Santa Clara-Pepperdine Game Notes | Single-Game Tickets
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Following a much-needed road win against San Diego, Santa Clara returns home for a pair of games this week, facing Pepperdine Thursday and LMU Saturday.
Nate Kratch scored 17 points and Jared Brownridge added 12 in Saturday's 65-53 victory against the Toreros. The Broncos shot 51 percent from the floor and had five players in double figures in claiming their first road win of the season. Pepperdine has won three in a row, all at home, including an impressive 67-64 triumph over a previously one-loss Saint Mary's squad.
SANTA CLARA (6-12, 2-4) vs. Pepperdine (10-6, 3-2)
Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016 • Leavey Center (4,700) • 7 p.m. PST
Live Stream: TheW.tv
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 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...
• After dropping their first seven games of the season, the Broncos, led by ninth-year head coach Kerry Keating, have gone 6-5 since Nov. 29. They 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 44.1 percent (37.7 on 3-pointers) in the last 13 contests.
• Jared Brownridge, in his third year as a starter, ranks third in the WCC and No. 35 nationally in the scoring (19.7 ppg). He is second on the team in assists (2.5 pg) and third in rebounding (career-high 3.7 pg). He is connecting on 83.3 percent of his free throws (third in the WCC) and his 95 makes from the charity stripe are tied for No. 14 in the NCAA this year. He also ranks 19th nationally on 3-point field goals (52). Brownridge is the only player in the nation to rank in the top 30 of both those categories. Junior forward Nate Kratch is second on the team in scoring (10.9 ppg) and leads in both rebounding (9.0 pg/third in the WCC) and field-goal percentage (58.2/fourth in the WCC).
• Despite playing just two-plus seasons, Brownridge already ranks third in school history with 240 career 3-pointers and 16th in scoring (1,431 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 (42.3) is tops in school history. After missing most of preseason practice Brownridge had an uneven start to the season, but has been heating up. He has scored in double figures each of the last nine games, averaging 22.4 points on 46.3 percent shooting from the floor, including 49.3 from behind the 3-point line.
• KJ Feagin has emerged lately as another scoring option and been a consistent distributor. The freshman guard has scored in double figures in six of the last 10 games and averaged 12.4 points per contest in that span. He has posted a career high in assists twice in WCC action (8 vs. Pacific, Dec. 21; 9 vs. Saint Mary's, Dec. 23) and tallied the second-highest point total of his career (25), including a career-best 13 FTs, vs. Portland (Jan. 2).
• Eight of Santa Clara's 12 losses have been by eight points or less, including six that were within three. 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 10 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 the last four. 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 in the last four games.
Team Trends...
• After connecting on 48.6 percent of their 3-point field goals in the previous five-game stretch, the Broncos have hit 30.2 percent in the last three. However, they have nailed 51.1 percent of their 2-point field goals in that span.
• Santa Clara has averaged 25 free-throw attempts in the last four games, including a season-best 37 vs. Portland (Jan. 2). The Broncos rank fourth in the WCC in free-throw percentage (71.1), but have connected on only 58.1 percent during the last two games.
• The opposition connected on 38.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc in the first five games, but has been held to 31.7 percent in the last 13 contests. In four of the last five games, the Broncos have held foes to 33 percent or less on 3-pointers.
Tidbits...
• Nate Kratch scored a team-high 17 points in Saturday's 65-53 win vs. San Diego, but the Broncos guards accounted for 46 of the remaining 48 points. Jared Brownridge (12), Kai Healy (11) and KJ Feagin (11) all scored in double figures. Matt Hauser scored all nine of his points in the second half, the fourth time in the last five games he has tallied at least that many. For Kratch, that was his first time in double figures in six games.
• With with three assists vs. San Diego (Jan. 9), Feagin moved from 11th to 10th on the school's all-time freshman list (70). He passed Brandon Clark, who had 68 assists in 2011-12.
• The Broncos posted eight steals against San Diego, their second-highest total of the season (nine vs. Boston College, Nov. 29).
