Santa Clara Travels to LMU Saturday
Santa Clara (13-9, 4-2 WCC) continues its LA road trip with a 5 pm game at LMU (8-12, 1-5 WCC) on Sat., Jan. 29. The LMU game will be shown on FSN and called by Larry Burnett and Mitch Butler. Santa Clara hasn't swept the LA series since 2005.
Santa Clara is coming off a home sweep last weekend of Gonzaga and Portland; and made it three WCC wins in a row with its 71-59 win at Pepperdine to push its record to 4-0 on Thursdays. It was the Broncos first win at Pepperdine since 2005 and only its third in 17 years and fifth in 27 years.
LMU dropped a 61-60 game to USF after being up 17 points on Thursday night. LMU's lone win in the WCC this year was a 67-58 victory vs. San Diego.
Santa is 80-51 vs. the Lions, including 38-25 in Los Angeles. Santa Clara is looking for its fifth win in seven tries vs. the Lions, sweeping the season series in 2007-08 and 2008-09 before the Lions swept the season series with the Broncos last year. SCU had a nine-game winning streak in the LMU series between 1999-02.
Listen
The LMU 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 4:45 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 conducted by Passarelli. Out of the listening area, KDOW is streamed online live at www.1220kdow.com.
Broncos vs. Lions
The Broncos are scoring 73.5 ppg while giving up 70.7 ppg. They are rebounding 35.1 to their opponent's 31.1 and shooting 43.8 percent, including 34.6 percent beyond the arc.
LMU is averaging 70.7 ppg while giving up 70.4 ppg. The Lions are shooting 42.6 percent from the field, including 31.0 from beyond the three-point line. LMU is grabbing 40.4 boards and giving up 34.2. They are averaging 14.6 turnovers per game compared to Santa Clara's own 14.8 turnovers per game.
SCU has three players in double figures: Kevin Foster (18.8), Marc Trasolini (12.3) and Evan Roquemore (10.8). Foster leads the WCC and is third nationally Friday in threes made; and he has dished a team-leading 3.9 apg and 1.6 spg. His 18.8 ppg leads the WCC. Scoring double figures in 20 of 22 games this season, Foster scored just nine vs. Rice but hit the game-winning three and then hit eight at Pepperdine. Trasolini leads the team with 6.0 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.
LMU has two active players averaging double figures: Drew Viney (15.3 ppg), Vernon Teel (13.1 ppg). Teel leads the team with 6.9 rpg, 3.8 apg and 1.9 spg. Ayodeji Egbeyemi leads the team with 1.4 bpg.
Double Figures
Santa Clara had five starters plus a bench player score double figures in its 99-79 win at CSU Northridge on Dec. 22, 2010. Then the Broncos had all five starters score in double figures in its 85-71 win vs. Gonzaga on Jan. 20. It is the first time Santa Clara has had two games in a season with all five starters scoring double figures since 2007. Five starters scored double-figures in Santa Clara's 77-55 win over Pepperdine. In the two teams second match-up that season, all five Bronco starters finished with double figures, but the Waves got the best of the Broncos in an 89-82 overtime win Feb. 27, 2007.
Foster WCC Player of the Week Second Time This Season
After putting up a league-best 36 points in the 85-71 victory over Gonzaga on Jan. 20 and then scoring his 1000th career point two days later in the 72-59 win over Portland on Jan. 22, Kevin Foster was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week Jan. 24. It was the second time he has been named Player of the Week this season (Dec. 6 was the other). Leading the country with 74 threes made this season, Foster is No. 1 in scoring in WCC games and also overall. Last week he averaged 53.6 percent from the floor, including 45.0 percent from the three-point line and 84.2 percent from the free throw line. Foster was also named the NetScouts.com WCC Player of the Week Monday.
In the 14-point win over Gonzaga, its worst loss to a WCC opponent in the regular season since 1999, Foster scored a career-high 36 points, hitting six three-pointers. His 36 points were the sixth-best in school history at home. He was also 8 of 10 from the free throw line, adding five assists and two steals. With his parents in the stands, Foster scored his 1,001th career point on a three at 1:36 in the first half vs. Portland. He was 8 of 9 from the free throw line, tying a season-high with three steals.
Foster is the 28th player Bronco to score 1,000 career points, but the first Bronco sophomore in school history. His 1019 points are No. 26 on the list already. Junior Marc Trasolini is edging closer to 1,000 points himself as he has scored 910 points in his Bronco career and would be the 29th player in school history, and the third under Keating. Foster and Trasolini 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.
Foster has scored 19+ 12 times this season and has hit double-figures in 20 of the Broncos 22 games this year. Foster has scored 15+ points in 37 of 61 career games and he has scored 19+ in 27 career games.
Positive Points
0 (Roquemore) - Named the 20th best freshmen this season by BasketballProspectus.com recently. 11 of the last 17 games he has hit double figures, including 13 vs. Gonzaga and 14 at Pepperdine. Dished out a career-high eight assists at Saint Mary's and scored a career-high 18 points vs. Northern Colorado.
01 (Payne) - After starting 40 straight games, gave up his starting role for 11 games before earning it back prior to the Zags game. Backed up Gonzaga game, where he scored a season-high 11 points, with nine points and nine rebounds vs. Portland. He followed up by tying a career-high with six steals at Pepperdine, also tying a season-high with 11 points. Has had 11 games this season with 6+ rebounds. Last season in his first 22 games that had happened six times.
03 (Cunningham) - Although he hasn't played in the past six 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) - Tied a career-high with 22 points in the win over Portland. Previous career-high came his freshman year vs. Niagara on Dec. 29, 2007. Shot season-best 7 of 10 from the field, making 8 of 10 free throws. Has 10 games this season with 5+ rebounds.
13 (Santos) - Gave SCU 16 good minutes off the bench in the Gonzaga game and followed it up with 20 strong minutes in Portland win. Coach Keating was happy to see him healthy after suffering with a sprained hand for a couple weeks and said he had an excellent week of practice. Had season-high six rebounds and career-high four assists vs. Bethany.
14 (Gamble) - Hit his first career points with two three-pointers in four minutes vs. Bethany. He put up four shots and grabbed two rebounds during that span as well.
15 (Trasolini) - Has hit double figures 12 of the last 14 games. 90 points from a career 1,000 points (would be 29th player in school history). Has 48 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) - Scored his 1,001th career point with a three at 1:36 in the first half in the Portland win; finished with 19 points on the game and 1,011 points in his career. Now has 1,019 which is quickly No. 26. First sophomore in school history and 28th player overall to score 1,000+ career points. Scored a career-high 36 points in the Gonzaga win - the sixth-best ever by a Bronco in a home game. First player in school history to hit six plus threes in three games in a season. He has now done it five times this year.
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 8.7 mpg where he has collected 3+ rebounds in six games, playing double-digit minutes six times including a career-high 19 vs. Houston Baptist and 16 important minutes in the Gonzaga win.
31 (Harrison) - Scored a season-high 12 points at Pepperdine, his first time in double figrues this season after hitting double figures nine times last season. Playing just seven minutes vs. Fordham, he has played an average of 14.9 mpg the last seven games where he has scored 5.3 ppg and grabbed 2.3 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 in nine games this season 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.