Jan. 4, 2007

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Next Up for the Broncos
The Santa Clara Broncos open up conference play against one of their oldest rivals, the Saint Mary's Gaels, on Saturday, Jan. 6. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. PT at the Leavey Center. Saint Mary's enters the game having won two straight, while SCU has won five of its past seven games. The game will be broadcast live on Comcast SportsNet and can also be followed on the internet via GameTracker and live audio at SantaClaraBroncos.com. SCU lost all three games to Saint Mary's in 2005-06.

Last Game for the Broncos
Santa Clara fell 78-48 in the Cable Car Classic Championship under a hail of three-pointers from the No. 23 Air Force Falcons. The Falcons set a new Cable Car record with 16 3-point field goals in the game, including 12 in the first half as Air Force took a 48-21 halftime lead. John Bryant led the Broncos with 10 points and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team. Air Force's Jacob Burtschi won the tournament MVP award after scoring 16 points in the final.

Head Coach Dick Davey
In his 15th season as the head coach at Santa Clara, Dick Davey has compiled a career record of 240-185 (112-84 WCC), which includes three 20-win seasons. Davey has also posted a 136-60 record at home for a .694 winning percentage. He owns the most WCC wins among active coaches and is the first Bronco coach to lead Santa Clara to four 10-plus win seasons in WCC play. A three-time conference Coach of the Year, Davey has coached Santa Clara to three regular season league titles, one WCC Tournament title, three NCAA Tournament appearances and five wins over top-25 teams. Davey served as a Bronco assistant for 15 seasons (1977-92) under former head coach and athletic director Carroll Williams and is a member of the prestigious Board of Directors for the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Bronco's 100th Season
2006-07 marks the 100th season of men's basketball at Santa Clara. The basketball team at Santa Clara first started in 1905 and became a varsity sport in 1917-18. In their 99 seasons, SCU has had seven All-Americans, 15 postseason appearances (11 NCAA, 4 NIT), three WCC Coaches of the Year, and one visit to the Final Four (1951-52). In 2006-07, the Broncos again face some of the top competition in the country as they attempt to earn their 16th postseason appearance.

SCU vs. Saint Mary's
Series Record: SCU leads 127-71
First Meeting: SMC 42-13 win on Feb. 19, 1910
2005-06 at SMC: SMC won 54-51
2005-06 at SCU: SMC won 76-69 (ot)
Record at SCU: SCU leads 58-23
Record at SMC: SCU leads 30-28
Record at Neutral Site: SCU leads 39-20
2006 WCC Tour: SMC won 76-72 (ot)
Biggest SCU Win: 113-69 (44) on Feb. 10, 1979
Biggest SMC Win: 84-52 (32) in Jan. 22, 2004
Dick Davey vs. Saint Mary's: 17-13
Notes: After Santa Clara swept the regular-season series between the two schools for five out of eight seasons, the Gaels had the Broncos' number in 2005-06, winning three games against SCU ... Saint Mary's has knocked Santa Clara out of the WCC Tournament in four of the last five years ... Santa Clara has won five of the last eight regular-season meetings between the two schools in the Leavey Center ... SCU has also won five of the last seven matchups at McKeon Pavilion ... Last season, the teams played two overtime games and had a third game decided by just three points ... The two teams have played nine ovetime games in their history with SMC holding a 7-2 edge in those games.

Scouting Saint Mary's
The Saint Mary's Gaels come into WCC play after a grueling non-conference schedule that saw the Gaels play Seton Hall, Connecticut, Saint Joseph's and Nevada on the road. The team is led by head coach Randy Bennett, who has a 93-76 record in six years at Saint Mary's. On the court, Diamon Simposon leads the team in scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg). He captured WCC Player of the Week honors following the Gaels' wins over Western Carolina and Belmont last week. Saint Mary's has yet to win a road game, posting an 0-6 record away from Moraga.

