals, which tied for the second most by a Torero in a single game, just one shy of the San Diego record
JUST SHORT VS. #7 ZAGS
• 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 in the JCP on Dec. 30
• 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, the Toreros would go on an incredible run to pull within two scores; just five points with 11 seconds remaining
• 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
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