Men's Basketball to Play Denver in Cable Car Classic Opener

Cable Car Classic Tournament Central | HIGHLIGHTS: Men's Basketball Starts Victory Over Denver with 14-0 Run

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Coming off two straight wins, Santa Clara men's basketball will finish off a five-game homestand in the Cable Car Classic.

The Broncos (5-1) will serve as host to six games over four days beginning Wednesday when they face Denver. The tournament also features Cal State Fullerton and Southeast Missouri.

Tipoff between Santa Clara and Denver is set for 2 p.m. in Leavey Center. A matchup between Cal State Fullerton (2-3) and Southeast Missouri (2-2) follows at 4:30 p.m. The four teams will play each through Saturday.

Last time out, Santa Clara defeated Idaho State, 78-65, on Friday as five players - Jaden Bediako (12), Guglielmo Caruso (14), Josip Vrankic (11), Keshawn Justice (11) and Tahj Eaddy (13) - scored in double figures. The Broncos knocked off Notre Dame de Namur, 101-54, in a preliminary-round game of the Cable Car Classic on Nov. 19. 

QUICK HITS...
• Six players are averaging at least 8.0 points led by Guglielmo Caruso (12.8 ppg), DJ Mitchell (10.8) and Trey Wertz (9.8). Caruso and Mitchell are tied for the team lead in rebounding (5.7 pg), and Wertz is tops in assists (3.7 pg).
• With a roster that features eight returning scholarship players and five newcomers, Santa Clara is playing 13 of its 15 nonconference games at home.
• The Broncos return their top five scorers in Tahj Eaddy (15.0 points per game), Josip Vrankic (13.7), Trey Wertz (12.2), Keshawn Justice (9.7) and Guglielmo Caruso (6.4) from last year's team that went 16-15, including 8-8 in the WCC. Eaddy, who ranked third in the WCC in 3-pointers made (2.5 pg) and ninth in assists (3.2 pg), was a second-team all-conference pick. Vrankic earned an honorable mention nod after ranking 10th in the league in rebounding, eighth in field-goal percentage (52.0) and 10th in blocked shots (0.9 pg). Wertz led all WCC freshmen in both scoring and assists (4.7 pg). He set the Santa Clara freshman assist record (146) on his way to a spot on the WCC All-Freshman team.
• The roster, which returns 87 percent of the point production, 74 percent of the rebounds and 88 percent of the assists from 2018-19, features no seniors and only three juniors in Eaddy, Vrankic and DJ Mitchell, who transferred from Wake Forest prior to last season. Juan Ducasse, who served a redshirt season due to a knee injury, is also eligible this year. The newcomers are guards David Thompson, Giordan Williams, Jalen Williams and Miguel Tomley, and center Jaden Bediako. Thompson is a junior-college transfer and the other four are true freshmen.
• Justice and Caruso were also among the most productive freshmen in the WCC last season. Justice was third on the conference's freshman scoring list and finished seventh on the school's freshman list for 3-point percentage (38.5) and tied for fourth in 3-pointers made (57). Caruso, who shot 52 percent from the field, tied for seventh in the WCC in blocked shots (1.0 pg). He also closed the season with a flourish, averaging 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds in the last nine outings. Ezekiel Richards, another freshman in 2018-19, played in 29 games with five starts. He was first on the team in shooting from the floor at 53.1 percent.

YEAR FOUR UNDER SENDEK...
The Broncos are heading into the their 113th year, including fourth 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. Having led the Broncos to winning records in two of his three seasons, he is in his 26th season as a collegiate head coach with stops at Arizona State, North Carolina State and Miami (Ohio).

SERIES RECORDS...
• Cal State Fullerton: The teams have met three times with the Broncos leading 2-1. They split games in 2013-14 and the following year. The Titans won 86-73 at home on Nov. 16, 2013. The Broncos won at home 89-72 on Nov. 14, 2014. Santa Clara defeated Cal State Fullerton, 79-65, on Dec. 2, 1994 in the Coors Light Classic in Fresno.
• Denver: The teams have played three times, including once in the Cable Car Classic, with Denver holding a 2-1 edge. They met for the first time on Dec. 27, 1951, with the Pioneers winning 65-59 at home. Santa Clara claimed a 74-65 overtime victory on Dec. 28, 2007. The Pioneers won the last meeting 55-33 on Nov. 14, 2015 in the Cable Car Classic.
• Southeast Missouri: First meeting

TEAM NOTES...
• Santa Clara is off to its best start since 2012-13 when it also began 5-1. Prior to that, the best start was 7-1 in 1997-98.
• The Broncos have won 11 of their last 12 nonconference home games. The lone loss in that stretch was to Idaho State last season.
• Santa Clara had its three-game winning streak against the Pac-12 snapped with an 82-64 loss to Stanford (Nov. 16). The Broncos down Washington State (Nov. 12) and knocked off the Cougars and USC last year. The longest stretch of wins against the Pac-12 is five in a row between Dec. 12, 1994 (88-83 win vs. Oregon) and Dec. 6, 1997 (68-55 win vs. Oregon State).
• Santa Clara had six players score in double figures in the win over UC Santa Cruz (Nov. 5), four against Cal Poly (Nov. 8) and five vs. Notre Dame de Namur (Nov. 19). The Broncos went 11-2 last season when at least four players hit double-figure scoring.
• After a 1-5 start to the 2018-19 season, the Broncos closed with a 15-10 mark with a roster that received 74.4 percent of its point production (1,574 of 2,115) from first-year players.

BY THE NUMBERS
0...Number of seniors on the roster
1...Guglielmo Caruso leads the WCC in field-goal percentage (70.7)
1...Santa Clara is allowing opponents to shoot 37.1 percent from the floor, which is tops in the WCC.
2...Santa Clara is shooting 80.5 percent from the free-throw line which ranks second in the WCC.
2...Last season, the Broncos beat a pair of Pac-12 schools (USC and Washington State) in the same season was for the first time in 21 years (then the Pac-10). In 1997, they won at Oregon, 67-58, and defeated Oregon State, 68-55.
4...Number of returning starters - Tahj Eaddy, Trey Wertz, Josip Vrankic and Guglielmo Caruso
9...Number of underclassmen (four sophomores and five freshmen) on the roster.
39...Josip Vrankic's 39 straight starts lead the team.
40...The Broncos held five of their six opponents to less than 40 percent shooting from the floor.
70...The Broncos were 10-3 last season when scoring at least 70 points. They are 5-0 this year.

RADIO/LIVE STREAM
Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (analyst) call the action during the season on radio and through WCC Network at home. All Broncos home games and West Coast Conference contests (not on an ESPN platform, CBS Sports Network or BYUtv) will also be streamed through WCC Network (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air). As in the past two seasons, a number of games can also be heard on either KDOW-AM 1220 or KTRB-AM 860. For the Cable Car Classic games, Kevin Danna replaces Anthony Passarelli on play-by-play.

TICKETS
There are a number of ticket options for 2019-20, which features 21 homes, including 13 during the nonconference portion of the slate. In addition to season tickets, single-game and game-plan packages are on sale. Single-game tickets for the Cable Car Classic (one entry per day) are available by clicking here. 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, the team leader of sales and service, 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 campus 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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