Men's Closes Out Homestand by Facing Pepperdine

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball closes out a three-game homestand with a matchup against Pepperdine on Saturday.

Tipoff between the Broncos and Waves is set for 3 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 (9-6, 3-4 West Coast Conference) returned to action on Tuesday, dropping a 76-73 decision to Loyola Marymount. Two days later, Santa Clara overcame an 18-point deficit to tie San Diego, but was unable to complete the comeback in a 71-60 loss.

Pepperdine (10-8, 6-3) and Santa Clara are meeting for the lone time this season. The Waves have won their last three games, including a 60-58 home victory over Saint Mary's on Saturday.

QUICK HITS...
• The Broncos went a stretch of 24 days between games due to a COVID-19 pause in activities. Before playing LMU on Tuesday, they defeated the Lions, 72-69, in Los Angeles, on Jan. 23, and three days later halted activities.
• Santa Clara has won 23 of its last 32 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 PEPPERDINE SERIES...
Santa Clara holds a 79-62 lead, including wins in six of the last nine, in a series that began in 1956. Pepperdine has won the last two and three of the last five though the Broncos have captured six of the last seven regular season meetings. However, that one loss occurred last season with Pepperdine snapping Santa Clara's 17-game home-winning streak, the third-longest in school history, in a 90-86 overtine 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 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 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. 12 in the NCAA).
• Santa Clara is averaging 4.5 blocks, which ranks 34th in the nation, and 29.5 defensive rebounds, ninth-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 67.0 percent (eighth in the WCC). After connecting on only 117 of 184 (63.6 percent) over the first eight games of the season, the Broncos are 112-for-158 (70.9 percent) over the last seven. However, they shot only 14 of 25 (56 percent) in Thursday's loss to San Diego.
• Santa Clara's win at Saint Mary's on Jan. 9, was its second straight in Moraga, California. The Broncos hadn't won in back-to-back seasons at Saint Mary's since 2001-02 and 2002-03.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES...
• Josip Vrankic leads the team in scoring (14.7 ppg) and is first in the WCC in rebounding (8.5 pg). He also leads the team in steals (1.1 pg).
• Keshawn Justice is second on the team in both scoring (10.4 ppg) and rebounding (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 has missed the last two contests due to concussion protocol.
• Jalen Williams ranks third on the team in scoring (10.3 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 14.8 points on 45.3 percent shooting from the floor, including 7 of 15 on 3-pointers, in the last five games. He was only 3-for-26 prior to that behind the 3-point line.
• Williams has also been more a facilitator of late, averaging 4.4 assists in the last five games.
• Christian Carlyle, a graduate transfer Florida Gulf Coast, is fourth on the team in scoring (8.2 ppg). Jaden Bediako is third on the team in rebounding (4.8 pg) and DJ Mitchell is fourth in rebounding (4.5 pg).
• Josip Vrankic (25 points/15 rebounds) recorded his 17th career double-double, including sixth this season, in Thursday's San Diego game. His rebound total matched a career-high.

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. 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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