Jan. 22, 2007

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Next Up for the Broncos
The Santa Clara Broncos look for their second straight road win in WCC play as they travel to San Francisco to play the USF Dons on Monday, Jan. 22 at War Memorial Gym. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on Comcast SportsNet. Fans can also follow the game on SantaClaraBroncos.com. SCU defeated the Dons 83-78 last season on the road. With a win, the Broncos would maintain at least a share of first place in the West Coast Conference.

Last Game for the Broncos
Santa Clara overcame a 10-point deficit to win 61-47 against the San Diego Toreros at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego. Sean Denison scored 16 points and had seven rebounds to lead the way for SCU. John Bryant pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds and scored eight points in the win. SCU went on a 13-0 run early in the second half to turn an eight-point deficit into a five-point lead. The Broncos allowed only two field goals in the second half to pull away for the win.

Better Late Than Never
The Santa Clara men's basketball game at San Diego will air on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. PT on Comcast SportsNet. Fans who missed the big Broncos comeback can catch all the action on Comcast.

Head Coach Dick Davey
In his 15th season as the head coach at Santa Clara, Dick Davey has compiled a career record of 243-186 (115-84 WCC), which includes three 20-win seasons. Davey has also posted a 138-61 record at home for a .693 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. To celebrate 100 seasons of basketball, the Broncos are hanging a number of former Bronco's jerseys in the rafters of the Leavey Center this year. Bob Feerick had his No. 5 put in rafters on Jan. 6, alongside Steve Nash's No. 11, which was hung on Sept. 18 at the Santa Clara Convocation. Joining Feerick and Nash this season will be Ken Sears (Jan. 27), Nick Vanos (Jan. 29), Dennis Awtrey (Feb. 5) and Bud Ogden (Feb. 5). Kurt Rambis is tentatively scheduled to have his jersey raised on Feb. 17.

SCU vs. San Francisco
Series Record: SCU leads 101-95
First Meeting: SCU 19-11 win on Jan. 22 1909
2005-06 at SCU: USF won 72-64
2005-06 at USF: SCU won 83-78
Record at SCU: SCU leads 51-34
Record at USF: USF leads 49-40
Record at Neutral Site: USF leads 12-10
2005 WCC Tourn: SCU won 67-60
Biggest SCU Win: 88-50 (38) on Feb. 15, 1989
Biggest USF Win: 78-48 (30) on Feb. 6, 1974
Dick Davey vs. San Francisco: 20-12
Notes: Santa Clara and San Francisco have split the last eight meetings with four wins apiece ... of SCU's last four wins, three were at home and two were during the WCC Tournament in the Leavey Center ... the two teams have also split the last 14 meetings with seven wins each ... USF head coach Jessie Evans is 2-3 against Santa Clara all-time ... he never faced the Broncos while an assistant at Minnesota, San Diego State, Wyoming, Texas and Arizona or as head coach at Louisiana Lafayette ... Santa Clara knocked USF out of the WCC Championships in 2004 and 2005.

Scouting San Francisco
San Francisco had a tough start to the 2006-07 season posting a 4-11 non-conference record against some of the nation's top competition. In conference, the Dons started quickly, winnning their first three games to move into first place. A 71-64 overtime loss to Saint Mary's on Jan. 20 dropped USF into a first place tie with Santa Clara, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's atop the conference. The Dons have four players averaging in double figures, led by Antonio Kellogg at 15.1 points per game. Jessie Evans is 35-43 in two plus seasons at USF. He led the Dons to the NIT in 2004-05.

Last Game Versus San Francisco
Santa Clara ended a three-game losing streak on Feb. 20, 2006 by defeating the San Francisco Dons 83-78 at War Memorial Gym. Travis Niesen scored 31 points and had nine rebounds, while freshman Domineek Daniel had a career-high 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting against USF in the win. SCU led by nine at halftime and held on for a five-point win. The Broncos shot 55 percent from the floor and held USF to 39 percent.

Conference Road Openers
Under Dick Davey Santa Clara is now 7-8 in its first road game of the conference season following the team's 61-47 win over San Diego on Jan. 20.

13 Wins
Last season Santa Clara finished the season with 13 wins. After the team's win over San Diego on Jan. 20, the Broncos have equaled last season's win total and are 13-6 on the season.

Bryant Rebounding
Sophomore John Bryant posted his fourth double-double of the season on Jan. 20 against Portland with 13 points and 12 rebounds. He followed up that effort with a season-high 15 rebounds against San Diego on Jan. 20, while adding eight points. Bryant is now averaging 7.7 rebounds per game this year.

NCAA Leaders
Prior to Saturday's game against San Diego Santa Clara was among the nation's leaders in three statistical categories. The Broncos were 50th in scoring defense, allowing 62.5 points per game. They were ranked 40th in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to .401 from the field. The Broncos were also 35th in rebound margin at plus-5.9 per game.

