SAN DIEGO – Tyler McGhie matched his season-high with 27 points on a career-high seven three-pointers, and
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones scored 17 points and dished out six assists as the Tritons won their ninth game in a row, 77-71, over USD Saturday night at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Hayden Gray added 11 points and a career-high seven steals for the Tritons, who improved to 11-2 with the win. The victory was UC San Diego's third true road win in the last week.
Led by Gray, UC San Diego came away with a season-high 20 steals in the win. The Tritons scored 31 points off 23 USD turnovers.
The Toreros (3-9) were led by nine points and 20 rebounds from Santiago Trouet.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After USD scored the game's first bucket, UC San Diego went on an 8-0 run over the next six minutes, keyed by a three and a runner from
Tyler McGhie. In that span, UC San Diego forced six Toreros turnovers, and Gray came away with three quick steals.
UC San Diego built an 11-point advantage, 25-14, with 7:56 to go in the half. As usual,
Justin Rochelin had a fantastic breakaway dunk as the Tritons extended their lead.
The Toreros answered with a 9-0 spurt to draw within a bucket, 25-23, with 5:12 left – forcing a Tritons timeout. USD eventually leveled the score at 28-28 before a
Chris Howell basket with 80 seconds to play put the Tritons on top. UC San Diego closed the half with another steal and a dunk from Gray. The Tritons led 32-28 at the half.
The Tritons scored 18 points in the paint and forced 15 turnovers in the first half. Gray led UC San Diego with nine points and five steals.
Clinging to a 34-33 lead five minutes into the second half, UC San Diego went on a 7-0 run, keyed by a McGhie three and a driving layup from Howell, who was fouled on the play. McGhie began to feel it, and he buried his fourth three of the night as the Tritons went up 44-35.
The Toreros got to within three, but McGhie drained back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead back to double digits, 67-57.
UC San Diego was 16-of-19 from the free throw line (84.2%) after halftime.
QUOTABLE
"One of the real strengths of our team is we've got a lot of composure," said UC San Diego head coach
Eric Olen. "We've played some close games, we've made some plays late in games; we aren't phased by the situation. The games that we've played to this point have us in a good place relative to the time of year."
TRITON TIDBITS
- UC San Diego's 20 steals are a new Division I program record.
- Chris Howell matched his personal best with 11 points.
- The nine-game win streak is UC San Diego's longest since moving to Division I in 2020, and the program's longest since winning 22 in a row in 2019-20 – its final Division II campaign.
- UC San Diego now leads the series between these two programs, 2-1, since moving to Division I.
- After committing nine first half turnovers, the Tritons committed just three after halftime.
- USD's 23 turnovers are the most by a Division I Triton opponent this season.
- UC San Diego has used the same starting lineup in each game this season: Gray, Tait-Jones, Howell, McGhie, and Kapic.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego is back home next Saturday to host Occidental in the team's final contest of 2024. Tip time is at 4 p.m. and tickets can be purchased through the
Triton Box Office. The game will air on ESPN+ and live stats can be found on UCSDTritons.com.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
