‘They’ll be riding high.’ No. 7 Gonzaga keeping its guard up entering road test against surging San Diego

SAN DIEGO – Mark Few hadn’t gone through a full scouting report on San Diego by the time he emerged from Gonzaga’s locker room to meet with reporters following Sunday’s 96-56 win over Pepperdine in a West Coast Conference opener at Firestone Fieldhouse.

But the Gonzaga coach was generally familiar with the Toreros’ body of work.

Mainly, Few was aware San Diego dispatched an improved Pacific team, 66-54, in a WCC opener that took place hours before Gonzaga and Pepperdine finished. He also cited the Toreros’ best win, an 82-80 road result against UC San Diego on Dec. 19. Before the USD game, the Tritons had only one other setback on the heels of a season during which they qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

So you can bet GU’s coach will spend at least a few minutes stressing to his team why the seventh-ranked Zags (13-1, 1-0) shouldn’t take the Toreros (6-7, 1-0) lightly as they make their final visit to Jenny Craig Pavilion as members of the West Coast Conference. Tipoff in San Diego is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will air on KHQ and ESPN+.

“I saw they got a big win tonight, they had another good win,” Few said. “UC San Diego’s a very, very good team. They beat them on the road, so I’m sure they’ll be riding high into our game. So we’ll have to get this thing turned around quickly and start getting ready for them.”

Outside of the Players Era Festival, where the Zags played three games in three days, and an early-December stretch when GU played Kentucky in Nashville and hosted North Florida two days later, Few’s team hasn’t had a stretch comparable to the one it’s currently navigating.

Two road games over three days presents a unique challenge, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg for the Zags, who return home to play Seattle on Friday and Loyola Marymount on Sunday to complete a stretch of four games in eight days. GU then hosts Santa Clara four days later before a seven-day layoff.

“Rest up tonight, get into the film, understand we’re going up against a good team in USD,” point guard Braeden Smith said after the Pepperdine win. “And just try to keep it rolling, take one game at a time.”

Coming off a season during which San Diego finish ed 6-27 overall and 2-16 in conference play, the Toreros are more or less starting from scratch and return just one player that appeared in the team’s most recent meeting with Gonzaga in January. Guard KJay Bradley Jr., who scored 21 points in that game, is still listed on USD’s roster but hasn’t played a game for the Toreros for reasons that remain undisclosed.

Presuming Bradley Jr. doesn’t play Tuesday, Gonzaga will be preparing for an all-new USD team, led by three Division I transfers who are scoring in double figures.

For the second time in as many games, the Zags face a WCC team led in scoring by a former Wake Forest guard. GU contained Pepperdine’s Aaron Clark to four points on 2 of 14 shooting Sunday and will hope to apply the same defensive pressure in Tuesday’s matchup with San Diego’s Ty-Laur Johnson, who played one season for the Demon Deacons after starting his career at Louisville.

Johnson averages 13.7 points, 3.5 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 2.3 steals for San Diego, leading all WCC players in the final category. The Zags should be familiar with guard Juanse Gorosito, a 6-foot native of Argentina who played two seasons in the WCC at Portland before transferring to Ball State in 2024-25 and returning to the WCC this season. Gorosito is averaging a career-high 10.8 ppg for the Toreros while shooting 39% from the 3-point line.

Toneari Lane, a 6-foot-5 guard who had previous stints at Winthrop and Georgia State, is also averaging 10.8 ppg, but came off the bench on Sunday against Pacific.

The Toreros were red-hot from the 3-point line against Pacific, making 12 of 30 (40%). Pacific’s 54 points were the fewest USD allowed to an opponent this season and the Tigers committed 21 turnovers.

“All the games we already played, we talked about reset,” Johnson told USD’s home radio broadcast Sunday. “This was a fresh start and we started off well today.”

Gonzaga has won 19 straight games against San Diego dating back to the 2014 season. The Zags are 52-4 all-time against the Toreros under Few and have won the last 11 matchups by double figures.