Basketball Hosts Gonzaga and Portland This Week
Santa Clara (10-9, 1-2 WCC) hosts Gonzaga (13-5, 3-0 WCC) on Thurs., Jan. 20 at 6 pm on ESPNU and then Portland (14-4, 2-1 WCC) on Sat., Jan. 22 at 3 pm. The Gonzaga game, its 75th meeting with the Broncos, will be televised nationally on ESPNU with Mark Neely and Miles Simon making the call.
Santa Clara split its first weekend road swing in the West Coast Conference last week with a 61-52 victory at San Diego before falling 84-59 at Saint Mary's. With the win Saint Mary's jumped into the nation's top 25, debuting at No. 21 (ESPN/USA Today). Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine (92-75) and LMU (79-59) at home last weekend and has won nine games in a row after dropping five of seven games earlier in the season.
Gonzaga leads the all-time series 44-30, but Santa Clara leads the series 21-13 in Santa Clara. Santa Clara's last win vs. Gonzaga in the Leavey Center came on Feb. 22, 2000 when it defeated the Zags 84-71. Since the Broncos last home win vs. Gonzaga in 2000, Santa Clara has defeated each WCC team at least three times at home with Santa Clara getting the best of Pepperdine and Portland seven games each, LMU six times, Saint Mary's and USF five times and San Diego three times.
Less than 400 Gonzaga Tickets:
Less than 400 tickets remain for Santa Clara's Thurs., Jan. 20 game with Gonzaga in the Leavey Center. The game will tipoff off at 6 pm (ESPNU). Fans can buy tickets three ways: Stopping by the Leavey Center from 9-4 pm weekdays (including game day!), by calling 408-554-4660 or clicking here. Get your tickets today!
Listen
The Gonzaga 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 6:00 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 conducted by Passarelli. If you are out of the listening area, KDOW is streamed online live at www.1220kdow.com.
Us vs. Them
The Broncos are scoring 73.1 ppg while giving up 71.9 ppg. They are rebounding 35.9 to their opponents 31.8 and shooting 42.9 percent, including 34.7 percent beyond the arc.
Gonzaga is averaging 77.9 ppg while giving up 66.1 ppg. The Zags are shooting 48.7 percent from the field, including 39.8 from beyond the three-point line. Gonzaga is grabbing 37.6 boards and giving up 30.6. They are averaging 14.4 turnovers per game compared to Santa Clara's own 14.9 turnovers per game.
Individually, Santa Clara has three players in double figures: Kevin Foster (18.5), Marc Trasolini (11.9) and Evan Roquemore (10.7). Foster leads the WCC and is second nationally this week in threes made; and he has dished a team-leading 3.8 apg and 1.4 spg. Scoring double figures in 18 of 19 games this season, Foster scored just nine vs. Rice but hit the game-winning three. Trasolini leads the team with 6.1 rpg and 1.1 bpg. Trasolini collected his fifth career double-double vs. CSU Bakersfield and had a season-high three blocks three times, scoring a season-high 22 vs. Fordham.
Gonzaga has three players averaging double figures: Steven Gray (14.8 ppg), Robert Sacre (13.8 ppg) and Elias Harris (12.5 ppg). Sacre leads the team with 6.6 rpg and he also swats down a team-leading 1.9 bpg Gray dishes out a team-leading 4.5 apg and grabs a team-leading 1.8 spg.
Plus Points
0 (Roquemore) - Dished out a career-high eight assists at Saint Mary's and scored a career-high 18 points vs. Northern Colorado.
01 (Payne) - Has had eight games this season with 6+ rebounds. Last season in his first 19 games that had happened five times.
03 (Cunningham) - Although he hasn't played in the past three games due to a sore back, Cunningham started the previous eight games and he is shooting a career-best 61.9 percent this season. It is the seventh-best shooting percentage for a season in Bronco history.
04 (Perricone) - Has played in two games this season and hit his first career field goal in the first game (Houston Baptist) and his first career three in the second game (Bethany).
10 (Dowdell) - Has nine games this season with 5+ rebounds. After 19 games this season, he is averaging the same amount of points at the same point last season: 6.8, but he is averaging .5 more rebounds and has 12 more assists, six more steals and three more blocks.
13 (Santos) - He has a season-high six rebounds vs. Bethany and a career-high four assists vs. the same team.
14 (Gamble) - Hit his first career points with two three-pointers in four minutes vs. Bethany. He jacked up four shots and grabbed two rebounds during that span as well.
15 (Trasolini) - Has hit double figures nine of the last 11 games. Has 45 career double-figure games and 25 15+ point games. His five career double-doubles rank No. 1 on the team this year. Was the only player in the WCC to be named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American All-District team. Sports a 3.51 GPA in Business.
21 (Foster) - First player in school history to hit six plus threes in three games in a season. He has now done it four times this year. The Broncos are 7-1 when he attempts 13 or less shots and 3-8 when he attempts 14 or more shots.
22 (Mensah) - Fourth-year walk-on hit his first career free throws and first career three-pointers in the four games he has played in this year. Has already been accepted to the Law Schools at Santa Clara University and American University; and is waiting to hear back from Cornell, Georgetown, George Washington and Howard.
24 (Clarke) - Has only played in three games early due to a foot injury.
