EYEBRONCO: Bronco Assistant Coach Dustin Kerns Gives 3 Keys to the San Jose State game
West Coast Conference Weekly Release
Santa Clara (6-2) travels twice this week, both times locally in the Bay Area. Santa Clara plays at San Jose State (5-3) on Tues., Dec. 11 at 7 pm. The Broncos then travel to Pacific (5-4) on Sat., Dec. 15 for a 5 pm contest. The Tigers will join the West Coast Conference next year as the league's newest members.
Santa Clara defeated Pacific Union 77-42 on Dec. 8 after taking the last week off for finals. The Broncos have three players averaging double figures including Kevin Foster (21.3), Marc Trasolini (14.9) and Evan Roquemore (12.8). Foster is No. 2 nationally with 3.88 spg. Roquemore is No. 13 nationally with an assist turnover ratio of 3.86.
San Jose State has won three straight games and for its efforts, James Kinney was named the WAC Player of the Week on Dec. 10. Kinney led the Spartans to a pair of wins last week. He scored 27 points with five rebounds, four steals and two assists in a 73-64 road win at UC Davis. He followed up that effort with a 20-point, six-rebound performance in a 62-57 win at home against Sacramento State. Kinney has now scored 20 or more points in six of San Jose State's eight games this season. He has scored 20 or more points in five straight games. He had six three-point field goals on the week, which gives him 106 for his career, tying him for 10th all-time at San Jose State with Billy Landram.
Look and Listen
The San Jose State game on Tuesday will be broadcast live (audio and video streaming) on the web at www.SantaClaraBroncos.com and also live on KDOW 1220 AM with the broadcast beginning at 7 p.m. Pacific. Anthony Passarelli is in his sixth season as the Broncos' play-by-play announcer. Out of the listening area, KDOW is streamed online at www.1220kdow.com.
Rivals
Santa Clara will be hitting the road for just the second time this season when it travels to cross-town rival San Jose State. SCU leads the series against SJSU 73-29. Since 1980, Santa Clara has played San Jose State 30 times and Santa Clara has won 20 of those meetings.
Santa Clara has won eight of the last 10 meetings vs. the Spartans, including the last three of four games. Santa Clara won five games straight against the Spartans from Dec. 3, 2003 - Dec. 8, 2007.
Last year behind the first career double-double of sophomore John McArthur, who tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds, Santa Clara defeated San Jose State 84-58 on Nov. 19, 2011 at the Leavey Center. McArthur was a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line.
In the team's 80-69 win at SJSU on Dec. 10, 2010, Kevin Foster picked up West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors after leading his team to a 67-63 victory at San Jose State. Two days before Christmas on Dec., 23, 2009, San Jose State won 74-68 in the Leavey Center. Santa Clara won at San Jose State, 59-56, on Dec. 3, 2008. The two split the series in 2007-08 with both winning on the other's floor. SCU won 73-63 at SJSU on Dec. 8, 2007 and then SCU lost 62-59 at home on Jan. 7, 2008.
The Broncos are just 2.4 seconds from being undefeated this season, giving up a late 3-point basket in each and losing both in overtime to fall to 5-2 in 2012-13. Utah State's Preston Medlin hit a game-tying three with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game into OT and the Aggies handed Santa Clara its first loss of the season, 80-78, on Nov. 28. The Broncos endured a similar fate against UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 1, when Kyle Boswell hit a contested three at the regulation buzzer to tie the game, 71-71. Trailing, 83-80, with seven seconds left in OT, Kevin Foster was fouled before attempting a potential game-tying shot. Foster missed both free throw attempts and the Broncos dropped their second straight.
SCU: Winners of 8 of last 10 vs. SJSU
SCU 84, SJSU 58 (Nov. 19, 2011)
SCU 67, SJSU 63 (Dec. 10, 2010)
SJSU 74, SCU 68 (Dec. 23 ,2009)
SCU 59, SJSU 56 (Dec. 03, 2008)
SJSU 62, SCU 59 (Jan. 07, 2008)
SCU 73, SJSU 63 (Dec. 08, 2007)
SCU 71, SJSU 53 (Nov. 27, 2006)
SCU 47, SJSU 46 (Nov. 29, 2005)
SCU 73, SJSU 60 (Dec. 01, 2004)
SCU 66, SJCU 64 (Dec. 3, 2003)
Foster Named Player of the Month
Kevin Foster was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Month for November 2012. Foster averaged 21.7 points per game in leading SCU to a 5-1 month, its best start since 1968. Foster connected on 46.9% of his field goal attempts, 40% from beyond the three-point arc (20-for-50), and 86% from the free throw line. In addition, Foster averaged 4.2 steals -- tops in the nation last month -- and 4.2 assists per contest. He scored 21+ points four times last month.
Foster passed Kurt Rambis to become Santa Clara's all-time leading scorer with 1,849 points in the Broncos 74-63 win at Saint Louis on Nov. 14 when he scored 30 points. In addition to being the school's all-time leading scorer, he is also No. 1 in field goal attempts, threes attempted and threes made. He is No. 2 in career threes made in the West Coast Conference as well.
