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Next Up for the Broncos
Santa Clara University returns home to play the Utah State Aggies Saturday afternoon in the first of six straight games at home. The game against the Aggies tips off at 1:00 p.m. PT and can be heard at SantaClaraBroncos.com and 1220 KNTS. The Broncos have won three straight games at home and have won five out of six games at the Leavey Center to start the season. The two teams last played in the 2000-01 season with the Aggies earning a 76-67 win.

Last Game for the Broncos
Santa Clara lost a hard-fought road game against the Kentucky Wildcats 74-60 on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. After trailing by just two points at the half, the Broncos could not overtake the Wildcats in the second half. Mitch Henke led the team with 17 points while Danny Pariseau and Sean Denison chipped in with 14 and 12 points respectively. The game was the first meeting between the two teams. The loss snapped the Broncos' three-game win streak.

Head Coach Dick Davey
In his 15th season as the head coach at Santa Clara, Dick Davey has compiled a career record of 238-184 (112-84 WCC), which includes three 20-win seasons. Davey has also posted a 134-59 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. Utah State
Series Record: Utah State leads 3-2
First Meeting: SCU 63-62 win, Dec. 29, 1951
Last Meeting: Utah State 76-67 win, Nov. 17, 2000
Record at SCU: SCU leads 1-0
Record at USU: Series tied 1-1
Record at Neutral Site: USU leads 2-0
Biggest SCU Win: 56-52 (4) on Jan. 24, 1976
Biggest USU Win: 98-74 (24) on Dec. 30, 1974
Dick Davey vs. Utah State: 0-1
Notes: Saturday's game is the first-ever meeting between the teams at the remodeled Leavey Center ... the last time the teams met in Santa Clara, the game was played at Toso Pavilion ... the Broncos won the only other match-up at Santa Clara, 56-52 on Jan. 24, 1976 ... three of the five games between the teams have been decided by less than five points.

Last Game vs. Utah State
The Broncos and the Aggies met in the season-opener at the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska on Nov. 17, 2000. The Aggies came back in the second half to earn a 76-67 win. Current Santa Clara director of basketball operations Jamie Holmes played 24 minutes in that game and led the team with five rebounds. Justin Holbrook scored 26 points in the game, while Brian Jones scored 19 for SCU in the loss.

Scouting Utah State
The Aggies are 9-2 so far this season, with their only losses coming on the road against Northwestern State and Brigham Young. Stew Morrill is in his ninth season as head coach of the Aggies and has led the team to seven consecutive 20-win seasons and seven straight postseason appearances. USU has appeared in the NCAA Tournament five times in the past seven years, including last season. Junior guard Jaycee Carroll leads the team in scoring (22.6) and rebounding (5.7), while shooting .601 from the field and .907 from the free throw line.

Vs. WAC Opponents
The Broncos play their fourth Western Athletic Conference opponent of the year on Saturday as they take on Utah State. SCU is currently 2-1 versus WAC competition this season, beating San Jose State and Hawai'i while losing to the Nevada Wolfpack. The Broncos played those three games in a a five-day span from Nov. 25 - 29. Against the eight current members of the WAC, SCU has earned a 153-71 record.

Biggest Crowd
The Broncos and Wildcats played in front of 21,961 fans on Tuesday night. That crowd is the largest crowd that Santa Clara has ever played in front of for a regular season game. The previous record was 20,225, set on Dec. 17, 2005 at the Dean E. Smith Center against the University of North Carolina.

Henke On The Mark
Junior forward Mitch Henke has been on a roll of late, scoring in double figures in three out of the past four games. He set a season high with 17 points at Pacific and followed that game up with 14 against Eastern Washington at home. After scoring just two points at Stanford, Henke bounced back to score 17 points in one of college basketball's most famous arenas, Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., against the Kentucky Wildcats. Henke helped keep the Broncos close throughout against college basketball's winningest program. He is now averaging 8.4 points per game this year.

Rankings
Santa Clara earned the 19th spot on Collegeinsider.com's mid-major top-25, which is based on voting by coaches around the country. Also, SCU has moved up to 61st in RPI and 63 in strength of schedule in the Pomeroy Ratings.

Davey Recognized
Bronco head coach Dick Davey was named Collegeinsider.com's mid-major coach of the week for the week ending Dec. 17. The Broncos beat Eastern Washington and Stanford to help Davey earn the honor.

Pariseau Keeps It Going
In the past four games, Broncos senior Danny Pariseau has 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 steals with 17 and assists with 51.

