Dec. 2, 2006

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Next Up for the Broncos
Santa Clara University plays the second game of the Price Cutter Classic on Saturday, Dec. 2 against the tournament host, Missouri State. The game tips off at 5:05 p.m. PT. Both Missouri State and Santa Clara beat Alabama State in their first game of the tournament. The two teams have not met since 1984 when the Broncos prevailed 85-73 in the Cougar Classic in Provo, Utah. The game also marks the Bronco's fifth game in eight days. Fans can catch all the action against the Bears at SantaClaraBroncos.com.

Last Game for the Broncos
Santa Clara beat the Hornets of Alabama State 71-45 to earn its third straight victory to push their record to 5-2 on the season. SCU got out to a 28-21 halftime lead, before breaking the game open with 76 percent shooting in the second half to build a 20-point lead. Josh Higgins and John Bryant combined to score 31 ponits, while Scott Dougherty had nine points and eight rebounds off the bench. SCU held the Hornets to 28 percent shooting on the night.

SCU vs. Missouri State
Series Record: SCU leads 1-0
Notes: Santa Clara has played the Bears of Missouri State only one time in its history, defeating the Bears 85-73 at the Cougar Classic in Provo, Utah on Dec. 15, 1984. Missouri State was then known as Southwest Missouri State ... The Broncos last played a Missouri Valley Conference opponent in 1999, beating the Southern Illinois Salukis 78-77 ... The Missouri Valley Conference had four NCAA Tournament teams last season, Bradley, Norhern Iowa, Wichita State and Southern Illinois, while Missouri State and Creighton both reached the NIT.

SCU vs. MVC
The Broncos have played 14 games against current members of the Missouri Valley Conference and have posted a 6-8 record in thos games. Here are their records against MVC foes, Creighton (1-4), Wichita State (1-2), Southern Illinois (1-), Missouri State (1-0), Illinois State (2-0), Indiana State (0-1). They have not played Northern Iowa, Bradley, Evansville or Drake.

The Longest Day
The Broncos met at the Leavey Center on their campus to begin their trip to Springfield, Mo. at 5:45 a.m. PT on Thursday morning. Little did the team know that they would arrive in Springfield the next morning at 5:33 a.m. CT after 22 hours of travel. The Broncos took off from San Jose International Airport at 7:30 a.m. PT and arrived with no problems at Denver International Airport at 10:45 a.m. MT. The Broncos day had just begun. After waiting for an hour for their flight to Springfield, the team learned that their flight had been canceled due to a snowstorm across the entire region. The coaching staff then began looking at different options: flying to Tulsa and taking a bus to Springfield, flying to St. Louis and busing to Springfield. In the end, the team caught a 6:45 flight that was delayed until 7:10 to Kansas City that arrived at about 9:45. The team then waited for the bus, which had driven through the snowstorm from Springfield to Kansas City. The bus arrived, but unfortunately, the teams bags did not. After a short pit stop for dinner, the Broncos got on the road at 12:25 and drove through a snowstorm for five hours to arrive at their hotel in Springfield at 5:33 a.m. CT, 14 hours after their scheduled arrival. The bags arrived mid-morning on Friday to complete the team's travel saga.

Rebounding
For the second straight game, the Broncos held a big rebounding edge as they out-rebounded Alabama State 44-30 on Friday night. They held a 45-24 edge over Hawai'i on Wednesday night. For the season SCU holds a 266-203 edge in rebounds over its opponents. The team is now plus-9 in rebounds on the season.

Defense Steps Up
The Broncos held Alabama State to 28 percent shooting from the floor on Friday night in their 71-45 win. SCU has now held three straight opponents to under 40 percent from the floor. Also, the 45 points scored by ASU was the lowest total scored against Santa Clara this year. The strong defense has led the Broncos to three straight wins. The team last won three in a row from Feb. 20 - March 3 last year when they won four in a row. On the season, SCU has held opponents to 39 percent shooting from the floor and just 61.6 points per game.

BIG Play In The Middle
Centers John Bryant and Josh Higgins made a big impact Friday night against Alabama State. Higgins scored a career high 17 while Bryant had season high 14 points in the win. Higgins has now scored in double figures for three straight games to improve his season scoring average to 8.6 for the season, good for third on the team. Bryant is averaging 8.3 for the year.

Dougherty Key Again
Scott Dougherty played 23 minutes against Alabama State, tying his career high in minutes, which he set against Hawai'i on Wednesday. With more minutes, Dougherty has been making even better contributions to the team. Against ASU, he scored nine points and pulled down a career high eight rebounds, four more than his previous high. He knocked down two three-pointers and had an assist on a John Bryant lay-up to help SCU got off to a good start against Alabama State. He misses all of last year with a foot injury. Now healthy, he has been playing 17.7 minutes a game and averaging 4.1 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game.

Scorching Second Half
Santa Clara started slowly against Alabama State shooting 11-33 in the first half. However, Dick Davey's squad turned it around in the second half, shooting 76 percent in the second half (16-21) to turn a seven-point halftime lead into a 26-point 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 four out of five so far at the Leavey Center.

Backcourt Combo
Senior Danny Pariseau and junior Brody Angley have proven to be a dangerous combination in the backcourt together. The pair has started the past six games together and in those games, both players have averaged over five assists a game. For the season, they are combining for 17.4 points, 9.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game from the guard spots. The pair has also combined for 17 steals on the season. Pariseau has a 2.5-to-1 assist-to-turnovver ratio while Angley is at 2.2-to-1 for the season.

Home and Away
The Broncos started the season with a stretch of five out of six games at home, including three home games in five days that began last Saturday against Nevada. Following the game against Hawai'i on Nov. 29, SCU now plays five out of six games on the road, beginning with the Price Cutter Classic in Springfield, Mo. on Dec. 1 and 2.

WAC Week
The Broncos completed a stretch of three games against Western Athletic Conference teams in five days at the Leavey Center Wednesday night. SCU finished the stretch 2-1 beating San Jose State and Hawai'i after losing the first game to Nevada last Saturday.

Kaempf Out
Senior guard Joey Kaempf has missed the past four games with a foot injury after making his season debut against California on Nov. 20. He has been diagnosed with a sprained right foot and could be out 2-3 weeks. The senior guard previously missed the game on Nov. 14 against Holy Names due to a concussion.

Parham Surgery
Senior forward Tristan Parham had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Tuesday morning and is expected to be out of action for 2-3 weeks. Parham missed all of last year with knee problems, but played in the first four games this season. He did not play against San Jose State on Monday night prior to his surgery.

Beating the Spartans
With the win over San Jose State on Monday night, SCU now has won nine of the past 10 meetings against their local rivals.

Angley Aims For Top 10
Junior point guard Brody Angley has 35 assists on the season, giving him 258 career assists and leaving him less than 100 assists away from cracking the Broncos all-time top 10 in that category. He needs 51 assists to pass Chris Lane (1984-88) and move into 10th all time.

Head Coach Dick Davey
In his 15th season as the head coach at Santa Clara, Dick Davey has compiled a career record of 235-182 (112-84 WCC), which includes three 20-win seasons. Davey has also posted a 133-59 record at home for a .692 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.