Also nominated for WCC Player of the Month: Brandon Davies, BYU; Elias Harris, Gonzaga; Lorne Jackson, Pepperdine; Matthew Dellavedova, Saint Mary's; Johnny Dee, San Diego; Cole Dickerson, San Francisco
West Coast, National Leaders
Kevin Foster is No. 2 nationally in steals per game with 3.88. Foster is also 10th nationally in points per game and ninth in threes made. He leads the West Coast Conference in all three as well.
Evan Roquemore ranks 13th nationally with 6.8 assists per game. That tally leads the West Coast Conference as well. He also is 13th nationally in assist turnover ratio with 3.86.
The Broncos are No. 9 nationally in scoring offense. They are No. 2 in assist turnover ratio and No. 5 in assists per game. They are No. 2 in turnover margin nationally and No. 9 in turnovers per game.
That's not all. They are No. 17 nationally in threes per game, No. 20 in steals per game and No. 23 in scoring margin.
In West Coast Conference statistics, the Broncos top the charts in scoring offense, steals, assists, assist/turnover ratio, and three pointers made.
Minutes
Marc Trasolini, Kevin Foster, and Evan Roquemore have started all eight games for the Broncos and have combined for 237 starts in their Santa Clara careers. Each of the three is also averaging over 28.6 minutes a contest. The trio has produced by accounting for 58.8% of the team's point production while combining to shoot 50.5% from the field. Foster (170), Trasolini (119) and Roquemore (102) have scored 438 of the team's 664 points.
Assisting His Teammates
Evan Roquemore has tallied a team-best 54 assists and ranks 13th nationally with 6.8 per game. That tally leads the West Coast Conference as well. He also is 13th nationally in assist turnover ratio with 3.86. Roquemore has dished out 5 or more assists in each of the last seven games and totaled a then-season-high 9 in consecutive games vs. Eastern Washington (Nov. 23) and Utah State (Nov. 28). He then collected 10 vs. Pacific Union (Dec. 8). At his current pace for the entire season, Roquemore has a shot at breaking John Woolery's 1993-94 single season record of 190 and could also become the fourth Bronco with 500 career assists by the end of his junior season. E-Rock has been scoring the basketball as well. He went for a season-best 23 points vs. Utah State and followed with a 22-point game vs. UCSB (Dec. 1), giving him nine career 20-point games and back-to-back 20-point games for the second time in his career.
Moving
Kevin Foster has reached double figures in scoring six times in eight games and has topped the 20-point mark five times to lead the Broncos and the West Coast Conference in scoring with 21.3 ppg. Foster scored a game-high 27 against Utah State on Nov. 28, including his 1,800th career point, on, what else, a 3-point basket. He was also fouled on the play and converted his second 4-point play of the season. Foster added 28 points against UCSB on Dec. 1, and in the two games moved up five spots on the West Coast Conference career scoring list. With a career total of 1,861, Foster passed Clint Richardson (1,803), Darrell Tucker (1,805), Matt Santangelo (1,810), Quintin Dailey (1,841) and Omar Samhan (1,846) to move into 12th place on the WCC career chart. It is unlikely he will catch LMU's Hank Gathers (1987-90) for the league's top spot (2,490), but Foster could crack the top five and at his current pace for an entire season take the No. 2 overall spot, currently held by LMU's Terrell Lowery (2,201). Foster broke Kurt Rambis' SCU career points record at 16:01 in the second half at St. Louis on Nov. 14. Rambis, the WCC Player of the Year in 1980, scored 1,735 points from 1976-80.
Foster, named to the 2012 Preseason All-WCC in late October, was named the WCC Player of the Week in the opening week of the college basketball season. He opened the 2012-13 season in impressive fashion, scoring 27 points and dishing out nine assists with four rebounds and two steals with no turnovers in a Bronco victory over Simpson University -- a team playing its fifth game of the season. Foster sank seven three pointers.
He currently sits second in West Coast Conference annals with 339 career three-point field goals made. He passed Jared Stohl of Portland (336, 2007-11) vs. Pacific Union. The WCC record in a career is help by Jeff Fryer. He made 363 from 1987-90. Foster already holds the WCC record with 140 threes made in a season (2010-11). Foster has made at least one 3-point shot in 97 of his 103 games played and has made five or more 3s in a game 24 times. Foster launched 13 3-point shots vs. UCSB on Dec. 1 to eclipse the 900 career mark (921) and is averaging 9.0 3-point attempts per game this season.
Foster scored a team season-high 30 points in a 74-62 win at St. Louis on Nov. 14, the fifth game of 30 or more points in his career and the first time he's reached that total since scoring 35 points at SMU on March 25, 2011. Foster was 10 of 18, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. He also collected seven steals and five assists in 35 minutes. His seven steals were tied for second-best in school history in a single game with two other players and the most since Deron Perkins had 10 steals at San Diego on Feb. 24, 2005.