Last Game Versus Saint Mary's
Saint Mary's eliminated the Broncos from the WCC Tournament in the quarterfinals last season on March 4, 2006 in Spokane, Wash by earning a 76-72 overtime win. Diamon Simpson led the Gaels with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Joey Kaempf had a career-high 21 points and seven rebounds in the game, while Brody Angley scored 18 points for SCU.

Moving to No. 2
Santa Clara head coach is currently tied for second all-time in West Coast Conference wins with 112. Former Gonzaga head coach Dan Fitzgerald also has 112 wins. Davey is 53 wins behind former SCU head coach Carroll Williams, who won 165 WCC games from 1970-1992. A win against the Gaels would give Davey sole possession of second place.

WCC Openers
Santa Clara is 9-5 in WCC openers under current head coach Dick Davey. The team has won three out of its past four conference openers. Last season, SCU beat Portland 87-77 to open the WCC season.

Cable Car Wrap Up
Santa Clara has played in all 40 Cable Car Classics and has posted a 46-34 record, while winning 14 tournament titles ... in the 2006 Cable Car, the Broncos hosted three teams that they have never faced. SCU had never played Air Force, Colgate or George Washington in its basketball history coming into the tournament ... John Bryant was the lone Bronco to earn All-Tournament recognition after scoring in double figures in both games ... Mitch Henke's brother, Andrew, earned the D.J. Frandsen Memorial Sixth-Man Award after scoring 13 points off the bench for Air Force in the championship game against Santa Clara.

Broncos vs. Top-25 Opponents
Santa Clara lost to then-No. 23 Air Force in the Cable Car Classic championship on Dec. 29. Prior to that game Broncos last faced a top-25 team on Nov. 25, 2006 when they lost 78-70 to Nevada, which was ranked No. 21 at the time. SCU is 19-77 all-time against top-25 competition, while Dick Davey teams are 5-29 against the top-25. SCU played two ranked teams last season, Gonzaga and North Carolina.

Brothers in Cable Car
The sibling match-up between Mitch and Andrew Henke never materialized at the Cable Car Classic. Mitch suffered a sprained ankle on Dec. 23 and sat out the first game of the Cable Car and only played four minutes in the championship against Andrew and Air Force. Andrew scored 13 points for the Falcons as they captured the tournament title.

Non-Conference Wins
The Broncos won their 10th non-conference game of the year against Colgate on Dec. 28, setting a new team record for non-league wins during head coach Dick Davey's tenure. Under Davey, the team record for non-conference wins was nine, set five times (1994-95, 1995-6, 1997-98, 1999-00 and 2002-03).

Henke Recovering
Junior forward Mitch Henke played only four minutes total at the Cable Car Classic due to a right ankle sprain that he suffered on Dec. 23 against Utah State. Prior to the Cable Car he had been on a roll, scoring in double figures in four out of five games. He had 14 points against Utah State on Dec. 23, but sprained his right ankle in the game. After the week-long lay-off Henke is probable for the game against Saint Mary's.

Broncos Lead WCC In Wins
Individually and as a team, Santa Clara currently ranks among the best in the West Coast Conference in a number of statistical categories. As a team, SCU is first wins (10), scoring defense (62.5), rebounding margin (+6.9), assists (15.5), field goal percentage defense (.404), offensive rebounds (13.8) and is tied for first in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.98). Sean Denison is third in the conference in field goal percentage at .562, while John Bryant (.528) is fourth. Bryant is seventh in rebounding at 6.9 per game and fourth in blocks at 1.67 per game. Danny Pariseau and Brody Angley are second and fourth in assists at 4.33 and 3.87 respectively. Pariseau is first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.03.

Pariseau Keeps It Going
Broncos senior Danny Pariseau has been having a dream season so far for SCU. After scoring 11 points against Colgate on Dec. 28, he has now scored in double figures nine times this season. From December 9-23, Broncos senior Danny Pariseau set or tied career highs in points, rebounds, assists and steals. On Dec. 9, he scored a career-high 20 points at Pacific, before dishing out a career-high nine assists on Dec. 11 versus Eastern Washington. On Dec. 16 against Stanford, Pariseau led SCU with nine rebounds, setting another career high. Pariseau also scored 16 points, had four assists and made three steals to lead the team in four categories overall against Stanford. Pariseau finished the four-game stretch with 14 points on the road against Kentucky. He also made four steals against the Wildcats to tie his career high. Pariseau now leads the team in points (157) steals (22) and assists (65).

