Men's Basketball Opens 2011 WCC Play vs. USF Saturday at 8 pm
Foster and Trasolini Featured on the Road to Vegas This Week!
WELCOME BACK FOR THE WINTER QUARTER RUFF RIDERS: remember --- HOME GAME ON SATURDAY AT 8 PM!
Santa Clara, 9-7, opens its 59th year of West Coast Conference play vs. Bay Area rival San Francisco, 6-9, on Sat., Jan. 8 at 8 pm (Comcast TV). It's the 206th meetings between the two teams dating back to Jan. 22, 1909 when Santa Clara won 19-11. It's the first time since the 2003-04 season it has opened league play vs. its travel partner with Santa Clara winning 64-53 on Jan. 9, 2004.
SCU leads the all-time series 108-97 and the Broncos lead the series 53-35 in Santa Clara. Santa Clara has only played Saint Mary's more times than the Dons and sport a 131-76 record vs. the Gaels. Santa Clara has won eight of the last 10 games against USF, dating back to Feb., 2006. USF has won two of the last three contests with overtime wins, but prior to that Santa Clara won seven straight. Santa Clara won 66-65 on Jan. 23, 2010 behind the career-high 26 points of Marc Trasolini, but fell 71-67 in overtime in Leavey Feb. 20, 2010.
The Broncos knocked USF out of the West Coast Conference Tournament four times in the 21st century: 2000, '04, '05 and '08. The last WCC Tournament meeting with the Dons: Santa Clara won 51-50 on March 8, 2008 after two John Bryant free throws with three seconds left helped the Broncos advance to the WCC semi-finals.
SCU finished with a 3-11 record last year in WCC play, but enter the 2011 WCC season with its best record in preseason play since head coach Kerry Keating took over four years ago. Santa Clara hosts the first three of five WCC contests in the Leavey Center.
Listen and Watch
The San Francisco 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 7:45 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 with an interview hosted 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#.
Looking Closer
The Broncos are scoring 75.1 ppg while giving up 72.3 ppg. They are rebounding 36.7 to their opponents 31.4 and shooting 43.6 percent, including 35.4 percent beyond the arc. USF is averaging 65.5 ppg while giving up 68.4 ppg. They are shooting 43.3 percent from the field, including 37.0 from beyond the three-point line and rebounding 38.3 boards, giving up 33.3. They are averaging 16.2 turnovers per game compared to Santa Clara's own 15.8 turnovers per game.
Individually, Santa Clara has three players in double figures: Kevin Foster (18.4), Marc Trasolini (12.5) and Evan Roquemore (11.3). Foster leads the WCC and is 12th nationally this week in threes made, has a team-leading 3.8 apg and 1.4 spg. He has scored double figures in 15 of 16 games this season, adding just nine vs. Rice but hitting the game-winning shot. Trasolini leads the team with 6.3 rpg and 1.0 bpg. Trasolini collected his fifth career double-double vs. CSU Bakersfield and had a season-high three blocks twice, scoring a season-high 22 vs. Fordham.
USF has three players averaging double figures with Michael Williams scoring 16.1 ppg, Angelo Caloiaro with 10.7 and Perris Blackwell with 10.3. Caloiaro leads the team with 7.2 rpg. Moustapha Diarra leads the team with 0.8 bpg and Rashad Green dishes a team-leading 2.1 apg.
Likes Green Jerseys
Marc Trasolini scored 26 points in his first game vs. the Dons last season and followed that up with 17 in the second contest. Trasolini's success vs. the Dons shouldn't come as a surprise. His freshman year he was 11 of 12 in two games vs. USF. He also hit 7 of 10 free throw attempts and grabbed 12 rebounds. All told in four games vs. USF, Trasolini is averaging 17.0 ppg and is shooting almost 74 percent. He also averages 5.0 rpg and 1.5 bpg.
Trasolini has 10 games in double figures this season, including three with 19+. He has scored 15+ 25 times in his three-year career. Trasolini's 26 points at USF last season are still his career high.
After not attempting a single three his freshman campaign, Trasolini was 19 of 54 last season and is shooting 37.0 percent this year, hitting 17 of 46 in non-conference play. Bronco head coach Kerry Keating said he would like to see Trasolini shoot 10 three pointers a game because he has that much confidence in his shooting.
Trasolini has hit 37 of 56 free throws this season (70.0 percent), but has hit 24 of 29 free throws in the last six games (82.7 percent). He hasn't been hitting the free throw line as often this season. Last year of his 439 total points, 122 came from the free throw line (27.7 percent). This season of his 200 points scored, 18.5 percent are coming from the free throw line (37 made). His freshman year 21 percent of his points came from free throws (43 of 64 made (67%); 201 points total scored).
