Santa Clara-Portland Game Notes | Single-Game Tickets

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After a break for Christmas, Santa Clara closes a three-game homestand, including two contests in three days, Saturday when the Portland Pilots visit for a West Coast Conference tilt.

The Broncos suffered another tough loss on New Year's Eve, falling 79-77 to No. NR/24 Gonzaga in a game tied 12 times with 11 lead changes. Junior guard Jared Browridge led the way with game-high tying 26 points as the Broncos had their second-highest point total of the season, but freshman guard Josh Perkins produced a career-high 26 points and All-America candidate Kyle Wiltjer tallied 20 for Gonzaga, which won its fifth straight.

The Pilots come in with the No. 3 scoring offense in the league (79.7 ppg) and the second-best 3-point shooting percentage (38.8). They have made third-most 3-pointers (162) in the nation.

SANTA CLARA (4-11, 0-3) vs. Portland (8-8, 2-1)

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016 • Leavey Center (4,700) • 1 p.m. PST

TV: - CSN Bay Area, TWC SportsNet, ROOT Northwest/Rocky Mountain - Barry Tompkins (play-by-play) and Casey Jacobsen (analyst). This will be the WCC Game of Week with a pregame show airing at 12:30 p.m. Look for a feature on Broncos forward Nate Kratch during the pregame show.

Live Stream: TheW.tv (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, have been improving offensively, especially behind the 3-point line. After connecting on 34.1 percent from the field, including 25.1 on 3-pointers, in the first five games, the Broncos are hitting 44.6 percent (40.0 on 3-pointers) in the last 10 contests. During the three WCC games, Santa Clara has the second-best 3-point field-goal percentage (49.3). Only Gonzaga (55.4) has hit at a higher rate.
• Jared Brownridge, a two-year starter, ranks first in the WCC and No. 26 nationally in the scoring (20.3 ppg). He is second on the team in assists (2.7 pg) and third in rebounding (career-high 3.7 pg). He is connecting on 82.1 percent of his free throws (fourth in the WCC) and his 78 makes from the charity stripe are No. 11 in the NCAA this year. Junior forward Nate Kratch is second in scoring (11.3 ppg) and leads the team in both rebounding (8.9 pg/third in the WCC) and field-goal percentage (59.1/fourth in the WCC).
• Despite playing just two-plus seasons, Brownridge already ranks third in school history with 234 career 3-pointers and tied for 18th in scoring (1,380 points). In addition, his career scoring average (17.3 ppg) ranks No. 6 on the Broncos all-time chart and his career 3-point field-goal percentage (42.7) 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 six games, he has averaged 25.2 points on 48.0 percent shooting from the floor, including 55.6 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 four of the last seven games and averaged 11.3 points per contest in that span. He has posted a career high in assists in two of the last three games (8 vs. Pacific, Dec. 21; 9 vs. Saint Mary's, Dec. 23).  
• Eight of Santa Clara's 11 losses have been by eight points or less, including six that were within three points. The Broncos have lost three times in overtime.
• The Broncos have two players on the shelf and three others battling injury. Sophomore guard Evan Wardlow (broken right wrist) missed the last seven 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), but sat out vs. Gonzaga (Dec. 31). 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, but did play 17 minutes vs. Gonzaga.

Team Trends...
• During the last five games, the Broncos have connected on 48.6 percent of their 3-point field goal attempts (54 of 111).
• The Broncos have turned the ball over only a combined 15 times in the last two games, though the opposition has only posted a total of 20.
• Santa Clara went to the free-throw line 20 times against Gonzaga (Dec. 31), the sixth time they have reached that mark this season. The Broncos went to the line a total of 25 times in the previous three games. They rank fourth in the WCC in free-throw percentage (71.1).
• The opposition connected on 38.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc in the first five games, but has been held to 31.3 percent in the last 10 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 on Dec. 23 and Gonzaga connected on 42 percent last game.

Tidbits...
• With 26 points vs. Gonzaga (Dec. 31), Jared Brownridge (26 points) moved from 20th place to a tie for 18th on the school's all-time scoring list. Brownridge now has 1,380 in his career. He passed Jens Gordon (1,356/1985-89) and is now tied with Travis Niesen (2002-06).
• With a career-high eight 3-pointers vs. Pacific (Dec. 21), 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 234 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 eight games, Nate Kratch is averaging 14.8 points,  has hit 46 of 74 field goals (62.2 percent) and 29 of his 74 rebounds (39.2 percent) have been at the offensive end. He ranked first in the WCC in offensive rebounds (3.4 pg).
• Brownridge has scored 20 or more points in five of the last six games and seven times on the season. 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). He was only 1 of 5 on 3-pointers vs. Saint Mary's (Dec. 23), but rebounded to hit 6 of 9 vs. Gonzaga.
• KJ Feagin is averaging 4.0 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. However, he had to sit out the following game vs. Gonzaga.
• Sophomore forward Matt Hubbard has scored in double figures four times this season, including three of the last seven games. He was limited to a total of 22 minutes the last two games due to an ankle injury, scoring just two points.
• 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...
Portland, 8-8 on the season, had its three-game winning streak snapped Thursday when San Francisco downed the Pilots, 107-95. Portland, which has played a WCC-high 16 games, possesses one of the more potent offenses in the league. The Pilots have scored more than 80 points in five of the last six games and average 79.7 per game, third in the league behind BYU (83.0) and Saint Mary's (80.1). Junior guard Alec Wintering leads the team in scoring (17.1 ppg) and assists (5.8 pg). Those marks both rank fifth in the WCC. He is also second in the league in steals (1.8 pg). Senior guard Bryce Pressley is second on the team in scoring (13.3 ppg) and is first in rebounding (5.4 pg).

The Portland Series...
The series began in 1946 with Santa Clara leading, 58-33. The Pilots have won the last three meetings and the Broncos captured the previous three.

Notables...
• The Broncos faced Gonzaga on Dec. 31, marking just the second time in the last 45 years they played on New Year's Eve. 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 59.1 percent from the floor (fourth in the WCC), including 62.2 in the last eight games, scoring mostly in the paint, while Feagin has hit 48.6 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 has missed eight games with a knee injury.
• Feagin has totaled 46 assists during the last eight games (5.8 pg), including a career-high nine vs. Saint Mary's (Dec. 21). His assist-to-turnover ratio in that span is 2.9-to-1.
• Brownridge and Kratch are the only players to start all 15 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). Emmanuel Ndumanya made his first career start in the Gonzaga game (Dec. 31). His 24 minutes played were one shy of his career high (25 vs. Portland, Feb. 7, 2015).
• Until the Gonzaga game, the Broncos used the same starting lineup - Kratch, Matt Hubbard, Jared Brownridge, Feagin and Healy - for six straight outings. Ndumanya was in the starting lineup vs. the Bulldogs replacing Matt Hubbard who injured an ankle in the previous game vs. Saint Mary's. Hubbard, who started the previous eight games, was able to play 17 minutes, but did not enter the scoring column.

By The Numbers…
7...The Broncos have used seven different starting lineups this season.
8...Nate Kratch has eight rebounds in 10 of 15  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)
13...Jared Brownridge (1,380) needs 13 more points to move from a tie for 18th to 17th on the school's career scoring list. Mike Gervasoni (1,393/1964-67) is currently 17th and Nick Vanos (1,399/1981-85) is only six points ahead of him in 16th place.
35.0...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 420 games, with juniors Jared Brownridge (80) and Nate Kratch (80) accounting for 160.
46...Jared Brownridge's 46 made 3-pointers this year rank No. 12 in the NCAA.