Santa Clara (2-3) is looking for its second straight home win over Rice (2-4) in the consolation final of the 47th Annual Cable Car Classic. The game will be played at 6 pm on Sat., Nov. 30. The Cable Car Classic Championship, being played for the first time over Thanksgiving, will feature Rider (2-3) and North Dakota State (3-3) at 8:15 pm.
The Cable Car Classic is the longest running holiday tournament in the country. In 31 of the Classic's 46 years, the Classic has featured a team that would receive an NCAA bid a few months later. Santa Clara won the Cable Car Classic title last year with a 69-45 victory over Wagner, the previous year's champion. Senior Marc Trasolini was named the MVP.
Santa Clara has an all-time record of 53-40 in the Cable Car Classic and has won the title 16 times during its 46-year existence. Rider, Rice and North Dakota State are all playing in the Classic for the first time. Rider defeated Rice 97-93 in overtime in the first game Friday night and Santa Clara lost 91-85 to North Dakota State.
The Broncos had won seven straight prior to the NDSU loss, but they have won nine of their last 11 games played at Leavey Center.
Look, Listen
The Rice-SCU game will be broadcast live on KDOW 1220 AM with the pregame show starting at 6 pm on Saturday. The game can also be found on SantaClaraBroncos.com. Anthony Passarelli is in his sixth season as the Broncos' play-by-play announcer. Both Cable Car Classic games on Saturday will be live streamed for free on SantaClaraBroncos.com and live stats can be found on statbroadcast.com.
Going For Two Straight
The Broncos are looking for their second straight win over Rice at home. Taking its first lead of the night on a three by Kevin Foster with 20 seconds left on a self-proclaimed 'off night offensively', Santa Clara defeated Rice 66-65 in the Leavey Center on Nov. 17, 2010. Foster had been 1 of 8 from the field. The Broncos are 1-2 lifetime vs. the Owls. Rice finished off the Broncos off 74-56 on Dec 21, 1981 in Santa Clara and Rice won 70-57 in Houston on Dec. 16, 2009. The Rice win over the Broncos in 2009 was the school's 1000th career victory.
Rice, led by former Cal head coach Ben Braun, is 2-4 this season. Braun is in his sixth season at Rice and the Owls are 1-2 on the road this year. Braun is 2-1 vs. the Broncos all-time after leading the Cal Bears to a 67-60 win on Nov. 20, 2001 in Berkeley as well as a 1-1 record with the Owls (Rice won in Houston in 2009 and lost in Santa Clara in 2010).
Our History on the Gridiron
Santa Clara's football team was Rice University's opponent when the Owls opened Rice Stadium in 1950. Rice won the contest played on Sept. 30, 1950, 27-7.
Santa Clara finished the year at 4-6 after winning the Orange Bowl with a 21-13 victory over Kentucky the previous year, posting an 8-2-1 record. Santa Clara dropped football in 1991 after defeating Saint Mary's 44-14 in its final game.
Us
Santa Clara brings in a 2-3 record vs. Rice on Saturday. The Broncos started the year by defeating Bethesda on Nov. 8, 84-39, and then cross-town rival San Jose State, 89-77, on Nov. 12. They dropped an 86-73 game at Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 17 and then fell 84-69 at Notre Dame on Nov. 22. They lost 91-85 to North Dakota State on Nov. 29.
A duo of newcomers young and old lead the Broncos on the scoreboard. Junior Brandon Clark scores 19.8 ppg and rookie Jared Brownridge is second with 18.6 ppg. After going scoreless his first game, Clark scored a new career high in back-to-back games against San Jose State and Cal State Bakersfield, scoring 23 points each night. He added 21 at Notre Dame and then scored a new career-high 32 points vs. North Dakota State on Nov. 29.
Yannick Atanga leads the team with 6.4 rpg. Atanga had the 11th double-digit rebound game of his career vs. San Jose State. He led the league in rebounds last season.
Jerry Brown started his first game for the Broncos vs. NDSU and scored eight points and five rebounds. Jerry Brown scored his third career double-double and his first for the Broncos with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the win over San Jose State. Marc Trasolini was the last Bronco to record a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds vs. Portland on Jan. 31, 2013.
