Men's Basketball Caps Homestand Saturday, Faces Portland State

2017-18 Basketball Tickets | Game Notes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball will look to post a perfect record on its three-game homestand when it faces Portland State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Leavey Center on Alumni Night.

The Broncos (3-5) have won their last two behind strong long-range shooting and the Vikings (7-2) have been victorious in their last three, including a 94-85 road triumph against LMU on Wednesday. Portland State comes in ranked eighth in the NCAA in scoring (91.3 ppg) and first in steals (13.1 pg).

Junior guard Matt Hauser scored a career- and game-high 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting from behind the 3-point line and junior guard KJ Feagin added 19 to lead four players in double figures for Santa Clara, which held off a late rally to post a 72-57 victory over University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff on Saturday. The Broncos shot 48 percent from the floor, including 12-for-26 from beyond the 3-point line.

Two days earlier, Feagin posted a game-high 16 points, all in the first half, and senior guard/forward Henry Caruso scored 13 to lead a balanced offensive attack for the Broncos who bounced back from a tough trip to Alaska by building an early lead and cruising past Northern Arizona, 89-57. Santa Clara, which had dropped its last five, including all three games in Anchorage at the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, found its shooting touch against the Lumberjacks, connecting at a 54-percent clip from the floor, including producing the second-most 3-pointers in school history. The Broncos went 17-for-35 from behind the 3-point line, trailing only the school-record 22 posted in last season's 106-55 victory over Pepperdine (Feb. 16).

The Broncos will enjoy some home cooking through the end of the year as they are in a stretch of six of seven games in Leavey Center.

Feagin leads the team and ranks second in the WCC in scoring (18.3 ppg) on 52 percent shooting from the field. Senior guard/forward Henry Caruso is second in scoring at 12.9 ppg and first with 7.1 rebounds per game, which ranks fifth in the league. Freshman forward Josip Vrankic is third on the squad in scoring (11.0 ppg) on 48 percent shooting from the field. Junior guard Matt Hauser is averaging 10.1 ppg and a team-high 3.9 assists per game.

The Broncos have held on to the ball, registering just 11.8 turnovers per game and a WCC-best +3.9 turnover margin, as well as shooting the ball from the floor (47.0 percent) at a decent clip, but opponents are shooting 45.2 percent behind the 3-point line and own a 3.0 rebounding margin per game.

ALUMNI NIGHT
Saturday's game will serve as Alumni Night with a special ticket offer. Santa Clara University alumni (graduated between 2008-17) may relive their undergraduate time by sitting in the student section, now named 'The Rodeo.' Tickets are $15 in sections 104-107 and those patrons will receive a 'Get Rowdy in the Rodeo' t-shirt (first 100 patrons to enter 'The Rodeo') and a $10 concessions voucher. Click here (enter promo code 'RRAlumni' after selecting seats in sections 104-107) to purchase online or contact the ticket office at (408) 554-4660 or BroncoTickets@scu.edu.

 

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
• Santa Clara and Portland State, which plays in the Big Sky Conference, are playing for the second time. The Vikings defeated the Broncos, 76-63, on Dec. 18, 2001, at the Stanford Invitational.
• The Broncos are facing their third Big Sky opponent of the year. They fell to preseason favorite Idaho, 69-59, on Nov. 22, and downed Northern Arizona, 89-57, on Nov. 30.
• Portland State is coached by Barret Peery, who spent last season as Santa Clara's associate head coach. He also served as an assistant for Herb Sendek at Arizona State (2014-15). Peery is one of 12 former Sendek staffers serving as a Division I head coach. 
• The Vikings have had some impressive performances so far this season, leading No. 1 Duke at halftime before falling 99-81, losing to Butler, 71-69, and knocking off Stanford, 87-78.

LONG-RANGE ACCURACY
Coach Herb Sendek has given the team the freedom to take the open shots regardless of the location on the floor. Last season, Santa Clara connected on a WCC-best 9.4 3-pointers per game and this year they are nailing 9.0 pg after posting a season-best 17 (of 35 attempts) vs. Northern Arizona (Nov. 30) and 12 (of 26) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Dec. 2). That total vs. NAU was second-best in school history, trailing only the 22 (tied for first in WCC history) against Pepperdine in a 106-55 victory on Feb. 16, 2017. In a little more than one season, the Broncos have posted six of the top 13 single-game 3-pointer totals in school history. They had 14 last season against Northern Colorado (Nov. 19), Portland (Jan. 7), BYU (Jan. 26) and Pacific (Feb. 23).

TRENDS
• The Broncos have connected on 29 of 61 (47.5 percent) from beyond the 3-point line in the last two games after hitting only 24 of 76 (31.6 percent) in the previous four ... KJ Feagin has reached double figures in scoring in all eight games and Caruso in seven ... Feagin has connected on 12 of 20 (60 percent) from behind the 3-point line in the last three games ... Henry Caruso, a 76-percent free-throw shooter at Princeton, has connected on a WCC-best 91.2 percent (31 of 34) from the line this season ... Josip Vrankic has started the last five games and scored in double figures the last four ... Vrankic (7) and Caruso (6) have accounted for 13 of the team's 21 steals the last two games ... Caruso played all but 1 minute, 34 seconds in a three-game stretch (Cal Poly on Nov. 18, through Alaska-Anchorage, Nov. 23). He was subbed out for 17 seconds in the second half of the Idaho contest (Nov. 22) and for 1:17 in the first half vs. Alaska-Anchorage (Nov. 23) ... Matt Hauser has scored in double figures in five games ... Josip Vrankic averaged 17.7 minutes in the first three games and 30.2 in the last five ... the Broncos have used the same starting lineup - Feagin, Hauser, Caruso, Vrankic and Emmanuel Ndumanya - the last five games.

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). There will be 22 games, including the Portland State matchup, on KDOW AM-1220 or KTRB-AM 860 this season. View the 2017-18 schedule for broadcast outlets.

TICKETS
Single-game and mini-plan options are 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. Doors to Leavey Center will be open 60 minutes prior to the start of the game.

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.

PARKING
Parking is $10 in the main campus parking structure, which is located on Palm Drive through the main entrance (500 El Camino Drive). 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.

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