Santa Clara Travels to CSU Northridge Wednesday
Santa Clara, 6-6, will play at CSU Northridge, 3-7, Wed., Dec. 22 before departing on Christmas break to return to host the 44th annual Cable Car Classic Dec. 29 and 30. This year's Cable Car Classic includes host Santa Clara, Delaware, Fordham and American.
Santa Clara started the 2010-11 season by playing seven games in 15 days. It was the most games a Bronco squad had played to start the year since the 2003-04 team played seven games in 14 days. Santa Clara is playing its fifth game in 12 days after a six-day break for finals and will break for the Holidays after playing in Northridge.
Both teams are coming off losses. Santa Clara fell in overtime on Sunday to Washington State (85-79) and the Matadors, who start five seniors, fell 70-69 at CSU Bakersfield. This is only the second meeting between the two schools. Santa Clara defeated CSU Northridge 83-70 on Dec. 10, 1979 in Santa Clara.
Listen and Watch
The CSU Northridge game will be broadcast via the Bronco Radio Network on both KDOW 1220 AM and Broncos All-Access on the web at www.SantaClaraBroncos.com with the broadcast beginning at 6:45 pm. Anthony Passarelli is in his fourth season as the Broncos' play-by-play announcer. Coach Kerry Keating can be heard on KDOW 1220 AM on Sunday evenings from 9:10-9:20 pm in his radio spotlight on The Sports Ramble, hosted by Chetan Chaudhari with an interview done by Passarelli. If you are out of the listening area, KDOW is streamed online live at www.1220kdow.com.
In addition, Santa Clara will showcase each non-televised 2010-11 men's and women's home basketball game this season free of charge via Stretch Internet on www.SantaClaraBroncos.com. With the help of the WCC, the Santa Clara University athletic department recently made several upgrades to its audio and video components in the Leavey Center and now has the ability to webcast games with a three-camera system. Radio feeds from the games will be integrated into the webcast when available.
Links to the webcast of each men's and women's basketball game can be found on either team's schedule webpage or on http://www.santaclarabroncos.com/livestats. You can also go directly to the Santa Clara Broncos portal on Stretch Internet by clicking http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/santaclara.portal?mode=link#.
44th Annual Cable Car Classic Dec. 29 and 30!
The 44th annual Cable Car Classic will be played in Santa Clara on Dec. 29 and 30. First round games include Santa Clara vs. Delaware on Dec. 29 at 6 pm and then American vs. Fordham on Dec. 30 at 8 pm. The consolation game will be played the following night at 6 pm and the championship game will be played immediately following it.
Looking Closer
Santa Clara is looking for its second career win over CSU Northridge. The Broncos are scoring 73.2 ppg while giving up 74.8 ppg. They are rebounding 35.3 to their opponents 32.0 and shooting 43.3 percent, including 36.7 percent beyond the arc. Northridge is averaging 69.9 ppg while giving up 70.7 ppg. They are shooting 43.9 percent from the field, including 30.6 from beyond the three-point line and rebounding 37.5 boards, giving up 33.2. They are averaging 19.8 turnovers per game compared to Santa Clara's own 16.3 turnovers per game.
Individually, Santa Clara has three players in double figures: Kevin Foster (18.8), Marc Trasolini (12.3) and Evan Roquemore (11.5). Foster leads the WCC and is fourth nationally this week in threes made, has a team-leading 3.8 apg and 1.3 spg; and he has scored double figures in 11 of 12 games this season, adding nine vs. Rice. Trasolini leads the team with 6.3 rpg and .83 bpg. Trasolini collected his fifth career double-double vs. CSU Bakersfield and had a season-high three blocks in the Rice win, hitting a season-high 19 vs. Arizona and vs. Ohio in Las Vegas.
CSU Northridge has two players in double figures: Lenny Daniel (16.0) and Rashaun McLemore (14.4). Daniel leads the team with 9.4 rpg and Dathan Lyles dishes a team-leading 4.9 apg and Lyles and Michael Lizarraga score 1.1 spg.
30 for 30
SCU made its first 30 free throws in a row vs. WSU on Dec. 19 and finished the game with 33 makes in 36 attempts. It was the most free throws attempted since it attempted 45 vs. Menlo on Nov. 16, 2009. It was the most free throws made since it made 35 vs. Portland on Jan. 7, 2006.
90
Santa Clara scored 90 points vs. Houston Baptist on Dec. 17 and it was the most points for the Broncos since they scored 101 in a 101-86 win vs. Pepperdine Jan. 21, 2008. Santa Clara defeated UTEP in overtime 89-88 to win the 42nd annual Cable Car Classic on Dec. 30, 2008.
