Men's Basketball Plays Two on the Road This Week, Faces Portland Thursday

Santa Clara Tickets | Game Notes | AUDIO: Chatting with Coach Sendek on KDOW AM-1220 (Feb. 14, 2018)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball will play three of its final four regular season games on the road beginning with Thursday's matchup against Portland. Tipoff between the Broncos and Pilots is set for 7 p.m. in Chiles Center.

The Broncos (9-17, 6-8), who won the first meeting between the teams this season, snapped a three-game skid on Saturday with a 70-64 victory over San Diego to move into a tie for sixth with San Francisco in the West Coast Conference standings.

The Pilots (10-17, 4-10), who dropped two on the road last week, after winning a pair at home, are two games back in eighth.

• Junior guard KJ Feagin delivered a career performance to help Santa Clara overcome an 11-point second-half deficit against San Diego. Feagin posted career-highs in points (32) and field goals (14) for the Broncos who shot 58 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. Senior guard/forward Henry Caruso scored 12, including the 1,000th point of his career, and grabbed nine rebounds, and freshman forward Josip Vrankic added 10 points and a career-best four blocks for Santa Clara. Cameron Neubauer posted a season-high 18 points and Isaiah Wright added 16 for the Toreros.
• Yoeli Childs posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Elijah Bryant and TJ Hawes scored 14 apiece to help BYU defeat the Broncos, 80-58, on Thursday. Senior guard Kai Healy led Santa Clara, playing without three rotation players, with a season-high 12 points with Feagin and Vrankic chipping in 11 each.
• Feagin ranks second in the WCC in scoring (17.8 ppg) and eighth in assists (4.1 pg). Caruso is second on the team in scoring (12.0 ppg) and first with 6.7 rebounds per game (No. 7 in the league). Vrankic is third on the team in scoring (10.6 ppg), second in rebounding (5.0 pg) and first in blocks (24). Junior guard Matt Hauser, who has missed the last five games with a foot injury, is averaging 9.8 ppg and ranks fourth in the WCC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2-to-1). Hauser was injured in the first matchup with San Diego (Jan. 25), playing only nine minutes. Feagin (2.2) and Hauser (2.0) rank sixth and eighth, respectively, in the WCC in 3-pointers per game.
• Caruso is one of only two players in the WCC to rank in the top 20 in scoring (18th), and top 10 in rebounds, steals (seventh - 1.3 pg) and FT percentage (ninth - 81.7). Guard Elijah Bryant of BYU is fourth in scoring (17.6 ppg), eighth in rebounding (6.5 pg), tied for fifth in steals (1.3 pg) and first in FT percentage (88.3).

 

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 have generally held on to the ball, registering just 11.4 turnovers per game and possessing a +1.7 turnover margin (first in the WCC). The Pilots force a league-low 10.6 turnovers per game and their margin (-0.8) in ninth.
• Santa Clara and Portland have both struggled to rebound, but they connect from long range. The Broncos are -5.6 (10th in WCC) and the Pilots -5.0 (ninth) in rebounding per game. Portland is averaging 8.1 3-pointers per contest (fourth in WCC) and the Broncos hit 7.7 pg (sixth). The Pilots connect at a 39.5 percent clip on 3-pointers (second in WCC).
• Guards D'Marques Tyson (48.1) and Josh McSwiggan (43.7) rank first and fifth, respectively, in the WCC in 3-point field goal percentage.

THE PORTLAND SERIES
In a series that began in 1946, Santa Clara leads 63-33. It has been a series of streaks in recent years. The Broncos have captured the last five meetings, which followed a three-game winning streak for Portland. Santa Clara was victorious in the previous three before that eight-game stretch.

TRENDS
KJ Feagin has connected on 50.6 percent from the floor (41 of 81) in the last five games ... Emmanuel Ndumanya has posted the two highest point totals of his career in the last six games (career-high 15 vs. San Diego, Jan. 25; 13 vs. Pepperdine, Jan. 27). He has shot 27 of 49 from the floor (55.1 percent) in the last 11 ... Santa Clara has posted 37 of its 63 blocks in the last eight games, including a season-best seven vs. San Diego (Feb. 10) ... Feagin has reached double figures in all but three games (nine points vs. Gonzaga, Dec. 30; nine points vs. BYU, Jan. 13; nine points vs. San Diego, Jan. 25) ... Feagin has 10 of the team's 16 20-point scoring games this year ... a career 54 percent free-throw shooter, Ndumanya has made 26 of his last 34 from the line (76.5 percent) ... Henry Caruso has been off the floor for only 13 minutes in the last eight games. He and Kai Healy played all 40 minutes in back-to-back games (San Diego, Jan. 25; Pepperdine, Jan. 27).

RADIO/LIVE STREAM
Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (analyst) 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 Portland can be heard on KDOW-AM 1220. View the 2017-18 schedule for broadcast outlets.

TICKETS
Single-game tickets are available for contests at Leavey Center. The Broncos have one home contest remaining - Feb. 22 vs. LMU (Senior Day). 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.

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