Note: Santa Clara's men's basketball team, coaches and staff met with former Bronco Steve Nash '96 outside the Laker's practice facility on Friday morning. He talked to the team for about 20 minutes - look for the video of the event on Monday.
Santa Clara closes out its regular season schedule at 5 pm on Sat., March 1 at Pepperdine The Pepperdine game will be broadcast live on SantaClaraBroncos.com as part of the Bronco Radio Network. Anthony Passarelli is in his seventh season as the Broncos' play-by-play announcer.
The Broncos are 12-18 and 5-12 in the WCC. Pepperdine is 15-14 and 8-9 in the WCC.
Three Broncos have averaged double figures all season: Brandon Clark, Jared Brownridge and Evan Roquemore. Clark averages 17.9, Brownridge 16.2 and Roquemore adds 10.8 ppg off the bench. In WCC games, Clark averages 17.9, Brownridge 17.3 and Roquemore 10.6. Brownridge, the leading contender for the WCC Newcomer of the Year, has started every game for the Broncos while Clark has started 29 of the team's 30 games this season, coming off the bench on senior day on Feb. 22.
Santa Clara leads the series 70-57 vs. Pepperdine. Pepperdine defeated the Broncos 70-61 on Jan. 2 in the team's first meeting. The Broncos swept the season series last year after the Waves did the same in 2011-12.
History In the Making
Already the assists career record holder, Roquemore broke the school record for career free throws in the second half at LMU on Feb. 27 with his 7 of 10 performance. In addition, Roquemore needs to log 14 more minutes to break Kevin Foster's career minutes played school record (4,212, 2008-13).
On the cover of Sports Illustrated his senior year, Ken Sears' 470 free throws made career record stood for 59 years before Roquemore passed him on Feb. 27. Sears also holds the record for free throws attempted at 608 (1951-55). Roquemore is No. 2 all-time with 589 free throws attempted.
Roquemore enters the Pepperdine game with 577 career assists, a Bronco school record. Roquemore is No. 8 all-time in the WCC, passing Gonzaga's then-No. 9 John Stockton (554, 1980-84) vs. Portland on Feb. 1 and then-No. 8 Portland's Darwin Cook at No. 8 (573, 1976-80) on Feb. 27. He needs 13 more assists to move to No. 7, dishing past Gonzaga's Jeremy Pargo (589, 2005-09).
Roquemore broke the Bronco career assists record vs. Radford on Dec. 16 with a dandy dish to Jared Brownridge in the first half, topping Brian Jones (517, 1996-2001). Last year Roquemore set the single season assists record with 196, topping John Woolery (190, 1993-94).
Roquemore has collected an assist in 129 of 132 career games. His first three season he had at least one assist in each game. He has been credited with no assists three times this year: at Cal Poly, vs. Gonzaga and at BYU. Looking back, Jones missed an assist in just three games (Dec. 21, 1996 at Pacific, Jan. 22, 1997 at USF; and March 4, 2000 vs. USF). Jones only had one game his final three years without an assist (USF, 2000). Steve Nash had eight games his freshman year with no assists, but the final three years of his career he had at least one assist in every game he played in during his Bronco career.
He's just the third player in school history to collect 1,500+ points and 500+ assists. The other two: Jones (1,722 pts., 517 asts., 1996-01) and Nash (1,689 pts., 510 asts., 1992-96).
In the Feb. 20 win vs. Pacific Roquemore was credited with four assists, but went without a field goal (0-8) for just the third time in his career - a first during his career in regular season play. Both of his games without field goals came on March 25 oddly enough. He was 0-4 at Purdue on March 25, 2013 and 0-10 at SMU March 25, 2011. Those first two were post-season games on the road.
Last Time
Santa Clara's three guards combined for 47 points with Jared Brownridge leading the way with 18, but the Broncos couldn't overcome a career performance from Brendan Lane and fell to Pepperdine 70-61 in their WCC home opener on Jan. 2, 2014.
Brownridge scored 16 of his team-high 18 points in the first half connecting on all four 3-point shots to tie Raymond Cowels III for the sixth-most made 3-pointers by a freshman in school history with 46. Brandon Clark added 16 points and Evan Roquemore scored 13 with eight rebounds.
For the game Santa Clara shot 42.4% from the field (25-of-59), including 27.8% from beyond the arc (5-of-18) and 60% from the free throw line (6-of-10). The Broncos collected 30 rebounds, 3 steals, 13 assists, 5 blocks and 8 turnovers.
Lane, a senior transfer from UCLA, grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and matched his career-high with 26 points. He also blocked four shots in a dominating performance. Lane hit 10 of 15 field goals, many from in close, and was 3 of 4 from the free throw line. Jeremy Major added 11 points with seven assists and Malcolm Brooks scored 11.
