San Diego (1-6, 0-3) vs. Portland (6-8, 0-5)
Earle A. Chiles Center, Portland, Oregon; Saturday, 5 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: San Diego looks for its sixth straight win in the head-to-head series over Portland. San Diego has won by an average of 14 points in its last five wins over the Pilots. Portland’s last win in the series came on Jan. 18, 2018, a 55-49 win.
SAVVY VETERANS: Senior leadership could play a big role in this game’s outcome. Ahmed Ali, Eddie Davis and Michael Henn have collectively accounted for 50 percent of Portland’s scoring this season. For San Diego, Josh Parrish, Frankie Hughes, Vladimir Pinchuk and Jared Rodriguez have collectively accounted for 52 percent of all San Diego scoring, including 61 percent of the team’s points over its last five games.
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS: The Toreros have given up only 70.3 points per game to conference opponents so far, an improvement from the 77 per game they gave up in non-conference play.ACCURATE AHMED: Ali has connected on 32.4 percent of the 74 3-pointers he’s attempted. He’s also made 86.4 percent of his free throws this season.
LONG-RANGE THREAT: San Diego’s Hughes has attempted 46 3-pointers and connected on 28.3 percent of them, and is 6 of 26 over his last three games.
STREAK STATS: San Diego has lost its last three road games, scoring 61.3 points, while allowing 75.7 per game.
DID YOU KNOW: Portland gets to the line more often than any other WCC team. The Pilots have averaged 23.3 free throws per game this season, but that total has slipped to 19.8 over their six-game losing streak.
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