Key matchup: Injury-riddled San Diego team relying on veteran guard Jase Townsend

Many of Gonzaga’s opponents this season, both in nonconference play and the West Coast Conference, have given us anywhere from two to five options for the key matchup.

At full strength, San Diego would be included in that group, but injuries to four of the Toreros’ top five scorers make it unclear who’ll make up Steve Lavin’s starting five at Gonzaga on Thursday.

Jase Townsend, who’s played in 12 of USD’s 14 conference games, seems as good a bet as anyone for this edition of the key matchup.

Like many of the players on Lavin’s roster this season, Townsend didn’t begin his college career at USD, transferring to the WCC in 2021-22 after spending his first three seasons at Denver.

But considering the Toreros have 12 newcomers this year, Townsend, as a second-year player who’s played 47 games in a USD uniform, may be considered something of a program veteran. Only Marcellus Earlington and Wayne McKinney have played more games for the Toreros.

Townsend is coming off a 2-of-15 shooting effort against the conference’s top defense, Saint Mary’s, but two days prior he scored a season-high 34 points, making 7 of 11 on 3-pointers during a 99-94 loss to Pacific. It was Townsend’s first 30-point game since his junior season at Denver and fell one short of the career-high 35 points he set against Oral Roberts.

Depending on who else is available for the Toreros – Earlington, the team’s leading scorer, and Eric Williams Jr., USD’s leading rebounder, both missed the Saint Mary’s game – the Zags may need to make Townsend the focal point of their scouting report.

Even after going 0 for 7 against the Gaels, Townsend is still shooting 39% from the 3-point line and averaging 2.6 assists per game.

Townsend, a product of Skyline High School in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, got the better of Drew Timme when he faced off against Gonzaga’s senior All-American and Richardson Pearce High in a 2018 high school game, but it’ll most likely be three or four Bulldogs guards marking the 6-foot-4 USD guard on Thursday.

Nolan Hickman and Rasir Bolton may get the assignment early, but Malachi Smith and Hunter Sallis should see plenty of Townsend and may be better defensive options with their size and length.