SAN DIEGO — In its final home game of the season, USD men's hoops celebrates Senior Day and hosts the LMU Lions Saturday afternoon.
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Jack Cronin (PxP, X: @JackCroninPXP) and Braden Surprenant (Color, X: @B_Surp) calling the action. Inside coverage can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.
THE LION RUNDOWN
• LMU is 13-15 on the season with a 4-11 record in conference play, one spot behind the Toreros in the WCC standings, losing back-to-back games since last playing against USD.
• USD trails in the all-time series, 56-58 against the Lion, San Diego's last victory being on Feb. 7, 2024, by a score of 79-77 at the JCP.
This Season's First Meeting:
- San Diego fell to LMU on Saturday, Feb. 7, by a final score of 83-63 inside Gersten Pavilion.
- The game was defined by the first six minutes, in which the hosts got out to a 17-0 lead ... From there, the Toreros made attempts at catch-up but could never close the gap in what ended up being a 20-point defeat.
- USD shot 60% (18-30) from the field in the second half but couldn't stop the Lions to make up ground as LMU also shot 61.5% (16-26) on second half field goals, San Diego also holding its opponent to five made threes, a 22.7% clip from beyond the arc.
LAST TIME OUT
- USD men's basketball dropped a 92-79 decision to San Francisco Sunday afternoon in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
- A back-and-forth first half saw the Toreros lead by five at the break, but the visiting Dons came out firing on a 12-0 run to start the second period of play and the Toreros could never recover ... The two WCC sides finished with similar figures in several areas, but USF attempted 17 more free throws (27-35 overall) and ended plus-16 on fastbreak points.
- Grad guards led the Torero offensive efforts as Dominique Ford and Toneari Lane post 16 points while Adrian McIntyre contributed 14 ... Redshirt-junior swingman Emmanuel Callas posted career highs six points, six rebounds and three steals.
- The Toreros rolled out a 16th different starting lineup combination of the season.
- Both sides exchanged 3-pointers and leads early.
- It remained a back-and-forth affair the rest of the first period as USD had the first edge at the break, 41-36
- San Francisco opened the second half on a 12-0 run in the first 1:37 of the second half.
- Ford was a response for the Toreros on offense.
- USF stayed out front with timely shots and frequent trips to the charity stripe, building the games first double-digit lead after having featured 11 ties and 12 lead changes.
- The Dons continued extending with extreme field goal efficiency, shooting 68.2% from the floor in the second half.
- The Toreros chipped away at the game-high 17-point deficit late but could never recover, the final buzzer settling a 13-point USD defeat.
DOUBLED OVERTIME
• In a mirror of games in which the visiting team made a comeback in the final minutes of regulation and won in overtime, San Diego played in OT in back-to-back games for the first time in program history: a Jan. 28, 92-88 win at Pepperdine (then the first OT game since 2022) and a Jan. 31, 78-76 loss to Oregon State
A PROGRAM RECORD FROM DEEP
• San Diego hit 15 3-pointers in a 96-92 win over Washington State on Jan. 21, tied most in a single-game for the team, the fourth time doing so, first since Feb. 8, 2018 vs. Pepperdine ... Seven Toreros combined on the record as the team went 15-28 (53.6%) from beyond the arc, shooting 63.6% from deep in the second half
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