Men’s Basketball Opens Regular Season With Cable Car Classic

Santa Clara Men's Basketball Ticket Information | Cable Car Classic Schedule | Game Notes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's basketball opens the regular season, the first under head coach Herb Sendek, at home with the 50th Annual Cable Car Classic, a three-day, six-game tournament.

The Broncos face Northern Arizona at 7 p.m. Friday in Leavey Center, a game preceded by UC Davis facing Tennessee State at 4:30 p.m.

The Broncos return their top eight scorers from a season ago, headlined by two-time first-team All-West Coast Conference guard Jared Brownridge, who is already the fifth-leading scorer in school history with 1,716 points.

KJ Feagin, a WCC All-Freshman team pick last season, will join Brownridge in the backcourt, though he is currently out of action indefintely due to injury. Feagin averaged 11.4 points and 3.8 assists per game in 2015-16. Forward Nate Kratch, a two-year starter, ranked fifth in the WCC in rebounding (7.9 pg) and was third on the team in scoring (8.8 ppg) in 2015-16.

VIDEO | Bronco Bites: @SantaClaraHoops Seniors Jared Brownridge/Nate Kratch #StampedeAhead #SCUBroncos https://t.co/qPUZsiGX6e pic.twitter.com/YppMAgezrB

— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) November 11, 2016

A number of other veterans also return in hopes of helping the program rebound from last year's 11-20 mark.

Junior guard Kai Healy started 22 of the team's 31 games, averaging 6.1 points. Junior forward Matt Hubbard, a 2014-15 WCC All-Freshman team selection, posted 6.1 points nearly three rebounds per contest last season. Guard Matt Hauser and forward Henrik Jadersten, both true freshmen last year, should provide an outside shooting threat. Hauser shot nearly 36 percent from behind the 3-point line and Jadersten was among the league leaders in that category until late last season.

Junior forward Jarvis Pugh, relegated to only 10 games last year due to injury, is expected to provide an athletic presence and rebounding. Sophomore guard Evan Wardlow was another player who suffered through injury last year. He led the team with a 2.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, but was limited to just seven games.

In addition to Feagin, Hubbard (ankle) and Wardlow (hamstring) missed Saturday's 83-65 exhibition victory against Life Pacific.

Quick Hits...
• Senior Jared Brownridge earned a spot on the preseason All-WCC team after averaging 20.6 points per game in 2015-16, which was first in the league and 21st nationally.
• Sophomore KJ Feagin broke a bone in his foot during preseason practice is out of action indefinitely.
• The transformation of Santa Clara Athletics hit another benchmark in early June when the process of replacing the playing surface in Leavey Center concluded. The court features a large stain painting of a photograph of Santa Clara University's iconic Mission Church. Tinker Hatfield, Nike's vice president for design and special projects, designed the floor, which is believed to be the first of its kind. No known playing surface incorporates an image of a campus building in its design.
• After 10 practice days beginning in late July, Santa Clara embarked on an Italy Exhibition Tour in late August. The Broncos played three games against Italian professional teams and were based in Rome, Florence and Lake Como during their 10-day stay.

Tickets: Season or single-game tickets, along with mini-plans, are available. Click here to purchase online or contact the ticket office weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at (408) 554-4660 or BroncoTickets@scu.edu. Group discounts are also available through our ticket office sales and service consultants. During the Cable Car Classic, there will be one entry each day to Leavey Center. Season ticket holders may gain entry to the other game with their Santa Clara ticket. A single-game Santa Clara ticket is good for entry to one or both contests each day. Doors to Leavey Center, as well as its ticket office, are open one hour prior to the start of the first game.

Parking: Parking is $10 in the main campus parking structure, which is located on Palm Drive through the main entrance. The Leavey Center parking lot, located on Accolti Way off El Camino Real, is reserved for season-ticket holders. Click here for a campus map and parking restrictions.

Radio/Live Stream: Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (color) will call the action for the Broncos on KLIV 1590 AM. The game can be heard over the air or online by clicking here. All Broncos home games and West Coast Conference contests (not on an ESPN platform) will also be streamed through TheW.tv (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air).

About the Cable Car Classic
In 1967, the Cable Car Classic was founded by Art Santo Domingo, a former public relations director of the San Francisco Giants, and his long-time friend, the late Harry Jupiter, a sports writer for the San Francisco Examiner. The tournament has historically played around the Christmas holiday, though three years ago held on Thanksgiving weekend.  

In 32 of the tournament's 49 years, the Classic has featured a team that received a bid to the NCAA Tournament just months later.  For 10 years it has featured multiple teams who would later advance. The 1995 Cable Car Classic proved to be one of the strongest fields with all four teams advancing to the 1996 NCAA Tournament in March. Penn State won the Cable Car Classic with Georgia Tech, Santa Clara and Bradley also making the postseason. Georgia Tech won the ACC that year as well.

Those participating in past Cable Car Classics read like a who's who in college basketball history. From the Santa Clara teams of the 1960's and '70's that featured the talents of Bud Ogden, Dennis Awtrey and Kurt Rambis and the USF squads, led by Kevin Restani, Winford Boynes and Bill Cartwright to traditional basketball powers such as Dean Smith's North Carolina Tar Heels featuring Michael Jordan and James Worthy and the Ralph Sampson-led Virginia Cavaliers, to the '90s with Stephen Marbury of Georgia Tech to this century's teams, including one of the Air Force Academy's best-ever teams in 2006.

NAU
(Head Coach Jack Murphy - Fifth Season)

The Lumberjacks, members of the Big Sky Conference, return four starters from their 2015-16 squad. Forward Ako Kaluna, one of three seniors on the roster, started 29 of 30 games last season and is NAU's top returning player after averaging 12.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The Lumberjacks also welcome back senior Jordyn Martin, who was sidelined due to injury just three games into last season. He averaged 12.8 points and 11.8 rebounds during 2014-15. Head coach Jack Murphy has a young squad, featuring just four upperclassmen. The Lumberjacks struggled to a 5-25 mark last season, but reached the 2016 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Championship game.

UC Davis
(Head Coach Jim Les - Fifth Season)

The Aggies return three of their top four scorers, including senior guard Darius Graham who earned All-Big West Conference accolades in 2015-16 after scoring 10.0 points and dishing out 2.7 assists per game. Senior guard Brynton Lamar is the top returning scorer on the squad. He poured in 10.2 points per game while shooting 40.8 percent from the 3-point line. The Aggies allowed just 66.0 points per game last year, the top mark in the conference. Head coach Jim Les will lead an experienced squad this year with five seniors and four juniors on the roster. The Aggies were 11-19 last year, including a 6-10 mark in the Big West, but registered 25 wins in 2015-16, earning a trip to the NIT.

Tennessee State
(Head Coach Dana Ford – Third Season)

The Tigers are coming off a 20-11 record in 2015-16, marking the program's third 20-win season at the Division I level. The 20 wins tied the program's single-season record for D-1 wins. Head coach Dana Ford brings back three starters from last year's team that earned a berth in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), including Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year Tahjere McCall. McCall, a preseason all-conference selection, set the school record in steals in 2015-16, recording 72 on the year for an average of 2.32 per game. The senior guard also scored 14.6 points and grabbed 5.1 rebounds per game.

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