Men's Basketball Goes on the Road, Plays USC Thursday

Pregame huddle.
Pregame huddle.

2017-18 Basketball TicketsGame Notes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After coming up just short in producing a 3-0 homestand, Santa Clara men's basketball will play only its second road game of the season on Thursday when it visits USC (4-3). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Galen Center.

• The Broncos (3-6) saw their two-game winning streak end behind the impressive shooting of Portland State, which overcame a 17-point second-half deficit by connecting on its last 16 field goal attempts in an 87-84 win on Saturday. Junior guard KJ Feagin tallied a season-high tying 24 points and junior guard Matt Hauser scored a career-high 22 for the Broncos who held a 38-24 rebounding edge and shot 51 percent from the floor, but committed 14 turnovers. Deontae North (career-high tying 30) and Holland Woods (career-high 26) combined for 56 points to lead the Vikings to their fourth-straight win.

• In the previous outing, Hauser scored a then career- and game-high 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting from behind the 3-point line and 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 (Nov. 30). The Broncos shot 48 percent from the floor, including 12-for-26 from beyond the 3-point line.

• 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. They open another three-game homestand on Monday against Valparaiso.

• Feagin leads the team and ranks second in the WCC in scoring (18.9 ppg) on 50.8 percent shooting from the field. Senior guard/forward Henry Caruso is second in scoring at 13.2 ppg and first with 7.3 rebounds per game, which ranks sixth in the league. Hauser has averaged 20.5 points over the last two games to boost his season mark to 11.4 ppg, third on the team. He also averages a team-high 3.9 assists per game, which is eighth in the WCC. Freshman forward Josip Vrankic is fourth on the squad in scoring (11.1 ppg) on 47.8 percent shooting from the field. He is also second in rebounding (5.4 pg).

• The Broncos have held on to the ball, registering just 12.0 turnovers per game and posting a +2.4 pg turnover margin (second in the WCC), as well as shooting the ball from the floor (47.5 percent) at a decent clip, but opponents are shooting 49.4 percent from the floor, including 44.2 on 3-pointers.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Tickets Click here
TV Pac-12 Networks
Video Pac-12 Networks
Audio KDOW-AM 1220
Live Stats TBA
Game Notes Santa Clara | USC

 

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 USC will be playing for the 31st time, including first since the 2010-11 season. The Trojans will play at Santa Clara next season.
• The Broncos are facing a team from the Pac-12 for the fourth-straight year.
• The Trojans were ranked in the top 25 until dropping their last three, including an 85-83 loss on Friday to Oklahoma. USC has three players averaging at least 14 points per game. Junior forward Chimezie Metu leads the team in both scoring (15.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.1 pg). Junior forward Bennie Boatwright (14.6 ppg/7.9 rpg) is second in both categories. Senior guard Jordan McLaughlin is scoring 14.4 ppg.

THE USC SERIES
The Trojans lead the all-time series 22-8, but the programs have met just once since 1983-84. USC defeated Santa Clara, 86-73, on Nov. 15, 2010, in Los Angeles. The Broncos have won only two of the 13 games played at USC. The programs met nearly annually from the 1950s into the 60s and then played a pair of home and away series (1971-72, 1973-74; 1982-83, 1983-84).

TRENDS
The Broncos have connected on 39 of 87 (44.8 percent) from beyond the 3-point line in the last three games after hitting only 24 of 76 (31.6 percent) in the previous four ... KJ Feagin has reached double figures in scoring in all nine games and Caruso in eight ... Henry Caruso, a 76-percent free-throw shooter at Princeton, has connected on a WCC-best 92.1 percent (35 of 38) from the line this season ... Josip Vrankic has started the last six games and scored in double figures the most recent five ... Caruso has connected on 14 of 24 (58.3 percent) field goal attempts during the last three games ... Matt Hauser, who has scored in double figures six times, has hit 13 of 18 (72.2 percent) of his 3-pointers in the last two games ... Vrankic averaged 19.0 minutes in the four games and 33.0 in the last five ... 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) ... the Broncos have used the same starting lineup - Feagin, Hauser, Caruso, Vrankic and Emmanuel Ndumanya - the last six 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 USC 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.

Connect with the Broncos on Social Media
• Athletics: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Snapchat
• Men's Basketball: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Snapchat