WCC Basketball Tournament Central | Bracket

SENIOR REFLECTIONS: Carlyle | Mitchell | Reynoso-Avila | Vrankic

LAS VEGAS - Santa Clara men's basketball, seeded No. 7, continues play in the West Coast Conference Tournament with a matchup against No. 3 seed Pepperdine.

The Broncos and Waves will meet on Saturday at 9 p.m. at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, fans are not permitted into the facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The teams played once during the regular season with the Broncos winning 86-82 at home. Santa Clara is coming off an 81-76 win on Friday over sixth-seeded Pacific. Josip Vrankic posted 24 points and Guglielmo Caruso scored 14 to lead a balanced offensive attack for the Broncos.

QUICK HITS...
• The Broncos have won its opening two games in the WCC Tournament for the first time since 2003-04 when they reached the semifinals.
• Santa Clara has have averaged 88.0 points and shot 57.4 percent from the floor (62 of 108), including 45.9 percent on 3-pointers (17 of 27), in the first two games of the tournament.
• Senior forward Josip Vrankic was voted first-team All-WCC and sophomore guard Jalen Williams was an honorable mention selection.
• The Broncos went a stretch of 24 days between games due to a COVID-19 pause in activities. Before playing LMU on Feb. 16, they defeated the Lions, 72-69, in Los Angeles, on Jan. 23, and three days later halted activities.

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).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES...
• Josip Vrankic leads the team in scoring (15.2 ppg) and is second in the WCC in rebounding (8.1 pg). Vrankic is tied for first in the WCC with seven double-doubles.
• Keshawn Justice is third on the team in both scoring (11.3 ppg) and assists (2.1 pg), and second in rebounding (5.2 pg). Justice has connected on 15 of 33 from behind the 3-point line (45.5 percent) in his last six games. He had missed the four prior games to Thursday's matchup with Portland due to concussion protocol.
• Jalen Williams ranks second on the team in scoring (11.4 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 then season-best 18 points in a 72-69 win over LMU (Jan. 23) and followed with the same total on Feb. 16 against the Lions. Williams has averaged 14.9 points on 13 of 32 behind the 3-point line (40.6 percent), in the last nine games. He was only 3-for-26 on the season prior to that beyond the 3-point line.
• Williams has also been more a facilitator of late, averaging 3.8 assists in the last nine games to take over the team lead in that category (2.5 pg). He is also tied for ninth in the WCC in free-throw percentage (75.0) and steals (1.2 pg).
• Christian Carlyle, a graduate transfer Florida Gulf Coast, is fourth on the team in scoring (9.1 ppg). Guglielmo Caruso is fifth on the team in scoring (8.6 ppg) and third in rebounding (4.5 pg).

TEAM NOTES...
• The Broncos were sixth in the WCC standings. With an unbalanced schedule, the league is utilizing the KenPom.com adjusted winning percentage for seeding.
• Santa Clara is seeking its first appearance in the WCC semifinals since 2017, Herb Sendek's first season.
• After averaging 65.7 points and shooting 41.2 percent from the field (29.2 percent on 3-pointers) in the first 15 games, the Broncos are averaging 84.2 points and shooting 51.7 percent from the field (40 percent on 3-pointers) in the last four.
• Santa Clara's point total in Thursday's 95-86 win over Portland was its second-most ever in a WCC Tournament game. The Broncos lost to Loyola Marymount, 104-96, in the 1988 title game.
• The Broncos have had 15 games either postponed or canceled this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Tuesday, Feb. 16, 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 ranked third in the WCC in free-throw shooting (74.2 percent) in 2019-20, but have struggled overall this season, connecting on only 67.4 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 181-for-249 (72.7 percent) over the last 11, including a season-best 85.2 percent (23 of 27) in Thursday's win vs. Portland.
• 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.

BRONCOS IN THE WCC TOURNEY
Santa Clara has a 31-32 all-time record in the West Coast Conference tournament, which began with the 1986-87 season. The Broncos have won two tournament titles, at the conclusion of the inaugural year and at the end of 1992-93.

THE PEPPERDINE SERIES...
The Broncos hold a 80-62 lead, including wins in seven of the last 10, in a series that began in 1956. Santa Clara had captured the last seven regular season meetings, but the Waves won in the opening round of the 2018 WCC Tournament and in last year's second round. Pepperdine has won four of the seven all-time meetings in the tourney.

ATTACKING THE GLASS...
Not only is Josip Vrankic one of the top scoring threats in school history, ranking No. 17 on the career points list (1,411), but he is also one of the best rebounders. Vrankic is second in the West Coast Conference in rebounding at 8.1 per game. Only five players in school history - Dennis Awtrey (13.2/1967-68), Nick Vanos (10.8/1984-85), Ron Reis (11.0/1990-91), John Bryant (9.6/2007-08; 15.1/2008-09) and Yannick Atanga (7.9/2012-13) - have led the league in that category. If not for a shortened senior season, Vrankic would find himself among the top 10 on the Santa Clara career rebounding chart. He has 648 rebounds and Nate Kratch (2013-17) is in 10th with 697.

HOW TO LISTEN
All home games, most road contests and all WCC Tournament games 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.

2021 University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament Schedule

Saturday, March 6
QUARTERFINALS
• Game 5: No. 4 Saint Mary's vs No. 5 LMU, 6 p.m. (ESPNU, ESPN app)
• Game 6: No. 3 Pepperdine vs No. 7 Santa Clara, 9 p.m. (ESPN2, ESPN app)
 
Monday, March 8
SEMIFINALS 
• Semifinal: No. 1 Gonzaga vs Game 5 Winner, 6 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN app)
• Semifinal: No. 2 Brigham Young vs Game 6 Winner, 9 p.m. (ESPN2, ESPN app)
 
Tuesday, March 9
CHAMPIONSHIP
• 6:00 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN app)

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