Men’s Basketball Opens Regular Season Plagued with Injuries

KJ Feagin
KJ Feagin

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's basketball has been battling through injuries as it prepares to open the 2016-17 season, which begins Friday with the 50th Annual Cable Car Classic.

KJ Feagin, a 2015-16 All-West Coast Conference All-Freshman team member, broke a bone in his foot last month during preseason practice and is out of action indefinitely. Feagin played in all 31 games last season when he averaged 11.4 points and 3.8 assists per game.

He and Jared Brownridge, a two-time All-WCC player and the fifth-leading scorer in school history (1,716) heading into his final season, are expected to form one of the top backcourts on the West Coast.

Sophomore guard Evan Wardlow (hamstring) and junior forward Matt Hubbard (ankle) have also missed valuable preseason practice time, as well as Saturday's exhibition game vs. Life Pacific, due to injury.

Wardlow missed all but seven games last season with a wrist injury and then had knee surgery in the offseason. Hubbard had ankle surgery in the spring.

Feagin, Hubbard and Wardlow are among the 10 players returning who saw action for Santa Clara last season.  

Sendek, hired in March, and the Broncos are scheduled to play three games in the Cable Car Classic in Leavey Center. They face Northern Arizona at 7 p.m. Friday, UC Davis at 6 p.m. Saturday and Tennessee State at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.