SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After capping off a three-game homestand with a win, Santa Clara men's basketball plays twice on the road this week beginning with a matchup against Pepperdine.
The Broncos and Waves will face off on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse.
Santa Clara snapped a two-game skid with Saturday's 69-63 victory over Portland. Keshawn Justice scored a career-high tying 17 points, including the first four points of overtime, for the Broncos who never trailed in the extra session after squandering a 10-point lead in the final 2 minutes of regulation.
Santa Clara is 3-4 on the road this season and Pepperdine is 7-3 at home, including 2-2 in West Coast Conference action.
The Broncos won the first meeting of the season. Tahj Eaddy posted a game-high 28 points, including sinking the game-winning free throws with 1.9 seconds left, to give Santa Clara a 67-64 win over the Waves on Jan. 10.
The teams are tied for sixth in the WCC standings with Pepperdine.
Santa Clara will play at San Francisco on Saturday at 8 p.m.
QUICK HITS...
Tahj Eaddy (15.3 ppg) is first among four Santa Clara players scoring in double figures. Josip Vrankic is averaging 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds (second on the team) per game. Trey Wertz (12.3 ppg) and Keshawn Justice (10.6) are the top freshmen scorers in the West Coast Conference. Wertz is also fifth overall in assists (4.7 pg). Josh Martin is the leading rebounder at 8.4 per contest (No. 3 in the WCC) and the most efficient 3-point shooter (43.9 percent) in the league.
• After a 1-5 start, the Broncos have gone 11-6 with a roster that receives 75.7 percent (1,199 of 1,584 points) of its offensive production from first-year players.
• Injuries have plagued the Broncos and shrunk the rotation to eight players. Five players have missed games this season, including three currently on the shelf. Two-time All-WCC guard KJ Feagin (foot) and Juan Ducasse (knee) are out for the season. Fallou Ndoye (foot) has been out of action since November, but close to a return.
• Pepperdine ranks third in the WCC in scoring (77.2 ppg) and the Broncos (71.2) Waves (73.3) are seventh and eighth, respectively, in scoring defense. Pepperdine is the second-best 3-point shooting team in the league at 37.8 percent and Santa Clara ranks sixth in 3-point FG percentage defense (32.0). The Waves average a conference-best 9.1 3-point field goals per game. The Broncos are third in blocked shots (3.7 pg), but 10th in turnover margin (-3.7 pg). The Waves come in second in the WCC in turnover margin (+3.5 pg) which is fueled by the 6.1 steals per game (second in the league) they produce.
• Santa Clara's recent six-game winning streak (Dec. 9-Jan. 3) was its longest in six years. The Broncos won six in a row from Dec. 8-22, 2013.
• The win over Washington State on Dec. 29, gave the Broncos a pair of victories over Pac-12 Conference schools in the same season for the first time since 1997-98. Santa Clara also snapped a streak of 11 straight road/neutral site losses to Pac-12/Pac-10 schools. The last victory occurred at Stanford (62-46) on Dec. 16, 2006.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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| Tickets | Click Here |
| TV | None |
| Video | TheW.tv |
| Radio/Audio | KDOW-AM 1220 |
| Live Stats | SideArmStats |
| Game Notes | Santa Clara | Pepperdine |
YEAR THREE UNDER SENDEK...
The Broncos are in their 112th year of existence, including third 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 25th season as a collegiate head coach with stops at Arizona State, North Carolina State and Miami (Ohio).
THE PEPPERDINE SERIES...
The Broncos hold a 78-60 lead, including wins in five of the last six, in a series that began in 1956. Last season, Santa Clara won both regular season meetings before the Waves won in the opening round of the WCC Tournament. The series has been even in recent years. Entering 2016-17 season, the teams had split the previous 10 games. Santa Clara set a school record with 22 3-pointers in 106-55 victory on Feb. 16, 2017.
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 or BYUtv) will also be streamed through TheW.tv (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air). This season at least 25 games will air on either KDOW-AM 1220 or KTRB-AM 860. The remainder can be heard on Livestream.com. The Pepperdine game can be heard on KDOW-AM 1220. Click here to view broadcast outlets for the season.
TICKETS
Single-game and gameplan options are available for remaining home games. For questions, contact the Santa Clara Athletics ticket office 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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