For 3: WCC Player of the Week Wayne McKinney III, USD look to stay hot

Editor’s note: For 3 is our weekly look at the men’s basketball programs at USD, UCSD and Point Loma Nazarene ... plus whatever else tickles the twine.

As he prepared for his junior season, USD guard Wayne McKinney III worked on expanding his repertoire of offensive moves and finishing more consistently in the paint.

“Definitely spent a lot of time with my trainer on creating counters to moves and finishing at the rim,” said the former Coronado High School star. “At this level, you aren’t always going to get calls. It’s about creating and then playing through bumps, even fouls, drawing fouls. That’s something I wanted to improve on.”

In Saturday’s 89-84 win at Pacific, the 6-foot, 192-pound McKinney showed that the extra work has paid off. McKinney posted a career-high 31 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. He hit 15 of his 16 free throw attempts, grabbed five rebounds and dished two assists.

That performance, along with a 24-point, six-assist, six-rebound effort in last Wednesday’s 79-77 home win over Loyola Marymount, earned McKinney West Coast Conference Player of The Week honors.

The Toreros (15-11, 5-6 WCC) have won five of their last six games, moving into fifth place in the conference standings with five regular-season games remaining.

Finishing in the top six would be advantageous. The staggered format of the WCC Tournament allows the fifth and sixth seeds to open play in the second round. The third and fourth seeds begin play in the quarterfinals and the top two seeds start play in the semifinals.

Last season, Lavin’s first at the helm, the Toreros finished 11-20 overall, 4-12 in WCC play and closed by losing eight of their last nine.

Next up: USD hosts Portland (9-17,3-8 WCC) at 7 p.m. Thursday and Santa Clara (15-10,6-4 WCC) at 7 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.

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Tritons look to bounce back

UC San Diego (15-9,9-3 Big West) absorbed road losses to Long Beach State and Hawaii last week, giving the Tritons consecutive defeats for the first time in conference play.

The third-place Tritons remain very much in the thick of the Big West race; they rank in the top five in the conference in a host of statistical categories, including scoring (second), 3-point shooting percentage (second) and scoring defense (fourth).

Coach Eric Olen’s team is 10-1 at LionTree Arena heading into a pair of home matchups.

Next up: UCSD hosts UC Santa Barbara (13-10,6-7 Big West) at 7 p.m. Thursday and Cal State Fullerton (11-13,4-8 Big West) at 4 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.

Sea Lions still atop PacWest standings

Point Loma Nazarene (16-7,11-4 PacWest) beat Azusa Pacific 81-74 on Saturday, pulling into a first-place tie with Academy of Art in the conference standings.

The teams meet in San Francisco on March 2.

Saturday’s win featured a nice effort from junior forward Wynton Brown, who finished with 18 points and came up with some huge defensive plays.

Next up: The Sea Lions host Concordia (10-12,7-9 PacWest) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Hawaii Pacific (15-7,10-4 PacWest) 8 p.m. Saturday.