Defense Steps Up
Despite losing to Kentucky, the Broncos defense had another strong performance. The team held Kentucky to 41 percent from the floor for the game. In the previous game against Stanford, SCU held the Cardinal to just 46 points and 28 percent shooting. Stanford scored only 12 points in the first half against the Broncos. For the season, opponents are now shooting only .389 against SCU and scoring 62.2 points per game. Santa Clara has now held five of its past eight opponents to under 40 percent from the floor. Three of those opponents shot under 30 percent from the floor.

Raining Threes
Santa Clara set a team high by launching 24 three-point shots against Kentucky on Dec. 19. The previous record for attempts this year was 23, set against Eastern Washington on Dec. 11.

Beating Stanford
The Broncos' win over Stanford was their second straight against the Cardinal after beating them 86-76 in 2004-05. The 16-point margin of victory was the biggest since Jan. 26, 1957 when SCU defeated Stanford 77-61. The margin of victory was the second largest ever for Santa Clara at Stanford. Prior to the win in 2004-05, SCU had lost eight straight to Stanford. Also, Santa Clara had not beaten a Pac-10 opponent on the road since Nov. 29, 1997 when Dick Davey's squad beat Oregon 67-58. SCU had not beaten Stanford on the road since a 72-71 win on Dec. 1, 1987.

Non-Conference Wins
The Broncos now have eight non-conference wins this season after beating Stanford on Dec. 16. Under Dick Davey, the team record for non-conference wins is nine, set five times (1994-95, 1995-6, 1997-98, 1999-00 and 2002-03). SCU needs two wins in its three remaining non-conference games to reach 10 non-conference wins for the first time under Davey.

Rebounding
Despite pulling down 39 rebounds, the Broncos lost the battle of the boards 42-39 against Kentucky on Tuesday night. However, for the season the Broncos still possess a plus-7.7 rebounding margin and have outrebounded their opponents in nine out of 12 games. The Broncos have grabbed more than 40 rebounds seven times this season and have outrebounded their foes 470-378 on the year.

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 Nov. 25 against Nevada. SCU just completed a stretch of five out of six on the road. Now, the Broncos play six straight games at the Leavey Cener. Last season, SCU also played six straight home games at this time of the year and posted a 4-2 record in that stretch.

Big Men Shooting The Ball
Santa Clara boasts three players 6-10 or taller in John Bryant, Sean Denison and Josh Higgins. All three have started the season shooting the ball extremely well. The trio has combined to shoot 55 percent from the floor through 12 games. Denison leads the way as he has hit 58 percent of his shots this year.

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 in scoring defense (62.2), first in rebounding margin (+7.7), first in field goal percentage defense (.389), first in offensive rebounds (14.3) and second in assists (15.8). Sean Denison leads the conference in field goal percentage at .584, while John Bryant (.516) is also in the top-10. Danny Pariseau and Brody Angley are second and third in assists at 4.25 and 4.17 respectively. Pariseau is first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.96, while Angley is third at 1.61.

Beating Pacific In Stockton
Santa Clara pulled away to an 18-point win over Pacific on the Tigers home court on Dec. 9. It was the Broncos first road win of the season after dropping their first two road games. The margin of victory was the largest by a visiting team over the Tigers since Jan. 16, 1992 when UNLV beat Pacific 70-52. In non-conference games since 1989, Pacific had a 65-13 home record prior to the game against SCU. Also, Pacific had a 123-27 record in the last 10 seasons at home.

Big Second Halves
Against Pacific on Dec. 9, Santa Clara withstood an early run in the second half before outscoring the Tigers 16-1 to blow open the game and cruise to an 18-point win. SCU shot 54 percent in the second half to turn a close game into a rout. The Broncos repeated their second half success Dec. 11 against against Eastern Washington. SCU scored on eight of its first nine possessions in the second half to turn a one-point lead into a 12-point advantage. Santa Clara went on to hit 56 percent of its shots in the second half to pull away to a 23-point win over the Eagles.

Backcourt Combo
Senior Danny Pariseau and junior Brody Angley have proven to be a dangerous combination in the backcourt together. For the season, they are combining for 18.9 points, 8.4 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game from the guard spots. The pair has also combined for 33 steals on the season. Pariseau has a 1.96-to-1 assist-to-turnovver ratio while Angley is at 1.61-to-1 for the season.

Angley Aims For Top 10
Junior point guard Brody Angley has 50 assists on the season, giving him 273 career assists and leaving him less than 50 assists away from cracking the Broncos all-time top 10 in that category. He needs 36 assists to pass Chris Lane (1984-88) and move into 10th all time.