Men's Basketball Continues Three-Game Homestand Saturday Against San Diego

Men's Basketball Continues Three-Game Homestand Saturday Against San Diego

Ticket Information | Game Promotions | Game Notes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's basketball continues its three-game homestand Saturday when San Diego visits Leavey Center. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.

On Thursday, the Broncos (15-13, 9-6) registered their most lopsided victory ever in a West Coast Conference tilt. Senior forward Nate Kratch erupted for a career-high 32 points, sophomore guard KJ Feagin tallied 18 and senior guard Jared Brownridge recorded his first-career double-double (12 points/10 assists) to lead Santa Clara to a 106-55 win against Pepperdine, which had won three straight.

Santa Clara moved into sole possession of fourth in the West Coast Conference standings, one game behind third-place BYU (19-9, 10-5).

Along with Santa Clara, San Diego (11-16, 4-11) is one of the more improved teams in the WCC, though the Toreros have dropped seven of their last eight, including an 82-70 loss at BYU on Thursday.

Brownridge leads Santa Clara and ranks third in the WCC in scoring (18.2 ppg). He is first in the WCC and 10th nationally averaging 3.4 3-point field goals per game. Feagin is second on the team in scoring at 14.6 ppg, though he has only played in the last 16 contests after missing the first 12 due to injury. Feagin is averaging 15.3 points (seventh in the WCC) and 4.5 assists per game (fifth) in league games. Only Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss (18.1/4.5) is averaging at least 15 points and producing 4.0 or more assists in WCC games. Sophomore guard Matt Hauser is averaging 9.8 points and 5.3 assists per game, third overall in the WCC. Hauser's assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.5-to-1 is first in the league and No. 7 in the country. Senior forward Nate Kratch is averaging 10.7 ppg and a team-high 6.7 rebounds pg (No. 7 in the WCC).

 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Tickets

Click here
Promotions Click here
TV Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, Spectrum SportsNet, ROOT NW/RM
Video Stream
TheW.tv (out of regions)
Audio KLIV AM-1590 in Santa Clara
Live Stats StatBroadcast.com
Game Notes Santa Clara | San Diego
 

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. Sendek is 4-1 in his meetings with the three other new head coaches in the WCC.
• Santa Clara, which has had seven players miss time due to injury, has already eclipsed its win total (11) from last season and posted the best turnaround in the West Coast Conference. The Broncos have posted a 5.5 game improvement so far this season compared to 2015-16 when they were 11-20. San Francisco is second (18-10) at 4.5 games (15-15 in 2015-16) and San Diego (11-16) third at 3.5 (9-21 in 2015-16)
• In Saturday's game vs. Pacific, Jared Brownridge, the second-leading scorer in school history (2,225), moved to fourth on the WCC all-time scoring list, passing LMU's Terrell Lowery (2,201/1988-92). Brownridge needed 14 points to equal Lowery entering the game and passed him on a 3-pointer with 17:23 left in the second half. Brownridge (1,244) is also the all-time scoring leader in WCC games. He passed Hank Gathers of LMU (1,190/1987-90) vs. Gonzaga (Feb. 4). In the win over Portland (Jan. 5), Brownridge became only the second Bronco and 11th player in conference history to reach 2,000 career points. Brownridge is also third among active leading scorers in NCAA Division I.

Smith to Be Honored Saturday…
Santa Clara women's soccer head coach Jerry Smith will be the 2017 Bronco Legend at this year's Pasta Feed. The event will take place on Saturday before the game vs. San Diego. Smith has been the head coach of the women's soccer team at Santa Clara for 30 years. Although he is most known for the development of his players and teams, Smith also produces success and is the winningest women's soccer coach in Santa Clara history, having compiled a record of 424-132-52 (.740) -- ranked top-5 in NCAA Division I history.

Making Strides...
The 4-2 start by the Broncos in WCC play was the best since 2010-11 (opened 6-2); the 6-3 record after nine games the best since 2012-13 (also 6-3); the 7-4 mark was the best since 2006-07  (9-2); the current .600 winning percentage (9-6) is tied for the best mark in the last 10 years (also 9-6 in 2012-13) … Santa Clara's 76-68 win over BYU (Jan. 26) snapped a 14-game losing streak in the series, including all 13 in WCC action ... Santa Clara won three straight WCC road games (San Diego, Jan. 12; Pepperdine, Jan. 14; Portland, Feb. 2) for the first time since 2012-13 when it beat San Francisco (Jan. 17), Pepperdine (Jan. 19) and San Diego (Jan. 26)… this year's wins vs. San Diego and Pepperdine also marked the first victories in back-to-back road games overall and in WCC play in almost four years (San Francisco, Jan. 17, 2013; Pepperdine, Jan. 19, 2013).

