SAN DIEGO — USD men's basketball will round out its non-conference slate facing Bethesda Saturday in its WCC bye slot, taking on the Lion Angels at 3 p.m. in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. 

The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Jack Cronin (PxP, X: @JackCroninPXP) and Braden Surprenant (Analyst, X: @b_surp) calling the action. Inside coverage can also be found on the @USDMBB

social channels.

THE LION ANGEL RUNDOWN

• Bethesda Univeristy is a National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) program out of Anaheim, Calif. ... The Lion Angels are 1-13 on the season, 0-6 vs. DI opponents, an average scoreline of 114.67 to 57.3.

• Friday is the third ever recorded meeting between the two teams with the Toreros taking wins in the JCP on Dec. 17, 2016 and Dec. 2, 2015

LAST TIME OUT

- In a game that was closer than the final score indicated, USD men's basketball fell 75-64 on the road to Seattle U Thursday night

- San Diego trailed by as much as 15 in the first half in its first matchup with Seattle U in 46 years but battled all the back to lead inside 12 minutes remaining ... The Torero comeback was thwarted by a Redhawk push late in the game, however, as the hosts separated again

- USD finished on the plus side of rebounds against one of the WCC's bigger teams, but had a down day shooting the rock, going 38.3% from the field and 29.2% from beyond the arc on the night

- The Toreros were led again by junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson, who posted another 18 points to go with nine assists, his third straight game with seven-plus assists, just one shy of his second 10-assist double-double in the last three games ... Torero bigs had a solid night, as junior Assane Diop and redshirt-freshman Gavin Ripp scored Torero bests

- It was a slow start to the game, but Seattle U was the first to pick up its shooting

- The Redhawks launched a 15-2 run to get out to a big lead

- Johnson came alive to slowly chip away at the deficit, whittling it down to nine points at halftime, the score reading 33-24

- The Toreros came out of the break with energy on both sides of the ball

- Finally, USD took the lead at 47-46 at the 11:30 mark in the second period

- Seattle U would go on a late 9-0 run however, to go back out front by double digits while the Toreros went into another field goal drought

- It was too late for another San Diego comeback as Seattle U held out for the 11-point victory

TY-LAUR'S TAKEOVER, TAKEAWAYS

• In conference play, 6-foot, 155-pound Ty-Laur Johnson ranks third in the WCC in scoring average at 19.2 points, third in assists at 6.0 and first in steals with 3.2 per game – almost a whole steal more than the conference's next best – in six games played

• 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

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 druing 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

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