Santa Clara-Gonzaga Game Notes | Single-Game Tickets

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After a break for Christmas, Santa Clara continues a three-game homestand Thursday when Gonzaga visits for a West Coast Conference game. The Broncos lost to Saint Mary's, 81-59, on Dec. 23 in their conference home opener. Santa Clara, which has won three of its last four home games, was led by junior guard Jared Browridge who was one of three players in double figures with 15 points, but the Gaels shot a season-best 63 percent from the field and had four players score 10 or more.

The Broncos look to get back on the winning track against a Gonzaga squad which had won its last four contests. The New Year's Eve contest will feature three of the top four scorers in the WCC. Brownridge is second at 19.9 ppg, while Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer (20.2) and Domantas Sabonis (17.5) are first and fourth, respectively.

SANTA CLARA (4-10, 0-2) vs. No. NR/24 Gonzaga (10-3, 2-0)

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 • Leavey Center (4,700) • 2 p.m. PST

TV: - CSN California, TWC SportsNet, ROOT Northwest/Rocky Mountain, KHQ-TV (Spokane) - Greg Heister (play-by-play), Richard Fox (analyst) and Dan Dickau (analyst)

Live Stream: TheW.tv and ESPN3 (blackout in local markets)

Radio: KSCU (103.3 FM) - Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (analyst)

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. During games, Chad Cardinal and Jesse Moreno of the ticket operations staff will be located above Section 105 to answer questions.

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 and West Coast Conference contests will also be streamed through TheW.tv (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air).

Quick Hits...
• The Broncos, led by ninth-year head coach Kerry Keating, are playing a rare New Year's Eve game. Santa Clara last played on that day in 2004 when the Broncos visited BYU where the Cougars prevailed, 87-74.
• Jared Brownridge, a two-year starter, ranks No. 36 nationally in the scoring (19.9 ppg). He is second on the team in assists (2.8 pg) and third in rebounding (career-high 3.9 pg). He is connecting on 83.1 percent of his free throws (fourth in the WCC) and his 74 makes from the charity stripe are No. 10 in the NCAA this year. Junior forward Nate Kratch is second in scoring (11.6 ppg) and leads the team in both rebounding (9.2 pg/third in the WCC) and field-goal percentage (59.5/fifth in the WCC). Kratch's 3.4 offensive rebounds per game rank first in the league.
• Despite playing just two-plus seasons, Brownridge already ranks third in school history with 228 career 3-pointers and 20th in scoring (1,354 points). In addition, his career scoring average (17.2 ppg) ranks No. 6 on the Broncos all-time chart and his career 3-point field-goal percentage (42.5) is tops in school history. After missing most of preseason practice Brownridge had an uneven start to the season, but has been heating up. During the last five games, he has averaged 25.0 points on 49.4 percent shooting from the floor, including 53.3 from behind the 3-point line.
• KJ Feagin has emerged lately as another scoring option of late and been a consistent distributor. The freshman guard has scored in double figures in three of the last six games and averaged 10.7 points per contest in that span. He has posted a career high in assists in each of the last two games (8 vs. Pacific, Dec. 21; 9 vs. Saint Mary's).  
• Seven of Santa Clara's 10 losses have been by eight points or less, including five that were within three points. The Broncos have lost three times in overtime.
• The Broncos have two players on the shelf and two who just returned from injury. Sophomore guard Evan Wardlow (broken right wrist) missed the last six games and will be out approximately two months. Sophomore forward Jarvis Pugh (knee) missed the previous seven games before playing against Saint Mary's (Dec. 23). Junior guard Brendyn Taylor (concussion) returned vs. Nevada (Dec. 19) after missing seven games. Freshman forward Tony Lewis (leg) has not played this season. Sophomore forward Matt Hubbard was limited to only five minutes vs. Saint Mary's due to an ankle injury. 

Team 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 44.7 percent (38.7 on 3-pointers) in the most recent nine contests. Three of their best four shooting performances occurred in the last six outings (50.8 vs. San Jose State; season-best 55.6 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff; 49.0 vs. Pacific).
• During the last four games, the Broncos have connected on 48.3 percent of their 3-point field goal attempts (35 of 54).
• The opposition connected on 38.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc in the first five games, but has been held to 30.7 percent in the last nine contests. The Broncos held Arizona to a season-low 13.6 percent on 3's (3-for-22), but Saint Mary's hit on 47 percent in the last game.

