Santa Clara-San Jose State Game Notes | Single-Game Tickets

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After playing its last five games on the road, Santa Clara returns home to face crosstown rival San Jose State Saturday. The teams will square off at 7 p.m. in Leavey Center. That game begins a string of three straight at home for the Broncos, who won convincingly last time out, downing Boston College, 62-45, Sunday in the finale of the Wooden Legacy. The tournament was held at both Cal State Fullerton's Titan Gym and Honda Center in Anaheim. In the opening game on Thanksgiving Night, the Broncos took then No. 11/10 Arizona to overtime before falling, 75-73.

SANTA CLARA (1-7) vs. San Jose (4-3)

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015 • Leavey Center (4,700) • 7 p.m. PST

Live Stream: TheW.tv - Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (color)

Radio: KSCU (103.3 FM)

Live Stats: www.statbroadcast.com

Tickets: Mini-plans and single-game options are available. Click here to purchase tickets (link to single-game) For information, call (408) 554-4660 weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. or email BroncoTickets@scu.edu. Doors to Leavey Center open one hour prior to tipoff. The ticket office is also open one hour prior to the start of the game.

Parking: There are two venues available for gameday parking. The campus parking structure is located just inside the main campus entrance off El Camino Real. The Leavey Center parking lot also has a limited number of spaces. Gameday parking is $10. Click here for a campus map.

Radio/Live Stream: Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (color) will call the action for the Broncos on KSCU 103.3 FM. The game can be heard over the air or online through tunein. All Broncos home games will also be streamed through TheW.tv.

Quick Hits...
• The Broncos, led by ninth-year head coach Kerry Keating, return six of their top eight scorers from a year ago, including junior guard Jared Brownridge (15.9 ppg), sophomore forward Matt Hubbard (6.8 ppg) and junior forward Nate Kratch (5.2 ppg). Hubbard (4.6 pg) and Kratch (4.6) are also the top returning rebounders. Brownridge led the team in scoring and ranked sixth in the West Coast Conference in both points per game and 3-point FG percentage (43.3). He was also fourth in the WCC in free-throw percentage (86.2).
• Brownridge, a two-year starter, leads the team in scoring at a career-high 18.6 points per contest, which is third in the WCC. He is also the team's top assist producer at 2.8 per game and ranks second in rebounding (career-high 4.8 pg). The 6-foot-8 Kratch leads the Broncos in rebounding (8.8 pg/third in the WCC) and field-goal percentage (58.3/eighth in the WCC). Kratch's 26 offensive rebounds lead the league.
• Despite playing just two seasons, Brownridge already ranks seventh in school history with 204 career 3-pointers made and 25th in scoring (1,225 points). In addition, his career scoring average (16.8 ppg) ranks No. 6 on the Broncos all-time chart and his career 3-point field-goal percentage (41.3) is tops in school history. After missing most of preseason practice Brownridge, however, has not been as accurate in the early going this season, connecting on 31 percent of his field goals, including 26 percent from beyond the 3-point line. In addition, he has turned the ball over just 18 times on the year, despite averaging 35.9 minutes a game while being the focal point of the offense.
• Sophomore forward Jarvis Pugh (knee) missed the last two games and junior guard Brendyn Taylor (concussion) the last four.
• Santa Clara, which has no scholarship seniors on the roster, had three players start all 32 games last year, but only Brownridge remains. Guard Brandon Clark was the second-leading scorer (15.8 ppg). He accounted for 26 percent of the team's shot attempts and ended his career 13th on the school's all-time scoring list (1,549) and 10th in assists (410). Guard Denzel Johnson averaged 8.7 points per game, third on the team. The Broncos returned a combined 92 starts from 2014-15.

Trends...
• After connecting on 34.1 percent from the field, including 25.1 on 3-pointers, in the first five games, the Broncos are hitting 42.7 percent (32.3 on 3-pointers) in the most recent three contests.
• The opposition connected on 38.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc in the first five games, but has been held to 19.4 percent in the last three contests. The Broncos held Arizona to a season-low 13.6 percent on 3's (3-for-22).

Scouting the Spartans...
San Jose State is off to a 4-3 start, including wins in its last three games. The Spartans, who play in the Mountain West Conference, participated in last week's Great Alaska Shootout, securing victories vs. San Diego (76-67) and Alaska-Anchorage (91-87). Senior forwards Frank Rogers and Ryan Welage have been a solid one-two punch. Rogers leads the team in scoring (17.3 points per game) and rebounding (9.0 pg), while Welage is second in both categories (12.0 ppg/6.0 rpg). The Spartans, who are 2-2 away from home, have connected on 45 percent from the field, including 30 percent from the 3-point line, and have outrebounded the opposition by 3.6 per game. They are averaging 17.0 assists on 26.4 made field goals per game.

Santa Clara-San Jose State Series...
The Broncos lead the all-time series 78-29 with victories in the last five meetings. The teams are meeting for the 21st consecutive season (since 1995-96) and in 33 of the last 34 years (since 1982-83). The 107 games played is the sixth highest total of any Santa Clara opponent and most vs. a nonconference foe.

Notables...
• Two of the Broncos' three best shooting performances occurred in the Wooden Legacy. They connected on 43.4 percent from the field vs. Arizona (Nov. 26), the team's second-best mark of the season (51.1 percent vs. Milwaukee on Nov. 15) and 44 percent vs. Boston College (Nov. 29).  
• Nate Kratch and KJ Feagin have been the team's most accurate shooters among the starters. Kratch has connected on 58.3 percent from the floor, scoring mostly in the paint, while Feagin has hit 50 percent of his field-goal attempts. Forward Jarvis Pugh has connected on 52 percent from the floor, though he has missed the last two games.
• Kratch has posted t hree double-digit rebound games this season
• Feagin has totaled eight assists during the last two games, playing in a combined 45 minutes
• Brownridge and Kratch are the only players to start all eight games. Freshman forward Henrik Jadersten started for the first time in his career and sophomore guard Evan Wardlow made his first start of the season (second of his career) vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 23). Wardlow went on to start the next three games.

By The Numbers…
1...Jared Brownridge needs one more 3-pointer to move from seventh to sixth on the school's career list. He has 204 and Evan Roquemore posted 205 (2010-14).
5...The Broncos have used five different starting lineups this season.
8...Nate Kratch has eight rebounds in six of eight  games this season, including 12 vs. UC Riverside (Nov 19) and 14 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 23).
29.6...Average career games played among the 12 active players on the roster (freshmen Tony Lewis and Bryson Lockley have not played). That group has played in a total of 355 games, with juniors Jared Brownridge (73) and Nate Kratch (73) accounting for 146.