San Diego Toreros Open Thread

The Essentials

Date: Sunday, 11/24/19

Tip-Off Time: 7:30 pm PT

TV: Pac-12 Networks

Radio: KOMO 1000

Streaming: Pac-12.com/live

Location: Seattle, Washington

Betting line: Washington -14

San Diego Toreros 2019-20 Statistics:

Record: 2-4

Points For per Game: 63.3 ppg (272nd)

Points Against per Game: 68.2 ppg (138th)

Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 93.7 (278th)

Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 94.7 (92nd)

San Diego Key Players:

F- Alex Floresca, Sr. 6’8, 240: 7.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.7 apg, 29.8% FG, 22.7% 3pt, 66.7% FT

Floresca has been miserable as a scorer but he has fantastic assist/turnover numbers for a low usage center which have progressively gotten better into his senior season. Despite being a career 27% 3-pt shooter he’s taking almost 4 attempts per game so far this year which the Huskies will surely encourage.

F- James Jean-Marie, Jr. 6’7, 225: 8.8 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 0.7 bpg, 41.9% FG, 41.7% 3pt, 66.7% FT

It’s been a nice first season in San Diego so far for JJM as he’s been a phenomenal rebounder considering his minutes played and shown the ability to step out and hit an occasional 3-pointer. James has turned the ball over at least 3 times in each of the San Diego losses so ball security is a major concern for him.

F- Braun Hartfield, Sr. 6’6, 185: 10.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 37.7% FG, 17.4% 3pt, 66.7% FT

A grad transfer from Youngstown State, Hartfield was expected to come in and provide some shooting after he shot 35%+ from deep last year. Instead though he’s been atrocious both shooting the ball and turning it over while using more possessions than any other Torero.

G- Joey Calcaterra, So. 6’3, 165: 14.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.2 apg, 42.2% FG, 38.7% 3pt, 85.2% FT

Calcaterra has emerged with a big jump in playing time as San Diego's best offensive player and leading scorer. He’s shooting the ball well from the free throw line and beyond the arc while drawing contact and protecting possession. The one weakness in his game so far is a willingness to take the midrange jumper despite shooting worse than 30% on those. Expect him to take several of those less efficient starts when Stewart is protecting the rim.

G- Marlon Humphrey, Sr. 6’2, 185: 8.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.8 spg, 38.0% FG, 33.3% 3pt, 85.7% FT

The true freshman has been a pest on defense averaging almost two steals per game. He could cause some real problems for Quade Green on that end. Unfortunately for the Toreros he hasn’t been great as either a scorer or a distributor despite being San Diego’s smallest guard which you’d generally expect to be one or the other.

2019-20 San Diego Shot Chart

Synergy Sports

This is not a good shooting San Diego team as they’ve been inefficient essentially everywhere on the court except for from the right wing behind the arc.

The Outlook

San Diego lost 4 senior starters off of last season’s team which came close to defeating the Huskies in Seattle. Then on top of that 6’10 center Yauhen Massalki who had a double double against Washington last year (including annoyingly a buzzer beating panic 3-pointer which is the only long distance make of his career) has only played in the season opener due to injury and will miss this contest. All of that has led to San Diego ranking as one of the few teams with less minutes continuity than Washington.

The injury to Massalki leaves the 7 player San Diego rotation with no players taller than 6’8. Without a lot of size on the interior you would expect that San Diego would instead be guard dominant and focus more on shooting and playmaking. You would be wrong. Instead San Diego is shooting worse than 30% on the season from beyond the 3-pt line and are 326th nationally in non-steal TO%. The combination of not being able to make shots or hold onto the ball is what leads to a 277th ranked offense.

The Toreros have been much better on the other end of the court as opponents are shooting just 28% from 3-point range against them. That could spell trouble for a Washington team that didn’t make a single 3 on Friday night against Montana. Instead you can expect the Huskies to attempt to repeatedly feed Isaiah Stewart down low and exploit the mismatch they have inside. There just aren’t any bodies for San Diego to rotate through so they’ll leave their starters out there with 2 fouls and just hope for the best. If we see a repeat of the Montana game in terms of foul-happiness from the refs then I don’t know what the Toreros do.

This will be the 4th game in 8 days for Washington including a flight both ways of almost 3,000 miles. You can understand why the Huskies might not have had their legs quite under them on Friday to result in such a poor shooting performance. It would not shock me at all if we see yet another sloppy tired effort from the young Dawgs before they get a full week’s rest. Expect a game that looks a lot like Montana except hopefully with some reasonably competent referees.

Prediction

Washington Huskies- 66, San Diego Torreros- 53

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