The Waves shot 43.1% from the field (25-of-58), including 41.7% from beyond the arc (5-of-12) and 75% from the free throw line (15-of-20). Pepperdine collected 41 rebounds, 1 steal, 12 assists, 4 blocks and 8 turnovers.
5
With 995 career points, Brandon Clark is expected to be the next Bronco to reach 1,000 career points when he scores five more points. He will be the 32nd Bronco with 1,000 plus points in his career and the seventh under head coach Kerry Keating.
The team's lone 1,000+ career point scorer, Evan Roquemore missed the first four games with a back injury. Roquemore sits at No. 10 with 1,598 career points. He needs 46 points to pass No. 9 Londale Theus (1,643, 1976-80).
Last year's Bronco team was the first team in WCC history to feature four 1,000 point career scorers. Along with Roquemore, the team had Kevin Foster (No. 1, 2,423 points), Marc Trasolini (No. 5, 1,699 points) and Raymond Cowels III (No. 26, 1,090 points).
500 x 2!
Brandon Clark (510) and Jared Brownridge (485) have combined to score 995 points this season, good enough to be the ninth-best tandem in school history. With five more points between the two of them, they will become the ninth tandem in school history to score 1,000 points in a season.
Clark needs to score 20 more points to move past Kurt Rambis at No. 16 (529, 1979-80). Brownridge needs two more points to break the Bronco freshman scoring record set by Kevin Foster (486, 2008-09) and 15 more points to reach the 500+ mark. If Clark and Browridge both score 500+ points each this season, it will be just the fourth time in school history a pair has scored 500+ points each in a single season; and it will have happened in back-to-back years for the first time in school history. Kevin Foster (732) and Marc Trasolini (587) were the last Bronco duo scored 500+ each in 2012-13. Others include Dennis Awtrey (614) and Ralph Ogden (590) in 1969-70 and Harold Keeling (585) and Nick Vanos (544) in 1983-84.
Prior to this year, Brandon Clark hadn't scored 20+ points in a college or high school game since he scored 29 in an AAU game in eighth grade. Clark is having an All-WCC-type season as he has scored 20+ 13 times this season, including 20+ in eight WCC games. His 13 20+ games are tied for third-most since 2000-01. Tops on the list since 2000-01 - Kevin Foster scored 20+ 20 times in 2012-13.
Jared Brownridge has scored 20+ points 11 times this year - second-best for a Bronco freshman since 1990-91. Foster scored 20+ points 11 times his freshman season. Brownridge has led the Broncos in scoring 11 times this year and has scored double-digits in 23 games.
Chasing
A strong contender for WCC Newcomer of the Year, Jared Brownridge is on pace to break five Bronco freshman records. The first three freshman school records are for points per game, three point field goal percentage and free throw percentage. Those records belong to Kurt Rambis and Steve Nash.
Brownridge averages 16.2 ppg and Rambis averaged 15.3 his freshman year (1976-77). Brownridge hits 41.2 percent of his threes and Nash scored 40.8 percent (1992-93). Nash also scored 82.5 percent of his free throws and Brownridge is making 86.1 percent from the free throw line.
With at least two games left, Brownridge is also on pace to shatter two of Kevin Foster's records from his freshman year (2008-09). Foster scored 486 points and made 85 threes his freshman year. Brownridge, who has scored 485 points and made 80 threes, averages 16.2 ppg and 2.7 threes per game. If he hits his averages in the next two plus games, he would score at least 517 points and make at least 85 threes.
Brandon
Brandon Clark leads the Broncos with 17.0 ppg, 3.4 apg and 1.4 spg. If he finishes the season at the top of all three, he would be the first Bronco since Brandon Rohe in 2002-03 to do this (10.6 ppg, 2.4 apg, 1.0 spg). Clark scored zero points in the season opener vs. Bethesda, but has since scored double figures in 26 of the last 29 games. All told, Clark has scored 20+ 13 times this year, including a career-high 32 points vs. N.D. State on Nov. 29. During a four-game span (Nov. 12-29), he scored 21+ points in each game; and he was the fourth Bronco player since 2007-08 to accomplish this feat. Scoring 30 points vs. Sacred Heart on Dec. 18, he was the 13th Bronco in school history to have multiple 30+ point games in a single season.
Clark has scored almost 1/4 of his points at the free throw line this year, hitting 86.4 percent (127 of 147). Clark scored a WCC career-high with 26 points vs. LMU on Jan. 4 (career high is 32 vs. North Dakota State on Nov. 29). Half of Clark's points vs. the Lions came at the free throw line, as the East Chicago, Ind. native went 13 of 14 from the free throw line.