Jan. 24, 2007

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Next Up for the Broncos
The Santa Clara Broncos host their Southern California neighbors at the Leavey Center on Saturday, Jan. 27. SCU takes on the Loyola Marymount Lions at 2:00 p.m. PT. The game will be aired live on 1220 KNTS and SantaClaraBroncos.com will also have complete audio and video coverage. Last season, the Broncos split their two games with the Lions, winning 81-70 at home and losing 72-62 on the road. Santa Clara will be aiming for its fourth straight win overall.

Last Game for the Broncos
For the second straight game Santa Clara overcame a halftime deficit to beat a conference opponent on the road. SCU trailed San Francisco by four points at halftime on Jan. 22, but the team responded to the challenge and won a tight game, 61-58. Scott Dougherty led the way with a career high 19 points, while Sean Denison had his second double-double of the year. With the win, the Broncos maintained a share of first place in the West Coast Conference.

Head Coach Dick Davey
In his 15th season as the head coach at Santa Clara, Dick Davey has compiled a career record of 244-186 (116-84 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. LMU
Series Record: SCU leads 76-48
First Meeting: SCU 28-26 win on Feb. 10, 1937
2005-06 at LMU: LMU won 72-62
2005-06 at SCU: SCU won 81-70
Record at SCU: SCU leads 38-22
Record at LMU: SCU leads 36-23
Record at Neutral Site: LMU leads 3-2
Biggest SCU Win: 98-58 (40) on Feb. 25, 1994
Biggest LMU Win: 117-81 (36) on Feb. 24, 1990
Dick Davey vs. LMU: 25-6
Notes: Santa Clara has won four of the last six meetings against Loyola Marymount and 13 of the last 17 ... the two teams, however, have split the last eight head-to-head contests and four wins each ... the two teams split the regular season last year with LMU winning 72-62 in Los Angeles and 81-70 at SCU ... the two teams have not played more than twice in a season since 2001 but have played three times or more in a season on seven occasions ... In 1959-60, Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount played four times and split two games apiece: The WCC Preseason Tournament (LMU won 70-61), two conference games and a playoff game to determine the league's representative to the NCAA Tournament (SCU won 59-53) ... While a player at San Francisco, LMU head coach Rodney Tention's record against Santa Clara was 1-6 overall and 0-4 at Toso Pavilion ... LMU's Gersten Pavilion opened its doors on Jan. 15, 1982 with a men's basketball 83-68 loss to Santa Clara ... Santa Clara owns a 16-11 record at Gersten Pavilion, with includes a loss to Portland in the 1990 WCC Tournament ... Santa Clara owns a 5-1 record against LMU in the Leavey Center since it opened in December, 2000.

Scouting Loyola Marymount
The Loyola Marymount Lions have had a tough spell of injuries in 2006-07 and have gotten off to an 0-5 start in the conference and an 8-13 start overall. Leading scorer Brandon Worthy was lost for the year after 13 games with a knee injury. Second leading scorer Matthew Knight also missed games due to injury this year. Knight is back in the lineup and is averaging 17.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. LMU head coach Rodney Tention led the Lions to an 8-6 record in the WCC last season and a spot in the WCC Championship game. Overall, he has a 20-31 record in two seasons at LMU.

Last Game Versus LMU
Santa Clara grabbed an 11-point win in their second-to-last game of the regular season over the Lions in Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2006. Five Broncos scored in double figures, led by Brody Angley's career high 19 points. Sean Denison (18), Mitch Henke (16), Brandon Rohe (12) and Travis Niesen (11) also scored over 10 points. SCU had a slim one-point lead at halftime, but outscored the Lions by 10 in the second half to earn the 81-70 victory.

Best Start Since 1997-98
The Broncos are off to their best start (14-6) since the 1997-98 season when the team also posted a 14-6 record through 20 games. The 1993-94 Broncos started 16-4 through 20 games, the only Dick Davey team that had a better start than this year's Broncos.

Three-Game Win Streak
Following its win over USF on Jan. 22, Santa Clara has won three games in a row for the third time this season. The last time the Broncos had three separate streaks of at least three wins was 1999-2000.

