Men's Basketball Faces San Francisco Saturday in WCC Home Opener

Ticket Information | Game Notes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's basketball will renew a longtime West Coast Conference rivalry on Saturday when San Francisco visits Leavey Center. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.

After posting their best victory of the season in downing Valparaiso (Dec. 22) on the road, the Broncos suffered an 89-59 defeat Thursday at BYU in the WCC opener. Senior forward Nate Kratch was the lone Santa Clara player in double figures with 12 points. Senior guard Jared Brownridge, the fifth-leading scorer in the WCC (18.4 ppg), posted his second-lowest point total of the season with eight points.

The Broncos have won three of their last five games, while USF has been victorious in four of its last five outings, including an 80-74 home triumph over San Diego in Thursday's league opener.

Brownridge, who earned WCC Player of the Week on Monday for his 30-point, five-assist performance in a thrilling 87-80 double-overtime win vs. Valpo, is second in the conference in 3-point field goals per game (3.3). Hauser, who served as the primary point guard with KJ Feagin absent due to injury, is averaging 10.9 points and a team-best 5.5 assists per game, which ranks No. 4 in the WCC. Hauser's assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.7-to-1 is first in the league and No. 11 in the country. Kratch is third on the team in scoring (10.3 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.3 pg). Junior forward Jarvis Pugh is fourth on the team in scoring (9.9 ppg) and second in rebounding (5.2 pg).

Quick Hits...
• Herb Sendek is in his first season as Santa Clara head coach after three successful stops leading Division I programs. Sendek, one of the three youngest coaches to reach 400 career victories, is in his 23rd season as a head coach. He compiled a 413-295 (.583) record, including 39 victories against top 25 teams, at Arizona State, North Carolina State and Miami (Ohio). Sendek was a coach of the year in the Pac-10, Atlantic Coast Conference and Mid-American Conference.
• Jared Brownridge, the second-leading scorer in school history, needs 27 points to become just the 11th player in West Coast Conference history to reach 2,000 in a career. Brownridge (1,973) needs seven points to reach Keith Smith of Loyola Marymount (1982-86/1,980) for 11th on the WCC all-time scoring list. Brownridge is also third among active leading scorers in NCAA Division I.
• KJ Feagin, the team's starting point guard and an All-WCC Freshman team pick last year, suited up for the first time this season in the Valparaiso game (Dec. 22). Feagin broke a bone in his foot in the preseason and missed the first 12 games. He played 22 minutes against Valpo, scoring five points and distributing four assists. He started in Thursday's BYU game, logging 25 minutes while scoring eight points and dishing out four assists. Sophomore guard Evan Wardlow (hamstring) has also been limited with injuries. Wardlow reinjured his hamstring in practice two weeks and is out indefinitely.
• Brownridge, Matt Hauser and Nate Kratch have started all 14 games. Brownridge and Hauser are averaging 36-plus minutes per game and Kratch nearly 32. Forward Jarvis Pugh started the first 11 games and is averaging 30.1 minutes per game, fourth on the team. Brownridge played 30 minutes against Northern Colorado (Nov. 19) due to foul trouble and a season-low 28 at BYU (Dec. 29), but has played at least 34 minutes in the other 12 contests. Hauser has played less than 34 minutes only one game. Brownridge (49), Kratch (48) and Hauser (46) nearly played the entire Valparaiso game (Dec. 22).

Trends...
• Senior guard Jared Brownridge has his 32-game double-figure scoring streak snapped when he was held to seven points in a 75-50 win over UC Riverside (Dec. 13). He also had only eight against BYU (Dec. 29). Brownridge has scored in double figures in 34 of the last 36 games, including 20 or more points in 19 ... Brownridge went 4-for-29 (13.8 percent) on 3-pointers in the opening four games but has been more himself by hitting 42 of 94 (44.7 percent) in the last 10 ... sophomore guard Matt Hauser has scored in double figures eight times this season (six of the last seven), including a career-high 18 vs. UC Riverside, all in the last 11 games. He scored in double figures four times in 2015-16. Over the last 11 games, Hauser is averaging 12.8 points and 5.9 assists with a 3.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio ... senior forward Nate Kratch rebounded from scoring a combined 10 points (4 of 19 FGs) in the previous two games by averaging 13.8 points and connecting on 30 of 58 FGs (51.7 percent) in the most recent five. Kratch is also averaging 11.7 rebounds in the last three games ... junior forward Jarvis Pugh has scored in double figures in five contests this season after reaching 10 points just twice in his previous 42 career games ... sophomore forward Henrik Jadersten has scored in double figures five times this season after only three occurrences in 2015-16 ... after not seeing action in the first seven games, junior center Emmanuel Ndumanya has played in the last seven. He assumed the starting center role in the Cal State East Bay game (Dec. 10). He has started the last five games, averaging 3.4 points and 6.2 rebounds.
• After shooting a season-low 28.3 percent from the field in a loss to San Jose State (Dec. 3), the Broncos connected on a 46.6 percent in the next four games, but were held to only 30.4 in Thursday's BYU game ... Santa Clara out-rebounded Washington State, 35-27, on Dec. 17 and posted its top rebounding outings of the season in the previous two games, grabbing 41 against both Cal State East Bay (Dec. 10) and UC Riverside (Dec. 13).
• Pugh made 8 of 9 free throws in the season opener vs. N. Arizona (Nov. 11). He made only eight (on 17 attempts) all of last season when he was relegated to 10 games due to injury. Pugh is shooting 78.4 percent at the line, third on the team behind Kai Healy (82.1) and Brownridge (79.7) ... after shooting only 45 free throws in the previous four games, the Broncos attempted 35 vs. Cal State East Bay (Dec. 10) and 21 against UC Riverside (Dec. 13), the highest two totals of the season.

Scouting San Francisco...
Head coach Kyle Smith has the San Francisco Dons off to an 11-3 start, including a 1-0 record in West Coast Conference play. The Dons hosted San Diego in the league opener Thursday and won 80-74. Senior guard Ronnie Boyce leads the team in scoring at 15.6 points per game. Freshman guard Charles Minlend (12.0 ppg) and junior forward Chase Foster (11.5 ppg) are the other two double-figure scorers. The Dons have attempted 357 three-pointers on the season, the most in the WCC. Their 10.6 3-pointers made per game is tops in the conference and a top-10 mark in the country. At 41.5 percent, Smith's squad boasts one of the best 3-point percentages in the nation.

The San Francisco Series...
The series began in 1908 with the Broncos holding a 112-106 lead. The 218 meetings are the most of any Santa Clara opponent. The Dons have captured five of the last six games, including the last three. USF has won five of the last seven games in Santa Clara.

Tickets: Click here to purchase tickets 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. Doors to Leavey Center, as well as its ticket office, are open one hour prior to the start of the first game.

TICKET SPECIAL: @DICKS Youth Days on Thurs. (@Santaclarawbb) & Sat. (@SantaClaraHoops) for @WCCsports home openers- https://t.co/l1Dot4LwWO pic.twitter.com/IOoEbNvs4F

— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) December 26, 2016

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 vs. San Francisco for the Broncos via 1590 AM in San Jose. 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). KLIV 1590 AM is the broadcast outlet for 25 Santa Clara games this season and a selected few will can be heard on KSCU 103.3 FM and KDOW 1220 AM.

Connect with the Broncos on Social Media

Athletics: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Men's Basketball: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Snapchat (SantaClaraHoops)