Defense Steps Up Again
Santa Clara held Colgate to a season-low 39 points on Dec. 28. The last time that Santa Clara held an opponent to under 40 points was Dec. 27, 1988 in a 54-39 win over Fresno State. Dec. 28 was the first time that a Dick Davey-led team held an opponent under 40. For the season, opponents are now shooting only .404 against Santa Clara and scoring 62.5 points per game. Santa Clara has now held six of its past 11 opponents to under 40 percent from the floor. Three of those opponents have shot under 30 percent from the floor.

Low Scoring
Santa Clara and Colgate combined for 92 points on Dec. 28 in the Broncos' 53-39 win. That combined point total was the lowest since SCU and Saint Mary's combined for 87 points on Jan. 28, 1989 in a 53-34 Gaels' victory.

Home Cooking
Santa Clara has gotten off to good starts at the Leavey Center the past few years. Last year, the Broncos started out with four straight wins at home and in 2004-05 they won their first five at home. Three years ago, the team won five out of six at home to start the year. This season has been no different as SCU has won seven out of nine so far at the Leavey Center. The Broncos had their five-game home winning streak snapped against Air Force on Dec. 29.

Tight Games
The Broncos have not played many close games so far in 2006-07. Prior to their two-point win over Utah State on Dec. 23, the closest game was an eight-point loss to Nevada on Nov. 25. The only other game that has been decided by 10 points or less was a nine-point win on Nov. 29 against Hawai'i.

Rebounding
The Broncos dominated the boards against Colgate on Dec. 28, outrebounding the Raiders 33-22 and then narrowly won the battle of the boards against Air Force on Dec. 29, 28-26. SCU has now outrebounded opponents in 11 out of 15 games, while owning a plus-6.9 rebounding margin. That rebound margin is tied for 34th in the country. The Broncos have grabbed more than 40 rebounds seven times this season and have outrebounded their foes 566-463 on the year.

Shutting Down Big Scorers
Santa Clara has faced two of the top-10 scoring leaders in Division I this season in Rodney Stuckey and Jaycee Carroll. Both times, the Broncos have held them to their lowest scoring output of the season at the time. On Dec. 11, Stuckey managed only a season-low 12 points in the Broncos' 91-68 win over Eastern Washington. On Dec. 23, Carroll scored a season-low 14 points as SCU won 77-75 knocking him down to 12th in the country in scoring.

Bryant Comes Up Big
Sophomore center John Bryant had one of the best games of his career on Dec. 23 against Utah State. He matched his career high with 20 points while also pulling down a season-high 12 rebounds. He also scored the game-tying basket with six seconds left to send the game to overtime. In overtime, he scored four more points to help SCU to the win. Bryant has three double-doubles this season.

Overtime
The Broncos played their first overtime game of the year against Utah State on Dec. 23. Last season, Santa Clara played three overtime games and lost them all, one to Mississippi State (82-69) and two to Saint Mary's (76-69 and 76-72). With the win, SCU is now 35-44 in overtime games in its history and 19-27 at home. Prior to the win against Utah State, the Broncos had lost five straight overtime games. Their last overtime win came on Dec. 22, 2003 against Maryland-Baltimore County, 65-63.

Rankings
After splitting two games last week Santa Clara is now 19th in Collegeinsider.com's mid-major top-25, which is based on voting by coaches around the country. Following the Cable Car Classic, SCU is 57th in RPI in the Pomeroy Ratings.

Angley Aims For Top 10
Junior point guard Brody Angley has 58 assists on the season, giving him 281 career assists and leaving him less than 30 assists away from cracking the Broncos all-time top 10 in that category. He needs 28 assists to pass Chris Lane (1984-88) and move into 10th all time.