Dougherty's Big Game
Small forward Scott Dougherty had three points at halftime on Jan. 22 at San Francisco. However, the Portland, Ore. native exploded in the second half with 16 points, including 11 during a decisive 14-4 run, and finished with a career high 19 points. He also hit two free throws in the closing seconds to give SCU a three-point lead. Dougherty's previous career high was 18, set on Jan. 13 vs. Gonzaga. He is now averaging a career high 6.9 points per game.

14 Wins
Last season Santa Clara finished the season with 13 wins. After the team's win over San Francisco on Jan. 22, the Broncos have surpassed last season's win total and are 14-6 on the season.

Bryant Rebounding
Sophomore John Bryant posted his fourth double-double of the season on Jan. 15 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. He then hauled in nine more boards on Jan. 22 vs. USF to move his season average to 7.8 rebounds per game.

NCAA Leaders
Prior to Monday's game against San Francisco, Santa Clara was among the nation's leaders in three statistical categories. The Broncos were 44th in scoring defense, allowing 61.7 points per game. They were ranked 28th in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to .395 from the field. The Broncos were also 26th in rebound margin at plus-6.7 per game.

Denison Double Double
Santa Clara senior power forward Sean Denison shot only 2-for-6 from the field against USF on Monday, but shot 6-for-6 from the line and scored 10 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds to post his second double-double of the year. He is still shooting .733 from the field in conference games and .599 overall. Against San Diego on Jan. 20 he went 6-for-6 from the field and scoring 15 points. 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
Santa Clara tied its season high in three-pointers on Jan. 22 against San Francisco. The Broncos shot 10-for-22 from beyond the arc. They also made 10 3-pointers on Dec. 11 against Eastern Washington. The Broncos set a season high in three-point attempts on Jan. 13 against Gonzaga. SCU hoisted 29 threes and made eight of them.

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 (61.5), field goal percentage defense (.396), rebounding margin (+6.8), assists (15.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.00). The Broncos are second in offensive rebounds (12.75). Sean Denison is first in the conference in field goal percentage at .599, while John Bryant (.524) is sixth. Bryant is third in rebounding at 7.8 per game and is tied for fourth in blocks at 1.60 per game. Danny Pariseau and Brody Angley are second and fourth in assists at 4.65 and 3.85 respectively. Pariseau is first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.27.

Rebounding
Santa Clara won the battle of the boards two more times last weekend. 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. On Jan. 22 at USF, SCU grabbed eight more rebounds than the Dons in its 61-58 win. Santa Clara has now outrebounded opponents in 14 out of 20 games, while owning a plus-6.8 rebounding margin. The Broncos have grabbed more than 40 rebounds nine times this season and have outrebounded their foes 750-614.

Suffocating Defense
Santa Clara continues to turn up the defensive pressure on its opponents. Against USF on Jan. 22, the Broncos forced 18 turnovers and limited the Dons to 32 percent shootingin the second half. The Dons scored only 58 points in the game. Prior to that game, the Broncos held Portland to 41 points on Jan. 15 and limited 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 .396 against Santa Clara and scoring 61.5 points per game. In conference games, SCU has allowed only 58.4 points per game and teams are shooting .372.

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 four of their past eight games decided by eight points or less. SCU defeated San Francisco by three points on Jan. 22. It was the Broncos second game decided by less than five points this season. SCU beat Utah State by two points on Dec. 23.

Rankings
Santa Clara has moved up to 15th in Collegeinsider.com's mid-major top-25, which is based on voting by coaches around the country. SCU is currently 71 in RPI in the Pomeroy Ratings.

Angley Aims For Top 10
Junior point guard Brody Angley has 77 assists on the season, giving him 300 career assists and leaving him less than 10 assists away from cracking the Broncos all-time top 10 in that category. He needs 9 assists to pass Chris Lane (1984-88) and move into 10th all time.

Rohe Near Century Mark
Senior guard Brandon Rohe played in his 98th career game on Jan. 22 against San Francisco. He is now just two games away from reaching 100 games played for his career.

Big Second Halves
Santa Clara has dominated the second half in the past three 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. Against USF on Jan. 22, the Broncos held the Dons to just 28 second-half points and overcame a four-point halftime deficit. San Francisco shot 32 percent from the floor in the half. In the past three games, the SCU has outscored its opponents 103-58 in the second half, while limiting them to 14-for-71 from the floor (20 percent).