Jan. 2, 2009
Playing four games this week and already collecting the Cable Car Classic title with two wins, Santa Clara, 7-7, travels across the country to play at Harvard, 6-6, on Fri., Jan. 2 and at New Hampshire on Sun., Jan. 4.
Santa Clara and Harvard are tied 1-1 in the series. Santa Clara won the first meeting, 80-69, on Dec. 29, 1992 with Harvard winning 59-54 on Dec. 20, 1997. Both games were played as part of the Cable Car Classic.
Santa Clara, 7-7, is hot off winning the 42nd annual Cable Car Classic with an 83-80 win over Belmont on Dec. 29 and then defeating UTEP 89-88 in overtime on Dec. 30. John Bryant was named the MVP of the Classic with Kevin Foster and Ben Dowdell being named to the All-Tournament team.
Harvard lost 67-54 at William and Mary on New Year's Eve. Dan McGeary finished with a career-high 18 points off the bench on 7-for-13 shooting and a 4-for-8 mark from long range. Max Kenyi added 12 points and five assists; and Jeremy Lin recorded a game-high six assists. Kenyi added four steals, three blocks and two assists while Lin also had three blocked shots.
Listen up
The SCU-Harvard game will be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis at 6:30 pm via the Bronco Radio Network, on both KDOW 1220 AM and Broncos All-Access on the web at www.SantaClaraBroncos.com. It is being tape-delayed due to programming on KDOW with the 4 pm start. Anthony Passarelli is in his second season as the Santa Clara men's basketball play-by-play announcer after six seasons of handling those duties for SCU women's basketball.
Harvard
Harvard, 6-6, is led by Palo Alto's Jeremy Lin's 17.8 ppg. Lin and fellow Californian Drew Housman of Calabasas, Calif. both came to Boston from the Golden State.
Head Coach Tommy Amaker is in his second season at Harvard. He brings a 190-166 career head coaching record into Friday's game, which includes a 109-83 ledger at Michigan and a 68-55 record at Seton Hall.
Amaker came to Harvard after six years as Michigan's head coach. Inheriting a program that was reeling from institutional and NCAA sanctions, he led the Wolverines to the postseason three times, winning the 2004 NIT title, reaching the championship game of the 2006 NIT, and advancing to the second round of the 2007 tournament. The 2006-07 season was Michigan's second straight 20-win campaign and its third in four years. The Wolverines were ranked at high as No. 20 in the nation during the 2005-06 season.
On top
Bronco senior John Bryant is averaging a double-double this year and leads the team in points (19.0) and rebounds (12.7). Bryant leads the Broncos with 2.4 bpg and shoots 60% from the field. He has 33 double-doubles in his career, including nine this season (vs. CSU East Bay, vs. UAB, at Georgia, at Montana, at San Jose State, vs. Sacramento State, at UNLV, vs. Stanford and vs. UTEP). He is ranked the No. 8 center nationally by Rivals.com and has had twice collected 20+ points and 20+ rebounds in games this season (at San Jose State and vs. Stanford). He scored a season high 33 points vs. UTEP and collected a career-high 27 rebounds vs. Stanford.
Two freshmen continue to hover around double-figures: Kevin Foster is averaging 12.1 ppg and James Rahon puts in 10.6 ppg off the bench. Rahon is shooting a team-leading 41% from the three-point line and Foster is the team's leading free-throw shooter at 99% (23 of 26).
Hitting 83+ points in its last two games, including a season-high 89 points vs. UTEP, SCU is scoring 65.4 ppg to the opponents 62.9; and shooting almost 46% from the field and 35% from the three-point line. The Broncos are out-rebounding their opponents by 4.3 rpg, but turning the ball over 2.4 more times than their opponents.
Santa Clara had just 10 turnovers vs. Sacramento State, vs. Notre Dame de Namur and at Pacific, its lowest totals since the Broncos turned the ball over nine times vs. Saint Mary's on March 4, 2007.
One of 2!
John Bryant and the late Nick Vanos are the only two Broncos to score at least 1300 points, collect 800+ rebounds and block more than 150 shots in their careers. Bryant has 1,337 career points (No. 16), 863 rebounds (No. 4) and 195 career blocks (No. 1). Bryant is working to become the first Bronco since Kurt Rambis to collect 1,000+ rebounds and just the third in school history. Dennis Awtrey holds the school record with 1,135 rebounds (1967-70) and Rambis is second with 1,037 rebounds (1976-80).
During his career from 1981-85, Vanos scored 1,399 points (No. 11), collected 876 rebounds (No. 3) and blocked 159 shots (No. 2). Vanos was first-team All-WCC in 1984 and '85.
Last OT?
Santa Clara defeated UTEP 89-88 to win the Cable Car Classic. It is the second straight year Santa Clara has played an overtime game in the Cable Car Classic, but it was the first OT final of the Classic's 42-year history. Santa Clara beat Denver in overtime on Dec. 28 in the Cable Car Classic, 74-65.
Santa Clara played a double-overtime contest on Feb. 2 vs. Gonzaga, falling 87-82. The last time Santa Clara played a double overtime game was Dec. 22, 2003 against UMBC, winning 65-63.