He is also getting it done in the classroom. The only player from the WCC on the Academic All-American All-District team last year, Trasolini sports a 3.511 GPA in Business.
Fast Forward
There are some interesting comparisons after Santa Clara's first 16 games last season and then first 16 games this year. See the following positives:
* Increased points per game from 66.9 to 75.1
* Increased field goal percentage from .402 to .436
* Increased three-pointers from 5.0 to 7.6
* Decreased opponent's three-pointers from 6.9 to 6.3
* Decreased turnovers per game from 16.6 to 15.8
* Increased assists per game from 10.8 to 13.6
* Increased rebounds per game from 36.1 to 36.7
* Increased attendance from 1,460 to 1,560
* Increased free throw % from .701 to .725 and free throws made from 18.5 to 19.4
WCC Leaders
As of Jan. 5, 2011, Santa Clara leads the WCC in offensive rebound percentage (38.4 percent) and is No. 2 with 7.3 spg and 13.2 offensive rebounds. The Broncos are No. 3 in scoring offense (75.1), rebounding offense (36.7), turnover margin (-0.6) and three-pointers made (7.6).
Individually Kevin Foster leads the WCC with 3.3 three per game and is No. 2 in ppg (18.4). Marc Trasolini is No. 13 (12.5) and No. 8 in rpg (6.3). In addition, Foster is No. 4 in free throw percentage (84.3) and No. 5 with 3.8 apg. Trasolini is No. 4 in field goal percentage (57.0) and No. 7 in off. rebounds (2.0). Ben Dowdell is No. 7 in spg (1.3) and Evan Roquemore is No. 6 in assist/turnover ratio (1.6) and Foster is No. 8 (1.3).
2 to 1,000
Sophomore-redshirt Kevin Foster has scored 900 career points and junior Marc Trasolini has scored 840 career points. Both are gunning for 1,000 career points this season with Foster needing 100 and Trasolini needing 160. With Foster averaging 18.4 ppg and Trasolini averaging 12.5 ppg, it's very realistic. They would be the first duo to both hit 1,000 career points in the same season since then-seniors Jens Gordon and Mitch Burley did it in 1988-89. Gordon scored 522 points that season to finish his career with 1,356 and Burley scored 377 to finish with 1,258 career points.
Gold Team
Santa Clara's self-dubbed "Gold Team", comprised of the four walk-ons, had a career night vs. Bethany. Beau Gamble, Kyle Perricone and Nate Mensah all hit their first career threes, with Gamble knocking down two. Each played at least four minutes with Phillip Bach playing a season-high 12 minutes, picking up a career-high four assists.
The four walk-ons were 4 of 13 beyond the arc. With those added shots, Santa Clara attempted the most threes and made the most threes in four years under Kerry Keating. The 12 threes were the most threes the Broncos have made in a game since it hit 12 on the way to a 64-52 victory over Pepperdine on Jan. 31, 2009. The 34 threes attempts were the most since it attempted 35 at Mississippi State on Dec. 3, 2005.
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.
Threes
Kevin Foster has had a career-high six threes three times this season: vs. Bethune-Cookman, vs. UC Santa Barbara and vs. Bethany. He is the first Bronco in school history to hit six or more threes in a game three times in the same year.
Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, a Bronco alum, and Mitch Burley both hit eight threes in a game once. Burley's came vs. Nevada-Reno on Dec. 14, 1988 and Nash's came at Gonzaga on Jan. 19, 1995. Nash hit seven threes in a game three times during his career and Steve Ross accomplished the task last for the Broncos, scoring seven threes vs. Gonzaga on Jan. 11, 2002.
Wondering who holds the Leavey Center record: junior Dan Dickau of Gonzaga was nine of 13 from beyond the arc vs. Santa Clara on Feb. 22, 2001. He scored 39 points that day (11 of 18 from the field and 8 of 8 from the free throw line). But Santa Clara won the war that day, coming away with an 84-71 victory as Steve Ross hit 10 of 14 free throws to score 22 for the Broncos.
Better Younger
Freshman Evan Roquemore has made very good after being inserted into the starting line-up nine games ago. He is averaging 12.6 ppg as a starter with 4.1 rpg and 4.4 apg. Overall this season he is third on the team with 11.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg and 3.3 apg. Roquemore is third on the team this season at the free throw line, shooting 85.2 percent (64 of 76). He has been perfect at the free throw line in five games this year: 6 of 6 vs. Rice, 10 of 10 vs. Northern Colorado, 6 of 6 at San Jose State, 7 of 7 vs. Washington State and 6 of 6 at CSU Northridge.
