Men's Basketball Closes Out Two-Game WCC Homestand Thursday vs. Portland

Men's Basketball Closes Out Two-Game WCC Homestand Thursday vs. Portland

Ticket Information | Game Notes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After equaling its West Coast Conference record with Saturday's 72-58 win over San Francisco, Santa Clara men's basketball, which has won four of its last six contests, welcomes Portland, one of four league teams with a 2-0 record, to finish up a brief two-game homestand. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Thursday in Leavey Center

Senior Jared Brownridge and sophomore KJ Feagin delivered for the Broncos against USF, which was off to its best start in 17 years. Feagin posted 22 points and seven rebounds, and Brownridge scored 20 in a game the Broncos led from start to finish, though had to hold off a Dons' second-half rally. The Pilots, one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the nation, won both of their WCC games last week, downing Pacific Thursday on the road and knocking off Pepperdine Saturday at home.

Portland guard Alec Wintering leads the WCC in scoring at 21.9 ppg, while Brownridge is fifth with 18.5 ppg. Hauser, who served as the primary point guard with KJ Feagin absent due to injury, is averaging 10.8 points and a team-best 5.6 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. Feagin is averaging 11.7 ppg, though has only seen action in three contests. Senior forward Nate Kratch is fourth on the team in scoring (10.3 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.4 pg). Junior forward Jarvis Pugh is fifth on the team in scoring (9.3 ppg) and second in rebounding (5.2 pg).


GAMDEDAY INFORMATION

Tickets

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TV None
Video Stream
TheW.tv
Audio KLIV AM-1590 in San Jose
Live Stats StatBroadcast.com
Game Notes Santa Clara | Portland

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 seven points to become just the 11th player in West Coast Conference history to reach 2,000 in a career. Brownridge (1,993) can also crack the WCC's top 10 all-time scoring list with 17 points. Bo Kimble of LMU (1987-90) is currently 10th with 2,010. Brownridge is also fourth 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 the next two games, logging 25 minutes while scoring eight points and dishing out four assists against BYU (Dec. 29), and scoring 22 points in 36 minutes vs. USF on Saturday. Sophomore guard Evan Wardlow (hamstring) has also been limited with injuries. Wardlow reinjured his hamstring in practice two weeks and is out indefinitely.
• Santa Clara has the best turnover margin in the WCC (+2.0 per game) and the fourth-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3-to-1). Those factors have helped offset an offense scoring 67.0 points per game (No. 10 in the league). However, the Broncos are allowing just 66.6 ppg, which ranks fourth in the conference. Santa Clara is 7-2 this season when scoring 65 or more points. Portland ranks third in the WCC in scoring 77.6 ppg and shooting 40.1 percent on 3 pointers (No. 2 in the WCC/No. 23 in the nation).

Trends...
• Guards Jared Brownridge and Matt Hauser, and forward Nate Kratch have started all 15 games. Brownridge and Hauser are averaging 37-plus minutes per game and Kratch nearly 32. 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 13 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) ... 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 35 of the last 37 games, including 20 or more points in 20 ... Brownridge went 4-for-29 (13.8 percent) on 3-pointers in the opening four games but has been more himself by hitting 45 of 102 (44.1 percent) in the last 11 ... Hauser has scored in double figures eight times this season (six of the last eight games), including a career-high 18 vs. UC Riverside, all in the last 12 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 ... after reaching double figures in three of the first nine games, Kratch has scored at least 10 points in five of the last six contests. He is averaging 13.3 points and connecting on 34 of 70 FGs (48.6 percent) in the last six games. Kratch is also averaging 11.0 rebounds in the last four games and missed a double-double by one carom in the last two contests ... after not seeing action in the first seven games, junior center Emmanuel Ndumanya has played in the last eight. He assumed the starting center role in the Cal State East Bay game (Dec. 10) and has been in the opening lineup the last six games, averaging 3.3 points and 6.2 rebounds ... 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

Scouting Portland...
Head coach Terry Porter has the Portland Pilots off to a 9-5 start. The Pilots are entering the matchup with the Broncos on a two-game winning streak, defeating conference foes Pacific and Pepperdine last week. Senior guard Alec Wintering, the reigning WCC Player of the Week, averages 21.9 points per game on the year, the No. 18 mark in the nation and tops in the conference. Wintering is also ranked 16th nationally and first in the conference in assists per game at 6.2. Sophomore guard Jazz Johnson is second on the team in scoring, pouring in 17.6 points per game. The Pilots connect on 8.5 three pointers per game and shoot 40.1 percent from beyond the arc, the 23rd-best percentage in the country.

The Portland Series...
The series began in 1946 and Santa Clara leads, 59-33. The Broncos won both contests last season to snap a three-game series winning streak for the Pilots. The Pilots have won two of the last three meetings 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.

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. Portland via 1590 AM in San Jose and TheW.tv. 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.

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