Record-Breaking Win Against Pepperdine...
The Broncos are coming off one of their most impressive wins in school history, downing Pepperdine, 106-55, on Thursday in Leavey Center. The Waves were never closer than 36 points in the second half and Santa Clara led by 53 twice.
• Santa Clara's 22 3-point field goals set a new school record, matched the WCC mark (22 by Gonzaga vs. San Francisco, Feb. 23, 1995) and tied for the 12th-most in NCAA history. The previous school record of 16 was set on Dec. 21, 2015 at Pacific.
• The 51-point margin of victory is tied for the fifth-largest in school history and eclipses the record against a WCC team by seven. Santa Clara downed Saint Mary's, 113-69, on Feb. 10, 1979.
• The Broncos' point total was the most since a 111-55 victory against Chico State on Nov. 27, 1993. Santa Clara, which shot a season-best 64 percent from the floor, eclipsed 100 points against a Division I opponent for the first time since a 101-86 triumph against Pepperdine on Jan. 21, 2008. The Broncos last cleared the century mark with a 106-66 victory against Division II Simpson College on Nov. 10, 2013.
• Santa Clara was just 12 shy of its season scoring average for a game (65.6) with a 54-point outburst in the first half.
• The Broncos average 14.0 assists per game. They eclipsed that in the first half (17) and had 32 in the game on 39 field goals. The assist total is second-most in school history (35 vs. Loyola Marymount, Jan. 31, 1975).

Sharing the Basketball...
Santa Clara has two of the top assist producers in the WCC with Matt Hauser ranking third at 5.3 per game and KJ Feagin is averaging 4.5 per contest, though he's only played 16 games and out of official rankings. The Broncos average 14.6 assists pg, which is fifth in the league, but they are among the best in the conference based on assists per made field goals. The Broncos are second overall in the WCC in assist percentage (61.4) and first in league games (64.4)

Hanging on To The Basketball...
Santa Clara has the third-best turnover margin in the WCC at plus-1.8 per game, trailing Gonzaga (+1.9) and LMU (+1.8), and the third-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4-to-1). The Broncos average just 10.5 turnovers per game (tied for 15th in the country). Those factors have helped offset an offense scoring 67.0 points per game (No. 7 in the league). However, the Broncos are allowing just 64.8 ppg, which ranks third in the conference. Santa Clara is 11-2 this season when scoring 65 or more points.

Scouting San Diego...
Head coach Lamont Smith, a former assistant coach at Santa Clara (2007-08), is in his second year at San Diego, which is 11-16 (4-11 WCC) after dropping seven of its last eight games. Senior forward Brett Bailey leads the team in scoring at 16.1 ppg and is the top rebounder at 7.1 pg. Bailey has knocked down 132 free throws (171 attempts, 77.2 percent) on the year, the No. 32 mark nationally. Sophomore guard Olin Carter III is a prolific 3-point shooter, attempting 212 on the year, which is the 20th-highest total in the nation and No. 2 in the league. He is second in the league in 3-point fields goal made per game (3.08), the No. 28 mark in the country. Assistant coach Sam Scholl is in his second year at San Diego. He spent the prior eight seasons in the same role at Santa Clara.

The San Diego Series...
The series began in 1953 and Santa Clara leads, 46-35, following a 59-57 win in San Diego on Jan. 12. 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.

Injury Bug...
So far this season, seven Santa Clara players have missed time due to injury for a total of 59 man-games
Evan Crawford (8): suffered an abdominal injury prior to Gonzaga (Jan. 19) and has missed the last five games
KJ Feagin (12): suffered a broken bone in his right foot during the third preseason practice and missed the first 12 games of the year
Matt Hauser (3): suffered a concussion in the opening minutes of the Portland game (Jan. 5) and missed the following contest at LMU (Jan. 7); did not play vs. Saint Mary's (Jan. 28) due to the flu
• Matt Hubbard (4): had reconstructive ankle surgery in the spring; missed four games before deciding to leave program following the Washington State contest (Dec. 17)
Tony Lewis (7): suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and will not return to action this season; has missed the last four games
Jarvis Pugh (12) - suffered a stress reaction in his left foot against Portland (Jan. 5) and has missed the last nine games
Evan Wardlow (13): had microfracture knee surgery in the spring and was not cleared to play until the fourth game of the season; missed the UC Irvine contest (Nov. 20); out of action for seven games due to a hamstring injury, returning vs. San Diego (Jan. 12); suffered a stress reaction in his left foot leading up to the San Francisco game (Feb. 9) and missed that contest as well as against Pacific (Feb. 11).

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, will be open 60 minutes prior to the start of the 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. San Diego on KLIV AM-1590 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 AM-1590 is the broadcast outlet for 25 Santa Clara games this season and a selected few will can be heard on KSCU FM-103.3 and KDOW AM-1220.

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