25 (McArthur) - After being named the Bay Area Player of the Year out of famed De La Salle last year, he has played 8.1 mpg where he has collected 3+ rebounds in five games, playing double-digit minutes four times including a career-high 19 vs. Houston Baptist.
31 (Harrison) - Playing just seven minutes vs. Fordham, he has played an average of 18.3 mpg the last four games where he has scored 5.8 ppg and grabbed 3.5 rpg, swatting a season-high two blocks vs. USF.
33 (Bach) - Carrying a 3.48 grade point average in Marketing, he has come off the bench in three games this season, including a season-high 12 minutes vs. Bethany where he dished out a career-best four assists.
42 (Cowels) - Starting the last nine games and 20 throughout his two-year career, Cowels hit a season-high four threes vs. Northern Colorado and was 6 of 6 from the free throw line vs. Washington State. He scored a career-high 24 points vs. NCAA Tournament-bound Wofford last season, hitting five threes.
Scoring in bunches
Kevin Foster crushed eight threes on Jan. 8 vs. USF. Foster's eight threes vs. USF tied the school record set by Steve Nash (8 at Gonzaga on Jan. 19, 1995) and Mitch Burley (8 vs. Nevada-Reno, Dec. 14, 1988). Foster attempted 20 threes in the USF game, shooting 40.0 percent from beyond the arc. The attempts mark shattered Burley's school record set back in 1988 (17) and Nash's in 1995 (17). The 20 attempts also shattered the WCC record set by Jeff Fryer of LMU vs. Santa Clara on Feb. 24, 1989 when he attempted 18. It was also the Leavey Center record.
Then-junior Dan Dickau of Gonzaga holds the Leavey Center record. He was nine of 13 from beyond the arc vs. SCU 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 SCU 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.
Santa Clara has hit 12 three-pointers twice this season in back-to-back games vs. Bethany and USF. It is the most under head coach Kerry Keating. The 37 threes attempted vs. USF were the most they had attempted as a team since it set the school record with 45 attempts at San Diego on Feb. 5, 2004 in a 74-69 victory.
On Jan. 17 he was No. 2 nationally in threes per game and No. 67 nationally in three-point percentage. Prior to the USF game Foster had six threes, his previous career high, three times this year: vs. Bethune-Cookman, vs. UC Santa Barbara and vs. Bethany. He was the first Bronco in school history to hit six or more threes in a game three times (now four games) in the same season. The WCC record for threes in game is nine by two different players three times. Foster has scored 19+ in 10 of 18 games this season, hitting double-figures in 18 of 19 games (scoring nine vs. Rice). He has scored 25+ points five times this year.
Collecting
Marc Trasolini has 12 games in double figures this season, including three with 19+. He has scored 15+ 26 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 34.6 percent this year, hitting 18 of 52. He has hit a career-high three threes in five games this season. 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 39 of 55 free throws this season (70.9 percent), but has hit 26 of 31 free throws in the last nine games (83.8 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 227 points scored, 17.2 percent are coming from the free throw line (39 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.
Could they be No. 28 and No. 29?
Sophomore-redshirt Kevin Foster has scored 956 career points and junior Marc Trasolini has scored 867 career points. Foster has scored 351 points this season and Trasolini has scored 227. Both are gunning for 1,000 career points this season with Foster needing 44 and Trasolini needing 133. With Foster averaging 18.5 ppg and Trasolini averaging 11.9 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.
They would be the 28th and 29th players to score at least 1,000 career points. The last Bronco to cross 1,000 career points was 2009 WCC Player of the Year John Bryant who finished his four-year career with 1,667 points which was good for No. 6 on the list. Kurt Rambis holds the career record with 1,736 points scored.
Diaper Dandy
Freshman Evan Roquemore has made good after being inserted into the starting line-up nine games ago. He is averaging 11.4 ppg as a starter with 3.6 rpg and 4.5 apg. Overall this season he is third on the team with 10.7 ppg, picks up 3.2 rpg and is second on the team with 3.7 apg. Roquemore is third on the team this season at the free throw line, shooting 82.1 percent (69 of 84). He has been perfect at the free throw line in six 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, 6 of 6 at CSU Northridge and 1 of 1 at Saint Mary's.
Foster Plus
After breaking Steve Nash's single season record for three-pointers made as a freshman in 2008-09 with 85, it's no surprise Kevin Foster is already climbing up the three point career lists. Foster also owns the school record for three-pointers attempted with 232 shot his freshman season. Foster is No. 6 with 475 three-pointers attempted. His next milestone is down the road: he needs 16 attempts to pass No. 5 Ethan Rohde at 490 (2002-05). Foster has made 172 career threes and with the eight threes vs. USF, he passed Brian Jones at No. 5 (165, 1996-01). He needs 21 threes made to pass No. 4 Ethan Rodhe at 192 (2002-05). The career record for three pointers made is Steve Nash's 263 from 1992-96. The career record for three-pointers attempted is 679 by Kyle Bailey from 2001-05. A note: Foster will have a leg up on the competition, career-wise, as his six games last season will count towards his career totals as well.
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, vs. UC Santa Barbara and vs. Bethany. He then hit a career-best eight threes vs. USF on Jan. 8, tying the school record. He scored 20+ points 11 times his freshman year and has done it seven 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 35 of 57 career games and he has scored 19+ in 25 career games