Men's Basketball to Meet New Mexico State on Saturday

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After wins in their first four games of the season, including three in the Bronco Invitational, Santa Clara men's basketball will play its second-straight contest in Santa Cruz, California, facing New Mexico State on Saturday.

Tipoff between the Broncos and Aggies is set for 2 p.m. in Kaiser Permanente Arena. Due to Santa Cruz County guidelines, spectators will not be permitted inside the venue.

Santa Clara (4-0) had to grind out a 53-47 victory over CSU Bakersfield on Wednesday by forcing 19 turnovers and holding the Roadrunners to 32 percent shooting from the floor.

The Aggies (2-0) last played on Tuesday, defeating Benedictine Mesa, 92-54, in Phoenix. New Mexico State has been victorious in its last 21 games, the second-longest active winning streak in the nation. NM State, which joins CSUB as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, went 25-6 last season, including a perfect 16-0 in the league.

QUICK HITS...
• The Broncos are coming off a 20-13 mark last season, their first 20-win campaign in seven years and just fourth occurence in the last 19.
• Wednesday's win over Nicholls gave the Broncos their 21st-straight nonconference home win. Santa Clara opened last season by winning its first 15 games in Leavey Center and has won 22 of its last 27 at home.
• Santa Clara returns four starters and seven of its top nine scorers from last season, including preseason All-West Coast Conference performer Josip Vrankic, a three-year starter. The senior ranked first on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 pg) last season. DJ Mitchell was third in scoring (10.7 ppg) and second in rebounding (5.2 pg).
• Before his injury at the beginning of league play last year, junior Guglielmo Caruso was among the most productive and efficient big men in the WCC. He would have ranked first in the league in field-goal percentage (66.1) and third in blocked shots (1.1 pg) but did not appear in enough games to qualify. Caruso missed the last two games of the Bronco Invitational due to concussion protocol after being injured against Idaho State (Nov. 25).
• Mitchell and junior Keshawn Justice were two of the top three 3-point shooting threats in the league in 2019-20. They each shot 38 percent from behind the 3-point line.
• The Broncos had two of more productive first-year players in the WCC a year ago. Jaden Bediako was a member of the WCC All-Freshman team and Jalen Williams proved to be one of the most explosive first-year players in the league. Bediako was inserted into the starting lineup for Caruso as conference play opened and went on to average a team-best 11.9 rebounds per 40 minutes of play. Williams started the final 23 games and tallied the third-most steals (44) by a freshman in school history.
• Newcomers include freshman guard Trent Hudgens Jr. and three transfers in Christian Carlyle (Florida Gulf Coast), Joe Foley (Lehigh) and Vittorio Reynoso-Avila (Princeton). Carlyle and Reynoso-Avila are graduate transfers.

YEAR FIVE UNDER SENDEK...
The Broncos are in their 114th year, including fifth under Herb Sendek, who has been successful in each of his four head-coaching stops. With a resume that includes 18 postseason appearances and three conference coach of the year awards, Sendek has led the Broncos to three winning seasons, including a 20-13 mark in 2019-20. The program had not recorded three winning seasons during a four-year stretch since Dick Davey led it to seven in a row from 1994-95 through 2000-01. Sendek is in his 27th season as a collegiate head coach with stops at Arizona State, North Carolina State and Miami (Ohio).

THE NEW MEXICO STATE SERIES...
The series is tied at 1-all. The Aggies won 93-86 on Dec. 28, 1978 in the All College Tournament in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Broncos were victorious 81-76 on Dec. 22, 1980 in Leavey Center. Santa Clara is 18-17 all-time against current members of the WAC (11-16 vs. Seattle; 5-0 vs. CSU Bakersfield; 1-0 vs. Utah Valley).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES...
• Josip Vrankic leads the team in scoring (18.8 ppg) and is second in both rebounding (7.3 pg) and assists (2.5 pg). Jaden Bediako leads the Broncos in rebounding (9.8) and has 17 of the team's 46 offensive boards. Christian Carlyle, a graduate transfer Florida Gulf Coast, is the top distributor with 4.0 assists per game.
• Jalen Williams was most productive in the second half of the first two games with 23 of his 27 points and four of his five steals coming after intermission. The sophomore connected on 9 of 13 (69.2 percent) of his field-goal attempts in the final 20 minutes of the first two contests. He missed the second half against CSU Bakersfield (Dec. 2) due to injury. His four steals against Idaho State (Nov. 25) were one off his career-high of five set vs. Gonzaga (Jan. 30, 2020). Willliams led the team last season with 44 steals.
• Miguel Tomley saw his first-career action against Idaho State (Nov. 25), playing nine minutes off the bench against Idaho State (Nov. 25). The redshirt freshman missed last year with a knee injury. Tomley posted five points in 15 minutes against UC Davis (Nov. 27). He saw action at point guard in crunch time after Christian Carlyle fouled out with 3:42 left in the game.
• Carlyle suited up for the Broncos for the first time against Idaho State (Nov. 25). He played 32 minutes, scoring six points and dishing out two assists.
• Vrankic drew nine of the 23 fouls committed by Idaho State, which led to 11 free throws for the senior who connected six times.
• Keshawn Justice matched his career-high with three steals against Idaho State (Nov. 25) and set a new career-best with 10 rebounds vs. UC Davis (Nov. 27) when he recorded his first-career double-double (11 points).

NONCONFERENCE SUCCESS...
The Broncos have won their last nine nonconference games overall and 21 nonleague home contests, the longest stretch in school history. The last overall loss was a 97-68 road defeat at the hands of Nevada on Dec. 4, 2019. Idaho State was the last nonconference foe to knock off the Broncos in Leavey Center, escaping with a 68-66 victory on Dec. 7, 2018.

RADIO/LIVE STREAM
Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) calls for his 14th season. All Broncos home games and West Coast Conference contests (not on an ESPN platform, CBS Sports Network or BYUtv) will be streamed through WCC Network (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air). In addition, games can also be heard on the TuneIn app. The Lunardi's Market's Pregame Show begins 10 minutes prior to tipoff on TuneIn.

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