Bill Grier didn't want to hear it.
Didn't want to hear about tomorrow night's home game against Gonzaga, the program he'd spent the past 16 years of his life helping build into a powerhouse. The team that, along with Saint Mary's, Grier's USD Toreros are locked in battle with for first place in the West Coast Conference.
“Coming into this week, around here everybody wanted to talk about this game on Monday,” Grier said. “All I tried to do was to get them to focus on Saturday.”
Yesterday's opponent was Portland, an opposite-end-of-the-WCC-standings group that USD defeated last month in Oregon on a Brandon Johnson three-pointer to beat the final buzzer and avoid overtime.
Last night, before 2,638 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, USD scored the first 14 points of the game and never let the Pilots within a double-figure margin of the lead. The Toreros' seventh straight victory was by a comfortable 78-61.
Cliche alert: Taking one game at a time, the Toreros (15-11, 8-1 WCC) made tomorrow night's sold-out matchup their biggest encounter in three weeks, or since they upset then-No. 21 Saint Mary's here Jan. 28.
“I thought that the group did a nice job of having a good focus about them and got off to a good start and took care of the task at hand,” Grier said. “It put us in a position for a big game Monday night.”
Johnson scored 16 points, topping four Toreros in double figures, handed out seven assists and made four steals. True freshmen Rob Jones and Trumaine Johnson had 14 points apiece and sophomore forward Chris Lewis added 10 points as USD shot 54.2 percent overall and 53.8 percent from three-point range.
Junior forward Gyno Pomare's offensive production of nine points was below par, for him, but the El Camino High product had three blocks and seven rebounds.
“To these kids' credit, they have learned to focus on the next opponent and forget about the distractions around, everybody patting you on the back, and just take care of business,” Grier said.
The Toreros' 8-1 start in league play is the school's best since the 1986-87 team, which began 1-1 and then won its final 12 WCC games. The victory also assured that USD will get a bye into at least the second round of the WCC Tournament it will host starting March 3.
USD hit seven of its first nine shots and forced five turnovers in taking a 14-0 lead.
Jones accounted for eight of the first 11 points, two of the baskets finishing fast breaks off assist passes from Brandon Johnson.
Portland (8-18, 2-8) missed three shots in addition to the five turnovers on its first eight possessions and went the first 5:26 before Luke Sikma (17 points, six rebounds) scored.
“This was a bigger game (than Gonzaga),” said Brandon Johnson, who evidently listened to Grier's weeklong preaching. “I know my team can get up for Gonzaga. A lot of players can get up for those (premier opponent) games, but when it isn't a big-name team on the shirt they relax and get complacent.
“Tonight we showed we can come out and play hard against any team.”
Said Jones: “Coach Grier has done a great job all week of keeping our minds focused on Portland. Starting (today) we'll get the scouting report and start getting ready on Gonzaga.”
Now, Grier wants to talk about it.
More WCC games
GONZAGA 83, USF 63: David Pendergraft scored 17 points as the Bulldogs warmed up for Monday's showdown with an easy road victory. Jeremy Pargo added 11 points, seven assists and three steals for Gonzaga.
PEPPERDINE 64, SANTA CLARA 58:John Bryant went 11-for-11 from the floor and scored 25 points for the Broncos, but Rico Tucker scored 19 points to lead the Waves to the home win.
Hank Wesch: (619) 293-1853; hank.wesch@uniontrib.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
