TOUGH START FOR USD IN LOSS TO UCLA

Nine new players, five of them Division I transfers. The team being placed in quarantine for 14 days and unable to practice just before the season was scheduled to start after a player tested positive for COVID-19.

The season opener finally arrived Wednesday night for USD, against a UCLA team favored to win the Pac-12, a team that had already played four games.

UCLA 83, Toreros 56

“No one said it was going to be easy,” USD head coach Sam Scholl said before the game.

And it wasn’t. After a promising start, USD struggled putting the ball in the basket and watched the Bruins pull away for an 83-56 rout at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA improved to 4-1.

The Toreros started the game nicely. They were tied with the Bruins 15-15 with 9:45 left in the first half. But UCLA went on a 13-0 run over the next 3:46.

USD’s biggest problem during the stretch was on offense. Seven straight possessions ended with missed shots, and the Bruins led 33-23 at the half.

The Toreros cut the lead to 35-28 early in the second half on a Finn Sullivan corner 3. But less than five minutes later the Bruins completed a 13-4 run to take a commanding 48-32 lead.

In a 9-23 season a year ago, USD’s biggest problem was shooting the ball.

For one night, the problems persisted. USD hit just 19 of 61 shots (31.1 percent). The Toreros were accurate from deep, hitting 8 of 19 3-point attempts (42.1 percent). But inside the arc, their aim was woeful (11 of 42, 26.2 percent).

“We’ve got to be better finishers in the paint,” said Scholl via phone after the game. “I thought we had a lot of good scoring opportunities in the paint. We’ve got to be more balanced, we’ve got to be stronger, got to be more explosive with our finishes in the paint.”

Redshirt junior guard Joey Calcaterra led the visitors with 18 points, including 4 of 5 on 3-pointers. Duquesne transfer guard Frankie Hughes was the only other Torero in double figures, scoring 10.

Senior Yauhen Massalski led all players with 14 rebounds. He scored nine points but had five turnovers.

Five UCLA players scored in double figures, led by Jaime Jaquez Jr. with 17. UCLA dominated the glass, outrebounding USD 50-31.