The Broncos started the 2013-14 season with a bang. SCU came away with a 45-point victory over Bethesda on Nov. 8 to open the year. Santa Clara was led by rookie Brownridge, who scored 25 points, including five threes with six assists. Brownridge was just one three made shy of tying the school record for freshmen set by Steve Nash in 1993. Jalen Richard chipped in 15, Brown 13 and Julian Clarke 11.
Quick Look Back
The Broncos are fresh off a 26-12 campaign last season that saw them win their second post-season title in three years, the CBI at George Mason on April 5 (80-77). It's hard to imagine any team in the country entering this season with more production lost than the Broncos. With the five seniors graduating in June of 2013, they took with them 13,455 minutes played, 6,188 points scored, 2,149 rebounds, 705 assists and 492 steals.
Kerry Keating, entering his seventh season with the Broncos, brought in seven newcomers this season, including Jerry Brown, a graduate transfer from Fresno State. Santa's Clara's roster includes a lot of rookies, including freshman-redshirt Nate Kratch and four true freshmen: Jared Brownridge, Jalen Richard, Jarvis Pugh and Emmanual Ndumanya. Brownridge has started all five games this season and is second on the team in scoring. It is expected that Ndumanya and Pugh will be redshirted this year.
@HeartofIndiana
Brandon Clark was scoreless in the first game of the year vs. Bethesda, but he has been a scoring machine since. Clark had a then-career high 23 points in back-to-back games vs. San Jose State and at Cal State Bakersfield. He added 21 at Notre Dame last weekend and then Friday night he scored a new career-high of 32 points vs. North Dakota State. Kevin Foster was the last Bronco to score 30+ on March 27, 2013 when he added 33 in the Broncos' 81-69 victory.
Clark has 21+ points in four straight games. Looking back, Foster scored 23+ points in five straight games last year. He had 23 vs. LMU March 8; 23 vs. Vermont March 19; 34 at Purdue March 25; 33 at Wright State March 27 and 28 vs. George Mason April 1.
Clark made a career-high five of eight from beyond the arc vs. the Bisons. He was also 7 of 7 from the free throw line. But it wasn't his best game this year from the charity stripe, as he went 11 of 14 in the 89-77 victory over San Jose State on Nov. 12, 2013.
Climbing Back
Evan Roquemore, the current team's lone 1,000+ career point scorer, started his first game of the year vs. North Dakota State on Nov. 29. In the Broncos' last game at Notre Dame, Roquemore came off the bench at 14:56 in the first half at Notre Dame in his first action this season. He missed the first three games with a back issue.
Roquemore sits at No. 19 with 1,336 career points. He needs to score 11 points to pass No. 18 Marlon Garrett (1,346 points, 1993-97). He needs to score 251 points to jump over No. 10 Ken Sears (1,586 points, 1951-55). Last year's Bronco team was the first team in West Coast Conference history to feature four 1,000 point career scores. Along with Roquemore, the team had seniors Kevin Foster (No. 1, 2,423 points), Marc Trasolini (No. 5, 1,699 points) and Raymond Cowels III (No. 26, 1,090 points).
Roquemore is No. 4 with 503 career assists. He needs four assists to move to No. 3 and he will pass Brody Angley (506 assists, 2004-08). He needs 15 assists to set the school record. It is currently held by Brian Jones (517 assists, 1996-01).Two-time NBA MVP Steve is No. 2 all-time with 510 assists (1992-96).
With 415, Roquemore moved to No. 3 in career free throws made on Nov. 29, moving past Brian Jones (413, 1996-01). He needs to make 56 free throws to break the school record of 470 set by Ken Sears in 1951-55. He is No. 4 all-time in free throw percentage at .809.
He needs to start four more games to jump into the top 10. He is No. 8 in career minutes played, passing Steve Nash (1992-96) already this season. The school record for games started is 125 by Kevin Foster (2008-13) and Foster also holds the record for minutes played with 4,212.