Moving to No. 2
Santa Clara head coach Dick Davey moved into second all-time in wins in West Coast Conference history following the Broncos victory over Saint Mary's on Jan. 6. He moved past former Gonzaga head coach Dan Fitzgerald, who has 112 wins. Davey has 115 conference wins and is now 50 wins behind former SCU head coach Carroll Williams, who won 165 WCC games from 1970-1992.

Denison Shooting Lights Out
Santa Clara senior power forward Sean Denison continued his hot shooting against San Diego on Jan. 20, going 6-for-6 from the field and scoring 15 points. He is now shooting .610 for the season overall and an amazing .833 in the Broncos' four conference games. He was also perfect against Saint Mary's, shooting 8-for-8 from the field and scoring 20 points. He had a streak of 11 straight makes over two games against Saint Mary's and Gonzaga before finally missing.

Three-Pointers
The Broncos set a season high in three-point attempts on Jan. 13 against Gonzaga. SCU hoisted 29 threes and made eight of them. Their previous high was 24 attempts against Kentucky on Dec. 19. The eight 3-pointers made vs. the Zags ties for second most this season.

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).

WCC Leaders
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 scoring defense (61.7), field goal percentage defense (.395), rebounding margin (+6.7), assists (15.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.02). The Broncos are second in offensive rebounds (12.95). Sean Denison is first in the conference in field goal percentage at .610, while John Bryant (.519) is sixth. Bryant is third in rebounding at 7.7 per game and is tied for third in blocks at 1.68 per game. Danny Pariseau and Brody Angley are second and fourth in assists at 4.53 and 3.89 respectively. Pariseau is first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.32.

Rebounding
The Broncos dominated the boards against San Diego on Jan. 22 grabbing 47 rebounds, while San Diego only pulled down 26. The plus-21 rebound margin in the game was the second largest this season behind only the plus-27 against Holy Names. The Broncos also outrebounded Hawai'i by 21 on Nov. 29. Santa Clara has now outrebounded opponents in 13 out of 19 games, while owning a plus-6.7 rebounding margin. The Broncos have grabbed more than 40 rebounds nine times this season and have outrebounded their foes 717-589.

Suffocating Defense
Santa Clara has now had two outstanding defensive games in a row. The Broncos held Portland to 41 points on Jan. 15 before limiting San Diego to 47 points on Jan. 20. In both games, SCU had outstanding second half efforts, holding Portland to 14 points and San Diego to 16 points. USD shot 2-for-22 from the field in the second half (nine percent). The 41 points by Portland was the second lowest total this year for an opponent. The Broncos 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 .395 against Santa Clara and scoring 61.7 points per game. In conference games, SCU has allowed only 58.5 points per game and teams are shooting .361.

Under 50
The Santa Clara Broncos have held six opponents to under 50 points in a game this season, tying the record for a season under Dick Davey. In 1999-2000, the Broncos also held six opponents to under 50 points. No other SCU team under Davey has held more than two opponents to under 50 points in the same season.

More D
Santa Clara held San Diego to 15 field goals on Jan. 20. However, that total is just the third lowest total allowed. The Broncos limited San Jose State to just 13 field goal makes on Nov. 27, while Stanford made just 14 shots on Dec. 16.

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 nine out of 12 so far at the Leavey Center. The Broncos had their five-game home winning streak snapped against Air Force on Dec. 29.

Tight Games
After playing only two games decided by 10 points or less in their first 12 games, Santa Clara has had three of their past seven games decided by eight points or less. SCU defeated Utah State in overtime and knocked off Saint Mary's by seven points on Jan. 6 prior to their eight-point loss to Gonzaga on Jan. 13.

Rankings
After splitting two games against Gonzaga and Portland, Santa Clara dropped to 20th in last week's Collegeinsider.com's mid-major top-25, which is based on voting by coaches around the country. As of press time, the Jan. 22 poll had not been released. SCU is currently 73rd in RPI in the Pomeroy Ratings.

Angley Aims For Top 10
Junior point guard Brody Angley has 74 assists on the season, giving him 297 career assists and leaving him less than 20 assists away from cracking the Broncos all-time top 10 in that category. He needs 12 assists to pass Chris Lane (1984-88) and move into 10th all time.

Big Second Halves
Santa Clara has dominated the second half in the past two games as they did a number of times earlier this season. Against Portland on Jan. 15, SCU turned a halftime tie into a 12-point lead with a 14-0 run early in the second half. The Broncos outscored Portland 30-14 in the second half and held the Pilots to 4-for-24 from the field. Santa Clara pulled the same trick on Jan. 20 against San Diego. Facing an eight-point deficit at halftime, the Broncos went on a 13-0 run in the opening minutes of the second half en route to a 61-47 win. SCU outscored San Diego 38-16 in the half and forced the Toreros to shoot 2-for-22 from the field. In the past two games, the Broncos have outscored their opponents 68-30 in the second half, while limiting them to 6-for-46 from the floor (13 percent).