Men's Basketball Heads to Bracket Play in GCI Great Alaska Shootout

GCI Great Alaska Shootout Central | Game Notes | 2017-18 Basketball Tickets

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After finishing its season-opening three-game homestand on Saturday, Santa Clara men's basketball heads to Anchorage, Alaska, this week for the final three contests in the GCI Great Alaska Shootout.

The Broncos face Idaho (2-1) on Wednesday when bracket play kicks off in the eight-team tournament. Santa Clara (1-2) fell to Cal Poly, 63-59, on Saturday in preliminary-round action in the final edition of the longtime event. The Broncos will be making their third appearance in the tournament. Tipoff between the Broncos and Vandals is set for 6:30 p.m. Pacific.

Donovan Fields scored a career-high tying 23 points, including the game-winning basket with 11 seconds left, for Cal Poly, which ovecame 15 turnovers by shooting 47 percent from the floor, including 8-for-16 from beyond the 3-point line. Junior guard KJ Feagin scored 19 points and senior guard/forward Henry Caruso had a double-double (14 points/career-high 13 rebounds) for the Broncos who shot just 38 percent from the floor, including 2 of 9 from behind the 3-point line.

The Broncos split their first two games. They downed La Verne, 120-70, behind a balanced scoring attack with six players registering double digits, led by Feagin with 21 and freshman Shaquille Walters with 20, and shooting 62 percent as a team from the floor. Defending Mountain West Conference champion Nevada cruised past the Broncos, 93-63, by shooting 55 percent from the floor, including 15 of 30 from behind the 3-point line. Caruso scored a team-high 18 points and Feagin added 15 for the Broncos who shot just 39 percent from the floor.

Feagin leads the team in scoring (18.3 ppg) on 48.8 percent shooting from the field and Caruso is second at 15.3 ppg, on 48.5 percent from the floor, and leads in rebounding (8.7 pg). Junior guard Matt Hauser leads the team in assists (5.0 pg)senior center Emmanuel Ndumanya is second on the team in rebounding at 6.7 per game. The Broncos are plus-7.3 in turnover margin per game, but minus-3.0 in rebounding.

 

YEAR TWO UNDER SENDEK
The Broncos are in their 111th year of existence, including second under Herb Sendek, who has been successful in each of his three previous head-coaching stops. With a resume that includes 18 postseason appearances and three conference coach of the year awards, Sendek, was one of the three youngest coaches with 400 or more career victories He is in his 24th season as a collegiate head coach with stops at Arizona State, North Carolina State and Miami (Ohio).

QUICK HITS
• The Broncos are playing in a neutral site tournament for the fifth-straight season and seventh time in the last eight. The Broncos play just one true road game during nonconference play with a trip to USC set for Dec. 14.
• Idaho played in the 2017 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and was the preseason favorite to win the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals return their top seven scorers from a season ago.
• KJ Feagin, a 2016-17 all-league pick last season, was selected to the preseason All-WCC team. Last season when he missed 14 games, he was one of the most accurate shooters in the WCC. He shot a team-high 49.0 percent from behind the 3-point line, as well a team-best 87.9 percent on free throws. He also shot 49.0 percent from beyond the 3-point line in WCC games, which ranked second.
• In the first three games, the Broncos started three seniors in Jarvis Pugh, Henry Caruso and Emmanuel Ndumanya and a pair of juniors in Feagin and Matt Hauser.

THE IDAHO SERIES
The Broncos have won all three meetings with the Vandals. Santa Clara won 44-43 at Idaho on Dec. 30, 1946, The teams's didn't meet again until Jan. 4, 1984, when the Broncos defeated Idaho, 72-61, in Santa Clara. They also met the following season with Santa Clara winning 74-58 on Jan. 5, at Idaho.

NORTH TO ALASKA
Four of Santa Clara's 12 nonconference games are part of the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, the oldest regular-season college basketball tournament, though it's in its final season. The Broncos travel to Anchorage, Alaska, for a first-round tilt against Idaho on Wednesday. The winner advances to the semifinals to face either CSU Bakersfield or host Alaska-Anchorage on Friday. The consolation bracket begins on Thursday. Cal Poly, Central Michigan, College of Charleston and Sam Houston State are the remaining participants. All eight teams will play on Nov. 25, with the championship game set for 9 p.m. Pacific. Santa Clara will be making its third trip to the tournament, which began in 1978 and will end this year. The Broncos played during 1983-84 and 1991-92 seasons, and have a 3-2 all-time record.

RADIO/LIVE STREAM
Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (analyst) will call the action during the season on radio and through TheW.tv at home. 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). At least 22 games can be heard on KDOW AM-1220 or KTRB-AM 860 this season. The audio stream for the remaining games, including the Idaho contest, will be available through LiveStream.com. View the 2017-18 schedule for broadcast outlets.

TICKETS
Season tickets for the 2017-18 season remain on sale (pro-rated since the season started), but single-game and mini-plan options are also available. The Broncos will play 17 regular-season home games, including nine West Coast Conference tilts. Purchase options are available online or by contacting the Santa Clara ticket office weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. at (408) 554-4660 or BroncoTickets@scu.edu.

FAN EXPERIENCE PACKAGES
Group-ticket options and Fan Experience Packages are available through the Santa Clara ticket office, which is open weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Contact Jesse Moreno, one of our sales and service consultants, at (408) 554-4628 or jmoreno@scu.edu for further details.

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