Santa Clara is 11-1 under head coach Kerry Keating when scoring 80+ points. Santa Clara is 4-0 this year in games decided by five points or less. The Broncos are 2-6 in games decided by 10 points or more.
Better Younger
Freshman Evan Roquemore has made very good after being inserted into the starting line-up four games ago. He scored 14 points with five rebounds at San Jose State, added 12 points with four rebounds at Pacific and then broke away to score 17 points with a career-high seven assists vs. Houston Baptist. Two nights later against Washington State, he scored 16, adding a career-high 7 rebounds and was 7 of 7 from the free throw line. Roquemore is second on the team this season at the free throw line, shooting 84.1 percent (53 of 63). He has been perfect at the free throw line in four games this year: 6 of 6 vs. Rice, 10 of 10 vs. Northern Colorado, 6 of 6 at San Jose State and 7 of 7 vs. Washington State. Averaging 11.5 ppg, he also adds 3.3 rpg and is second on the team with 2.6 apg.
Side Notes
** In the overtime loss to Washington State, Kevin Foster was two points off a career-high with 29 season-high points, including a career-best 11 of 13 from the free throw line. Marc Trasolini added 18 points and Evan Roquemore added 16 with a career-best seven rebounds. Raymond Cowels III grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.
** Evan Roquemore and Raymond Cowels III both led the team with 17 points each vs. Houston Baptist on Dec. 17. Nate Mensah scored his first two points of his career in the final three minutes of the game. Two other walk-ons, Phillip Bach and Kyle Perricone also added two points and freshman walk-on Beau Gamble picked up a charge in the final minute. The underclassmen scored almost 65 percent of the Broncos points and grabbed 41.6 percent of the rebounds.
** Evan Roquemore and Chris Cunningham both started again in place of Troy Payne and Marc Trasolini at Pacific on Dec. 17. Kevin Foster scored 17 points in the game, including 15 in the first half, hitting 7 of 7 from the free throw line.
** Evan Roquemore started his first career game and Chris Cunningham started for the first time this season in the win at San Jose State. Cunningham tied his season-high with four rebounds and Roquemore scored 14 points. Kevin Foster tied a season-high with 26 points. In the first half Santa Clara turned the ball over 13 times, but just five times in the second half.
** In a sign of what the Bronco coaches hope is to come, rookie John McArthur scored a career-high six points with a career-high six rebounds in a career-high 14 minutes vs. UCSB.
** Kevin Foster hit six three-pointers in the first half of the UC Santa Barbara - a career-high - and he finished the game with 25 points. The six threes overall tied a career-high set vs. Buthune-Cookman on Nov. 21, 2010.
* Chris Cunningham, making some nifty post moves, tied a career-high with eight points, making a career-best of 4 of 4, vs. Ohio.
** Marc Trasolini scored 19 points in back-to-back games vs. Arizona and Ohio in Las Vegas. Trasolini has scored 15+ points 17 times in his career. He has scored double digits in five of Santa Clara's nine games this season after leading the team in ppg, rpg and bpg last season.
** Marc Trasolini hadn't blocked a shot in four games heading into the SJSU game when he blocked two. It was the first time since his freshman year he had gone four plus games without a block. He went five games spanning the end of his freshman year (four games: Feb. 21, - March 8) to the second game of his sophomore year (Nov. 16, 2009) when he collected three blocks.
** Evan Roquemore tied the Bronco freshman record when he hit made 10 free throws vs. UNC on Nov. 23. He was a perfect 10 of 10. Then-Bronco freshman Jordan Legge made 10 free throws for the Broncos on Nov. 27, 2001 in Santa Clara's 65-61 win vs. San Jose State.
** SCU and UNC combined for 171 points, but zero blocks on Nov. 23. The last time that happened: in Gonzaga's 80-64 win over the Broncos in Spokane on Feb. 28, 2004.
** In its game with B-C, the bench out-rebounded the starters. Against UNC, led by a pair of Broncos collecting 18 points each, the bench outscored the starters. The starters, paced by Kevin Foster's 19 points and tying a career-high with seven assists, scored 42 points. The bench, led by Cowels and Roquemore, scored 45.
** Kevin Foster collected six assists and the Broncos had 23 assists in SCU's 75-61 win over Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 21. It was the most assists for the Broncos since they collected 24 assists in an 83-80 win vs. Belmont on Dec. 29, 2008. The most under Keating?: SCU had 29 assists vs. Pepperdine in the Broncos' 101-86 victory on Jan. 21, 2008.
** The Bronco bench collected 16 rebounds vs. Bethune-Cookman while the starters pulled down 13. That's the first time that happened this year.