SAN DIEGO — The Toreros of San Diego return home to take on the Pepperdine Waves for a WCC matchup Thursday at 6:30 p.m. inside 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 WAVE RUNDOWN

• Pepperdine is 5-12 on the season, winless in four conference games, with three of their wins being Q4 and the other two coming against Non-DI opponents

• USD trails in the all-time series, 46-59, however, having won seven of the last eight over the counterparts from Malibu before last season ... USD is 20-26 at home against the Waves, while the latter has taken the last two such meetings

LAST TIME OUT

- Rounding out a stretch of four games in a week, San Diego men's basketball dropped a road contest at Santa Clara, 70-98 at the Leavey Center Sunday evening.

- The NET No. 70 Broncos, entering the game ranked ninth nationally in offensive rebounding, cleaned up on the glass for a margin of plus-24 with 19 on the offensive end. Santa Clara also shot the three at a high volume, with 15 made triples to keep the Toreros at bay.

- USD was led by junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson, who returned from injury to post 20-plus points (21) for the fifth time in his last six games, also adding seven assists and four steals Sunday.

- A pair of junior forwards provided in the USD frontcourt, as Vuk Boskovic had 11 points, all in the first half, and Assane Diop emerged from the bench in a second straight with five rebounds – four offensive – plus an assist and block in nine minutes.

- The Toreros returned to their first five that started five straight before Johnson's one-game absence with a concussion

- Santa Clara had the game's first run at 10-1 and led the rest of the way

- Boskovic erupted for 11 quick points in an exchange of blows before an SCU 11-0 run

- At the half, San Diego trailed, 45-32

- The Toreros came out of the gates shooting hot to start the second period

- The shots from three would cease to go, however, and the hosts took advantage for a 17-2 run

- USD would not give up though, going on an 11-0 run of their own

- Again, the Broncos had an answer and fended off the Toreros, going on another streak of unbreakable shooting to see the final score at 98-70

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

TY-LAUR'S TAKEOVER, TAKEAWAYS

• Junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson is averaging 19.5 points in his last six games with five 20-plus point performances in that span ... On the other side of the ball, he is averaging 3.75 steals in his last three contests

• 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

KILLING TWO DROUGHTS WITH ONE LAST-SECOND WIN

• A Dec. 19 crosstown rivalry matchup came down to the last second as USD junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson banked in a game-winning three to topple UC San Diego, 82-80, and end two lengthy program droughts with the Quad-1 road win

• The Toreros secured their first Quadrant-1 victory since a Feb. 28, 2019, 40 Q1 attempts ago, a 91-90 win at San Francisco in overtime, a season in which the Toreros earned a bid in the NIT ... At the time, USD became one of just two WCC teams to claim a Quad-1 win this season, joining Gonzaga

• San Diego also clinched its first road wins since Feb. 10, 2024, 17 away contests – 678 days – ago, an 89-84 win at Pacific

TAKEAWAY SURGE

• In a strong defensive start to December, USD forced 17-plus turnovers out of its opponents in three straight games: 17 vs. NAU (Dec. 13), 21 vs. USC (Dec. 9) and 22 at San Jose State (Dec. 5)

• As of Jan. 3, San Diego ranks 56th nationally in turnovers forced per game (14.6)

MURDERERS' ROW

• In a stretch of eight games from Dec. 9 to Jan. 4 the Toreros faced seven top-115 NET teams, five top-65, including a stretch of four Quad-1 opportunities in a 6-game stand ... With the growth in results in that span, USD themselves went up 67 spots in NET

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