Tidbits...
• The Broncos set a school record with 16 made 3-pointers (27 attempts) vs. Pacific (Dec. 21), snapping the previous mark of 15 vs. Gonzaga on March 5, 2001. The 59.3 percent accuracy was second-best on the season (64.3 vs. Pacific Union on Dec. 12).
• With a career-high eight 3-pointers vs. Pacific, Jared Brownridge moved from a fourth-place tie into third on the school's career 3-pointers list. He entered the game tied with Raymond Cowels III (219/2009-13) and passed Kyle Bailey (225/2001-05). Brownridge now has 228 in his career. Brownridge's total vs. the Tigers ranks tied for second on the school's single-game list. Kevin Foster had a school-record nine vs. Air Force on March 18, 2011.
• During the last seven games, Nate Kratch is averaging 15.7 points and 9.9 rebounds. In that span, he has hit 44 of 70 field goals (62.9 percent) and 26 of his 69 rebounds (37.7 percent) have been at the offensive end.
• Brownridge had his string of scoring 20 or more points in four straight games (six times on the season) snapped vs. Saint Mary's (Dec. 23) when he tallied 15 points. He has connected on seven or more 3-pointers three times (seven vs.  Arizona, Nov. 26; seven at Nevada, Dec. 18; career-high eight vs. Pacific, Dec. 23), but was only 1-for-5 vs. the Gaels.
• K.J. Feagin is averaging 4.1 assists per game, which ranks seventh in the WCC, including first among freshmen.
• Sophomore forward Jarvis Pugh made his return from a knee injury vs. Saint Mary's, playing 24 minutes and scoring six points to go with four rebounds.
• Sophomore forward Matt Hubbard has scored in double figures four times this season, including three of the last six games.
• Brendyn Taylor, a junior transfer from USC, saw his first action since the fourth game of the season vs. Nevada (Dec. 18). He played 10 minutes, posting four points, four rebounds and one assist.

Scouting the Bulldogs...
Gonzaga, off to a 10-3 start, ranks second in the WCC in field-goal percentage (48.7) and first in opponent field-goal percentage (38.6). The team's 3-point defensive field-goal percentage (26.5) is sixth nationally and its rebounding margin (+9.0 per game) is 22nd. The Bulldogs have five players scoring eight or more points per game led by Kyle Wiltjer (20.2), Domantas Sabonis (17.5) and Eric McClellan (9.9). Sabonis leads the league and ranks 13th nationally in rebounding (10.8 pg), and is first in the WCC and ninth in the NCAA in field-goal percentage (66.2).

The Gonzaga Series...
The series began in 1946 with Gonzaga leading, 54-31. The Bulldogs have won the last 10 meetings. Santa Clara's last win occurred on Jan. 20, 2011 when the Broncos downed the Bulldogs, 85-71, in Leavey Center.

Notables...
• The Broncos are playing on New Year's Eve for the second time in the last 45 years. Santa Clara lost at BYU, 87-74, on Dec. 31, 2014. Prior to that, the Broncos last played on Dec. 31, 1970, when they fell at No. 15 Notre Dame, 85-83, in overtime.
• Nate Kratch and KJ Feagin have been the team's most accurate shooters. Kratch has connected on 59.5 percent from the floor (fifth in the WCC), including 62.9 in the last seven games, scoring mostly in the paint, while Feagin has hit 48.5 percent of his field-goal attempts on a mix of drives and jump shots. Forward Jarvis Pugh has connected on 50 percent from the floor, though he missed seven games leading up to the Saint Mary's contest.
• Feagin has totaled 43 assists during the last seven games (6.1 pg), including a career-high nine vs. Saint Mary's (Dec. 21). His assist-to-turnover ratio in that span is 3.1-to-1.
• Brownridge and Kratch are the only players to start all 14 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. Kai Healy made his first start of the season (second of his career) vs. San Jose State (Dec. 5).
• The Broncos have used the same starting lineup the last six games - Kratch, Matt Hubbard, Jared Brownridge, Feagin and Healy.

By The Numbers…
2...Jared Brownridge (1,339) needs two more points to move from 20th to 19th on the school's career  scoring list. Jens Gordon (1,356 1985-89) is currently 19th.
6...The Broncos have used six different starting lineups this season.
8...Nate Kratch has eight rebounds in 10 of 14  games this season, including 12 vs. UC Riverside (Nov 19), 14 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 23), 12 vs. San Jose State and 18 vs. Pacific Union (Dec. 5)
34.2...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 410 games, with juniors Jared Brownridge (79) and Nate Kratch (79) accounting for 158.