SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara continues a three-game homestand with a West Coast Conference matchup against San Diego on Thursday in the second meeting of the season between the teams.

Tipoff between the Broncos and Toreros is at 6 p.m. in Leavey Center. Fans are not permitted in the facility due to Santa Clara County COVID-19 guidelines.

After more than three weeks off, the Broncos (9-5, 3-3) fell to Loyola Marymount, 76-73, on Tuesday at home behind a career-high 37 points from Eli Scott. Four Santa Clara player reached double figures in scoring led by a season-high tying 18 points by Jalen Williams and a season-best 16 by DJ Mitchell.

San Diego (2-7, 1-4) has been on a pause in activities due to COVID-19 protocol since Feb. 2. Last time out, the Toreros lost to top-ranked Gonzaga, 90-62, on Jan. 28. San Diego has dropped four of its last five and is 2-4 on the road this season.

Santa Clara won the first meeting against the Toreros, 69-63 (Jan. 17).

QUICK HITS...
• The Broncos went a stretch of 24 days between games due to a COVID-19 pause in activities. They defeated LMU, 72-69, in Los Angeles, on Jan. 23, and three days later halted activities.
• Santa Clara has won 23 of its last 31 home games.
• The Broncos are coming off a 20-13 mark last season, their first 20-win campaign in seven years and just fourth occurrence in the last 19.
• Santa Clara has 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.
• 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 Broncos had only three winning records in the previous 15 seasons, and the program had not recorded three winning campaigns 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 SAN DIEGO SERIES...
In a series that began in 1953, Santa Clara leads, 51-38, with wins in 12 of the last 17 meetings. The Broncos have won five of the last six overall in the series, as well as five of the last at home. Santa Clara won for the sixth time in the last eight trips to San Diego with last month's 69-63 victory.

TEAM NOTES...
• On Tuesday, Santa Clara played its first game in Leavey Center since Nov. 28 when it defeated Nicholls in the finale of the Bronco Invitational. Due to Santa Clara County guidelines on competition, the Broncos relocated to Santa Cruz, California, for four games and practice from the first week of December through the third week of January.
• The Broncos have had 14 games either postponed or canceled this season.
• The 6-0 start to the season tied for the eighth-best in school history.
• Santa Clara has held the opposition to 39.0 percent shooting from the floor (No. 11 in the NCAA).
• The Broncos have struggled shooting from outside, connecting on just 29.3 percent from behind the 3-point line (10th in the WCC) though they have connected on 37.6 percent (38 of 101) in the last six games. They had season-highs in percentage (55.0) and made 3-pointers (11) against San Diego (Jan. 17).
• Santa Clara is averaging 4.5 blocks, which ranks 36th in the nation, and 29.1 defensive rebounds, 10th-most nationally, per game.
• The Broncos ranked third in the WCC in free-throw shooting (74.2 percent) in 2019-20, but have struggled overall this season, connecting on only 67.8 percent (ninth in the WCC). After connecting on only 117 of 184 (63.6 percent) over the first eight games of the season, the Broncos are 98-for-133 (73.7 percent) over the last six, including a season-best 84.0 percent (21 of 25) against LMU (Jan. 23).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES...
• Josip Vrankic leads the team in scoring (13.9 ppg) and is second in the WCC in rebounding (8.1 pg). He ranks second in the WCC in rebounding.
• Keshawn Justice is third on the team in scoring (10.4 ppg) and rsecond in ebounding (5.4 pg), and first in assists (2.2 pg). Justice has connected on 8 of 21 from behind the 3-point line (38.1 percent) in his last four games. He missed Tuesday's game vs. Loyola Marymount due to concussion protocol.
• Jalen Williams ranks second on the team in scoring (10.5 ppg) and his offensive production has steadily increased since missing two games (Cal Poly, Dec. 9; Fresno Pacific, Dec. 15) with a foot injury. He had a season-best 18 points in a 72-69 win over LMU (Jan. 23) and followed with the same total on Tuesday against the Lions. Williams has averaged 16.5 points on 50.0 percent shooting from the floor in the last four games. He has gone 6-for-11 from behind the 3-point line in the last four contests after connecting on only 3-for-26 prior to that this season.
• Christian Carlyle, a graduate transfer Florida Gulf Coast, is fourth on the team in scoring (8.4 ppg) and DJ Mitchell is fourth in rebounding (4.7 pg).

HOW TO WATCH ON THE WCC NETWORK
All Santa Clara home games and West Coast Conference contests not shown on a national platform (ESPN, CBS Sports Network or BYUtv) will be streamed through the WCC Network. Local blackout restrictions apply on WCC Network for regional TV broadcasts, including Thursday's matchup with San Francisco. All events that are not selected for a Stadium Plus broadcast or a national outlet, can be viewed on the following platforms:

• WCCsports.com
• Roku
• Android Device
• iOS Device: Mobile • tvOS
• FireTV

For home games not on national or regional TV, Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) calls the action in his 14th season as Voice of the Broncos.

HOW TO LISTEN
All home games and most road contests can be heard on the TuneIn app. The Lunardi's Market's Pregame Show begins 10 minutes prior to tipoff with Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) calling the action in his 14th season as Voice of the Broncos.

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