These are two of the WCC's worst teams, but Steve Lavin's Toreros have stepped up in certain home spots. In their last two home games, the Toreros beat Pacific by 12 and fell 99-93 to Gonzaga. Look for San Diego to take care of a Pepperdine team that's lost 10 of its last 12, many by big margins. San Diego junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson, who previously played at Wake Forest and Louisville, has scored at least 21 points in three straight games and should go off Thursday.
Really just a lesser of two WCC evils. Pepperdine is probably the league's worst team and has only been competitive in one of four games so far. Two of its five overall wins are against non-DI foes. San Diego at least has a league win and also gave Gonzaga a bit of a scare recently. KenPom ranks the Toreros 38 spots better. Junior guard Ty-Laur Johnson is averaging 19.5 points in his last six games with five 20-plus point performances in that span. San Diego ranks 56th nationally in turnovers forced per game (14.6).
