USD, Portland Play Tonight for Last Place

The University of San Diego and Portland, second-to-last and last in the West Coast Athletic Conference basketball standings, will meet at 7:30 tonight at Portland’s Chiles Center.

In the preseason WCAC media poll, USD and Portland were picked seventh and eighth, and so far they have played to expectations.

USD (9-11, 1-6) was beaten by Gonzaga, 70-52, Thursday night in the first game of its two-game Northwest road trip. Portland (5-15) hasn’t won in conference play and lost its seventh consecutive game Thursday night to St. Mary’s, 65-52.

USD’s only recent bright spot has been Marty Munn, who has come out of a recent shooting slump and scored 43 points in his past two games. Munn had 19 against Gonzaga, but the Toreros shot just 47% and made only 4 of 13 three-point attempts.

Portland has had trouble getting untracked under its first-year coach, Larry Steele. The Pilots are led by 6-foot 7-inch center Adam Simmons (14.2 average), one of only two starters to return from last season, when Portland finished third in the conference. Forward Robert Phillips, the other returning player, is averaging 13.9.

The two teams will play again Thursday night when USD returns home to the USD Sports Center.