• Since an 0-for-3 performance from the free-throw line at Pacific (Dec. 21), Feagin has connected on 21 of 22 free throws (95.5 percent). He has improved from 59.1 to 77.3 percent from the line in the last four games.
• The Portland game was the first time in school history two Bronco players made at least 13 free throws. Brownridge was 13-for-13 and Feagin 13 of 14. Brownridge is the fifth Santa Clara player on record to be perfect from the line in Leavey Center with at least 10 attempts. The last was Steve Nash who made all 21 of his attempts (a school record) vs. Saint Mary's on Jan. 7, 1995
• Brownridge has scored 20 or more points in six of the last nine games and eight 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).
• 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 last four games with the same ailment.
• Sophomore forward Matt Hubbard had scored in double figures four of five games leading up to the Saint Mary's contest where he injured an ankle and was relegated to five minutes. He played 17 minutes vs. Gonzaga (Dec. 31) and 12 against Portland (Jan. 2), but only scored a total of four points. Hubbard saw 26 minutes of action vs. BYU (Jan. 7), scoring six points, grabbing six rebounds and blocking two shots.
Scouting the Waves...
Pepperdine, 10-6 (3-2 WCC) on the season, has won its last three league games after dropping the first two on the road. Guard Lamond Murray Jr. and forward Stacy Davis have led the offensive attack. Murray Jr. is averaging a team-high 14.6 points per game and Davis checks in at 14.2 and is averaging a team-best 8.8 rebounds per contest. Jett Raines is averaging 11.6 ppg and fueled Saturday's 67-64 upset victory against Saint Mary's with a game-high 24 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the floor. The Waves defend the 3-point line, but don't connect on many of their own. They are second in the league in 3-point defense (30.8 percent) and average a WCC-low 5.1 made 3-pointers per game. Pepperdine averages the second-fewest turnovers in the WCC (11.4 pg).
The Pepperdine Series...
The series began in 1956 with the Broncos holding a 72-58 lead, though the teams have split the eight games during the last four seasons. However, Santa Clara has won eight of the last 10 at home.
Notables...
• Nate Kratch and KJ Feagin have been the team's most accurate shooters. Kratch has connected on 58.2 percent from the floor (fourth in the WCC), scoring mostly in the paint, while Feagin has hit 45.9 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 11 games with a knee injury.
• In six conference games, three players - Kai Healy (47.1/8 of 17), Jared Brownridge (46.7/21 of 45) and Henrik Jadersten (45.5/5 of 11) - have each hit at better than a 40-percent clip on 3-pointers.
• Feagin has totaled 56 assists during the last 11 games (5.1 pg), including a career-high nine vs. Saint Mary's (Dec. 21). His assist-to-turnover ratio in that span is 2.4-to-1.
• Brownridge and Kratch are the only players to start all 18 games. Emmanuel Ndumanya made his first career start in the Gonzaga game (Dec. 31) and was also in the starting lineup the last three games. His 24 minutes played vs. Gonzaga 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 Hubbard who injured an ankle in the previous game vs. Saint Mary's. Hubbard, who started the previous eight games, has played as a reserve in the last four outings.
By The Numbers…
1...Jared Brownridge is the only player in the NCAA to rank in the top 30 in both made free throws (t-14th at 95) and 3-pointers (19th at 52) this season.
6...Jared Brownridge (1,431) needs six more points to move from 16th to 15th on the school's career scoring list. Bud Ogden (1,437/1965-69) is currently 15th.
7...The Broncos have used seven different starting lineups this season.
8...Nate Kratch has eight rebounds in 12 of 17 games this season, including 12 vs. UC Riverside (Nov 19), 14 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 23), 12 vs. San Jose State, 18 vs. Pacific Union (Dec. 5) and 14 vs. Portland (Jan. 2).
36.6...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 448 games, with juniors Jared Brownridge (83) and Nate Kratch (83) accounting for 166.