Men's Basketball Continues Stretch of Three Straight on the Road, Faces San Diego Thursday

Ticket Information | Game Notes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After winning two straight at home, Santa Clara men's basketball stumbled in Saturday's road game against LMU, falling 66-56. Sophomore guard KJ Feagin (21) and senior forward Nate Kratch (19) combined for 40 points, but the Broncos shot only 37 percent from the field, including 8-for-30 from behind the 3-point line. The Broncos (8-9, 2-2) never led in the second half, but were within one point on eight occasions despite only having eight scholarship players available. Sophomore guard Matt Hauser (concussion protocol) and junior forward Jarvis Pugh (foot) were injured in last week's 70-42 win over Portland and each missed his first game of the year.

Santa Clara continues a stretch of three straight away from home Thursday at San Diego (8-9, 1-3), which claimed its first league win Saturday, downing Pepperdine, 76-68. The game between the Broncos and Toreros will tip off at 7 p.m. from the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

The Broncos have won five of their last eight games, but have only one victory away from Leavey Center this season. Senior guard Jared Brownridge leads four Santa Clara players in double figures at 17.1 ppg, which ranks seventh in the league. Feagin is second on the team at 14.6 ppg, though he has played in only the last five games after missing 12 due to injury. Hauser, who served as the primary point guard when Feagin was out, is averaging 10.1 points (fourth on the team) and a team-best 5.3 assists per game, which ranks No. 5 in the WCC. Hauser's assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.7-to-1 is first in the league and No. 10 in the country. Kratch is third in scoring (10.8 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.6 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 (2,006), needs four points to crack the WCC's top 10 all-time list. Bo Kimble of LMU (1987-90) is currently 10th with 2,010. Brownridge scored eight in last week's 70-42 win over Portland to reach 2,000 career points. He became only the second Bronco and 11th player in conference history to hit that milestone. 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 year 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, and the workload and production have increased. Feagin has averaged 37 minutes and 20.0 points in the last three games. Sophomore guard Evan Wardlow (hamstring) has also been limited with injuries. Wardlow reinjured his hamstring in practice last month and is out indefinitely. Jarvis Pugh (foot) will be out of action an extended period and Matt Hauser (concussion protocol) will be re-evaluated this week.
• Santa Clara has the best turnover margin in the WCC (+2.4 per game) and the third-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3-to-1). Those factors have helped offset an offense scoring 67.3 points per game (No. 10 in the league). However, the Broncos are allowing just 65.1 ppg, which ranks third in the conference. Santa Clara is 8-2 this season when scoring 65 or more points. San Diego ranks seventh in the WCC in scoring (71.9 ppg) and ninth in points allowed (73.5 pg).

Trends...
• Guards Jared Brownridge and forward Nate Kratch are the only players to start all 17 games. Brownridge is averaging more than 37 minutes and Kratch 32-plus per game. Guard Matt Hauser is averaging nearly 35 per game, but did not play Saturday vs. LMU. He played just two minutes in Thursday's Portland game after leaving due to injury. 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 33 minutes in the other 15 contests. Hauser has played less than 34 minutes only twice. Brownridge (49), Kratch (48) and Hauser (46) nearly played the entire Valparaiso game (Dec. 22). Brownridge, Kratch and Kai Healy played all 40 minutes vs. LMU (Jan. 7) ... Brownridge had 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) and the same amount vs. Portland (Jan. 5). Brownridge has scored in double figures in 35 of the last 39 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 the last 13, hitting 48 of 116 (41.4 percent) ... Hauser has scored in double figures eight times this season (six of his last nine games), including a career-high 18 vs. UC Riverside. He scored in double figures four times in 2015-16 ... after reaching double figures in three of the first nine games, Kratch has scored at least 10 points in six of the last eight. He is averaging 13.5 points and connecting on 46 of 92 FGs (50.0 percent) in the last eight contests. Kratch is also averaging 10.0 rebounds in the last five games and missed a double-double by one carom vs. BYU (Dec. 29), USF (Dec. 31) and LMU (Jan. 7) ... after not seeing action in the first seven games, junior center Emmanuel Ndumanya has played in the last 10. He assumed the starting center role in the Cal State East Bay game (Dec. 10) and has been in the opening lineup the last eight games, averaging 4.1 points and 5.8 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
• Santa Clara has been trying to find some consistency shooting from the floor. The Broncos, who rank eighth in the WCC in FG percentage (42.4), have connected on 50 percent or more in three games and less than 40 percent six times. The team is 7-2 this season when connecting on at least 43 percent from the field and 6-2 when hitting 40 percent or higher from behind the 3-point line. Conversely, Santa Clara is just 3-8 when the opposition shoots 45-plus percent from the field ... Santa Clara averages 9.5 made 3-pointers per game (No. 3 in the WCC). The Broncos are 5-3 on the year when nailing 10 or more from beyond the 3-point line ... 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) ... the Broncos have the lowest rebounding margin in the WCC (-3.4 pg).
• 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 ... Santa Clara attempted just two free throws vs. Portland (Jan. 5). The Broncos have shot the fewest free throws (232) in the WCC. Saint Mary's is second with 234.

Scouting San Diego...
Head coach Lamont Smith, a former assistant coach at Santa Clara (2007-08), is in his second year at the helm of the Toreros program and has them off to an 8-8 (1-3 WCC) start. Senior forward Brett Bailey leads the team in scoring at 17.3 ppg and is the top rebounder at 6.8 rpg. Bailey has knocked down 87 free throws (108 attempts, 80.6 percent) on the year, a top-25 mark nationally and the No. 2 total in the WCC. Sophomore guard Olin Carter III is a prolific 3-point shooter, attempting 136 on the year, which is the 12th-highest total in the nation and the second-most in the league. He leads the league in 3-point fields goal made per game (3.19), the No. 25 mark in the country.  Assistant coach Sam Scholl is in his second year at San Diego. He spent the previous eight seasons in the same role at Santa Clara.

The San Diego Series...
The series began in 1953 and Santa Clara leads, 45-35. The series has been evenly matched in recent years. The Broncos won both meetings last season, but the teams split a pair of meetings in each of the previous two seasons. Santa Clara captured both meetings in 2012-13 and San Diego won the two the year before.

Radio/Live Stream: Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (color) will call the action vs. San Diego on KLIV AM-1590 in San Jose, California. All Broncos home games and West Coast Conference contests (not on an ESPN platform or televised by BYUtv) will also be streamed through TheW.tv (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air). KLIV AM-1590 is serving as the broadcast outlet for 25 Santa Clara games this season and a selected few can be heard on KSCU FM-103.3 and KDOW AM-1220.

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