Really? No Dunking!
With 900 career points, Kevin Foster has quite a ways to go to reach Kurt Rambis' school record 1,736 points scored (1976-80). If he does collect the record, he can thank Southern California and Fordham for four points.
First, Donte Smith of Southern California (Nov. 15) was whistled for a technical foul in pre-game warm-ups when he dunked while the officials were out on the floor (against NCAA rules). Foster shot and made two free throws prior to the start of the game.
Then Brian Freeman of Fordham (Dec. 30) was whistled for a technical foul for dunking in pre-game and Foster again stepped to the line to sink two free throws prior to the tip-off.
Side Notes
** Santa Clara defeated Bethany by 30 points with all four walk-ons playing at least four minutes each. Every player scored at least one point except Michael Santos, but he did have a career-high six rebounds and four assists.
** Kevin Foster sank two free throws prior to the start of the game vs. Fordham when it was whistled for dunking in warm-ups. Marc Trasolini led the team with a season-high 22 points.
** Santa Clara's 53 points scored vs. Delaware were the fewest points for the Broncos thus far this year. The 54 points scored by the Blue Hens were the fewest for an opponent this year.
** Santa Clara scored 99 points in its 99-79 win at CSU Northridge. Six players scored in double-figures for the Broncos as a career-first for head coach Kerry Keating and its the first time its happened since Nov. 25, 2002.
** 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.
** Kevin Foster was named the WCC Player of the Week on Dec. 9, 2010. It is the first time in his career he has been named WCC Player of the Week. Foster was a huge part of Santa Clara's 67-63 victory over cross-town rival San Jose State on Dec. 10. Foster scored a team-high 26 points, including hitting 9 of 11 free throws. It was the seventh time in his career that he has posted 25+ points. He played a team-high 35 minutes with a team-high four assists.
** Evan Roquemore started his first career game and Chris Cunningham started for the first time this year in the win at SJSU. Cunningham had four rebounds and Roquemore scored 14 points. Kevin Foster tied a then-season-high with 26 points. SCU turned the ball over 13 times in the first half, 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 then-career-high six points with a then-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. Bethune-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 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 SCU 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.
Conferences
Santa Clara played 16 games in the preseason. Of the 16 games, three were vs. the Pac-10 (at USC, vs. Arizona in Vegas and vs. Washington State) and three were vs. the Big West (vs. UC Santa Barbara, at Pacific and at CSU Northridge). They have also played one vs. the following conferences as well: Conference USA (vs. Rice) the Big Sky (vs. Northern Colorado), the WAC (San Jose State), the MAC (vs. Ohio in Vegas), the Great West (Houston Baptist) and the MEAC (Bethune-Cookman), the Colonial Athletic Assoc. (vs. Delaware), Atlantic 10 (Fordham) and the California Pacific Conference (Bethany). CSU Bakersfield is an independent .
Foster: 24 x 19+
Kevin Foster has scored 19+ in nine of 16 games this season, hitting double-figures in 15 of 16 games (scoring nine vs. Rice). He scored a then season-high 26 points in the win over San Jose State and tossed in a season-high 29 in the overtime loss vs. Washington State. At CSU Northridge, he had zero shot attempts heading the lockerroom at halftime with no points after picking up two early fouls. He came flying out of the lockerroom to score 22 points in the second half, hitting 9 of 12 attempts (2 of 3 from three-point) and collected five rebounds and five assists as well. He has hit six threes, a career-high, three times this season (vs. Bethune-Cookman, vs. UC Santa Barbara and vs. Bethany).
Only playing in six games last year before breaking his foot, he scored 19+ points four times last season. Foster scored 19+ points 11 times in 2008-09, including five of the last eight games of the season. He hit a career-high five three-pointers four times before hitting a new career-high six three-pointers vs. Bethune-Cookman and vs. UC Santa Barbara. He scored 20+ points 11 times his freshman year and has done it six times this season already. The school record is 17 games by Londale Theus in 1978-79 when he averaged 20.1 ppg.
Foster was nicknamed 'Microwave' by his father during his youth the Detroit Piston's Vinnie Johnson. Johnson earned the nickname 'the Microwave' from Boston Celtics guard Danny Ainge for his ability to score many points in a short period of time, heating up the offense.
He has scored 15+ points in 33 of 55 career games.