MORAGA, Calif. — USD men's basketball begins the final month of regular season play traveling north for a Quadrant-1 opportunity vs. Saint Mary's Wednesday night inside University Credit Union Pavilion.
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Jack Cronin (PxP, X: @JackCroninPXP) and Braden Surprenant (X: @b_surp) calling the action. Inside coverage can also be found on the @USDMBB social channels.
THE GAEL RUNDOWN
• Saint Mary's is 19-4 on the season and 8-2 in West Coast Conference play (3rd), fresh off a 65-73 loss at No. 6 Gonzaga on Saturday ... SMC is 32nd in NET, top-50 in Torvik's metrics for both offensive and defensive efficiency
• USD trails in the all-time series 36-61 against the Gaels, with the last win at home coming in the 2013-14 season and last victory on the road in the 2006-07 season
LAST TIME OUT
- In a complete inverse of a comeback, overtime win at Pepperdine the game prior, USD men's basketball was on the other end this time as it fell to Oregon State, 78-76 after OT in the JCP.
The Toreros led by 10 with 1:28 remaining in regulation before the visiting Beavers stormed back to tie the game up and send it to overtime. In the extra period, OSU rode its momentum to edge the Toreros by two points.
- San Diego finished on the plus-end in the rebound margin and held its opponents to just 40.3% field goal shooting, but the season-high 20 turnovers proved costly.
- Grad guard Adrian McIntyre led the way with 21 points, 11 in OT. Junior forward Assane Diop also finished in double figures and had eight rebounds, as did grad forward Tim Moore Jr. who also became the 15th Torero ever with five blocks in a game.
- After having its first overtime game since late 2022, San Diego had back-to-back overtime games for the first time in program history
- Both teams got off to a slow shooting start, but Diop picked up where he left off after his 21 and 17 double-double in the Pepperdine win, scoring 10 consecutive USD points to give his side its first lead
- OSU went on an 11-0 run to end a low-scoring first half, leading 30-25 at the break
- The Toreros came out of the gates hot to start the second half, taking the lead back
- USD then extended on a quick burst to lead by a game-high eight points
- Oregon State chipped away, but the Toreros went on another hot streak as the 3-point shooting came alive
- San Diego led by 10 with 1:28 remaining before an OSU 11-1 run off a dunk and 3-for-3 3-point shooting tied the game with 12 seconds left to send it to overtime
- Oregon State rode the momentum into the extra period to take first advantage, but each time the Toreros struck back, the home crowd would get silenced by a timely OSU three or foul calls on USD including a technical and flagrant one
- Still, the Toreros wouldn't give in either, as McIntyre scored 11 consecutive USD points in the five-minute period, but it ultimately wasn't enough for San Diego, who ran out of time in the 2-point loss
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
TRIPLE-DOUBLE AND A 30-BURGER IN THE SAME GAME
• A triple-double by Assane Diop and a 32-point effort from Tim Moore Jr. highlighted the Toreros' 113-67 win over Bethesda on Jan. 17 to round out conference play
• Diop had never had a double-double in his collegiate career but did one better with his 15-rebound, 11-point, 10-assist effort, plus four steals, finishing a whopping plus-51 in the game in 33 minutes played
• Moore posted the career high scoring effort by making each of his first 10 field goal attempts and all 12 at the charity stripe, also logging two blocks and five rebounds in just 25 minutes ... The Houston native's 25 in the first half alone was more than a Torero had scored in a game this season while he became the fifth Torero to attempt 12 or more free throws in a game and make all of them, one shy of the record ... The next game, a win vs. Washington State, Ty-Laur Johnson scored 26 points in the second half (career high 28 total) to make it two straight games that a Torero had scored 25-plus in a half
TY-LAUR'S TAKEOVER, TAKEAWAYS
• In conference play, 6-foot, 155-pound Ty-Laur Johnson ranks third in the WCC in scoring average at 18.7 points and is first in steals with 3.0 per game (16th nationally), fourth in the WCC in assists at 5.8
• 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
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