Men’s Basketball Continues WCC Play Thursday, Heads to LMU

Single-Game Tickets | WCC Ticket Mini-Plans | Game Notes | AUDIO: Chatting with Coach Sendek on KDOW AM-1220

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After splitting during the opening week of West Coast Conference play, Santa Clara men's basketball is back on the road Thursday to face Loyola Marymount. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Gersten Pavilion.

The Broncos (4-10, 1-1), who have dropped four of their last five, downed Pepperdine at home on Thursday, but lost at 20th-ranked Gonzaga on Saturday. The Lions (5-8, 0-2) were upended 87-59 at Saint Mary's on Thursday and fell 88-82 in overtime at Pacific on Saturday.

• Silas Melson tallied a game-high 19 points and Zach Norvell Jr. scored 14 to lead seven players in double figures for Gonzaga, which cruised to a 101-52 victory over Santa Clara. Josh Perkins posted 12 points and eight assists for the Bulldogs, which shot a blistering 55 percent from the floor. Senior center Emmanuel Ndumanya had a career-high 12 points for the Broncos who suffered a season-high 21 turnovers and were out-scored 44 to 9 by the Gonzaga bench.
• Junior guard Matt Hauser (19), senior guard/forward Henry Caruso (16) and junior guard KJ Feagin (15) combined for 50 points to help send Santa Clara to a 72-65 win over the Waves who shot 52 percent from the floor, but committed 16 turnovers. After falling behind early in the second half, the Broncos regained their footing behind Hauser (5 of 9 3-pointers) and Feagin (11 second-half points) midway through the final 20 minutes and hit eight free throws in the final 24 seconds to close it out. Santa Clara registered 11 steals, one off its season high and out-scored Pepperdine, 18-6, off turnovers.
• Feagin leads the team and ranks fourth in the WCC in scoring (18.0 ppg) on 46.6 percent shooting from the floor. Caruso is second on the team in scoring (13.1 ppg) and first with 6.7 rebounds per game, No. 7 in the league. Freshman forward Josip Vrankic (10.7 ppg) and Hauser (10.6) are also scoring in double figures. Vrankic ranks second on the team in rebounding (5.2 pg) and Hauser is fourth in the WCC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3-to-1) and averages 3.9 assists pg, No. 8 in the league. Feagin (2.5) and Hauser (2.4) rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the WCC in 3-pointers per game.

 

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 LMU had one common nonconference opponent, with each team falling to Portland State.
• The Broncos have generally held on to the ball, registering just 11.6 turnovers per game and possessing a +2.5 turnover margin per game (first in the WCC). They have posted less than 10 turnovers in three of the last five games.
• Junior guard James Batemon is one of the top offensive threats in the WCC, ranking second in scoring (18.7 ppg), fifth in assists (4.5 pg) and 10th in field-goal percentage (51.7). Freshman forward Eli Scott (13.1 ppg) and senior guard Steven Haney (11.5) are also averaging in double figures.
• The Lions rank third in the WCC in scoring (77.3 ppg) and are the top offensive rebounding unit (14.6 pg).

THE LOYOLA MARYMOUNT SERIES
In a series that began in 1937, the Broncos hold an 90-59 lead. Santa Clara has won five of the last seven, but the teams have split the regular-season series in four of the last five years. The Broncos won all three meetings in 2014-15. Each team won at home last season, with LMU claiming a 66-56 victory on Jan. 7, and Santa Clara edging the Lions, 64-63, on Jan. 21. Former guard Jared Brownridge scored a game-high 25 points, including a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left, to lift the Broncos to the thrilling win.

TRENDS
KJ Feagin has reached double figures in scoring in 13 games and Henry Caruso in 11 ... a career 52 percent free-throw shooter, Emmanuel Ndumanya has connected on 11 of 12 from the line in the last two games ... after connecting on just 29 of 45 (64.4 percent) from the free-throw line in the previous two games, the Broncos were a season high 88.2 percent (15 of 17) against Pepperdine (Dec. 28) ... after scoring 18 points in the previous three games, Matt Hauser posted 19 against Pepperdine (Dec. 28) ... Ndumanya has posted eight of his 12 steals this season in the last three games ... Caruso, a 76-percent free-throw shooter at Princeton, has connected on 84.4 percent (54 of 64) from the line this season ... Hauser has started the last 24 games, most on the team ... Josip Vrankic had his streak of eight straight starts snapped vs. San Jose State (Dec. 21).

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 on KDOW AM-1220 or KTRB-AM 860 this season. Thursday's game at Loyola Marymount can be heard on KDOW AM-1220. View the 2017-18 schedule for broadcast outlets.

TICKETS
Single-game and WCC Ticket Mini-Plans options are available. The Broncos 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.

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