Santa Clara-LMU Game Notes | Single-Game Tickets

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara is in the midst of three straight home games and coming off Thursday's thrilling 62-60 victory against Pepperdine. Jared Brownridge nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner with 1.3 seconds to send the Broncos to their third victory in four games. Brownridge led four players in double figures and the Broncos turned the ball over just three times.

LMU won its first league game of the season Thursday, downing USF, 87-83, on the road behind 20 points off the bench for senior David Humphries.

SANTA CLARA (7-12, 3-4) vs. Loyola Marymount (8-9, 1-5)

Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016 • Leavey Center (4,700) • 8 p.m. PST

TV: CSN Bay Area, ROOT Northwest/Rocky Mountain - Glen Kuiper (play-by-play) and Dan Belluomini (analyst).

Live Stream: TheW.tv (blackout in local markets)

Radio: KSCU (103.3 FM) - Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (analyst)

Live Stats: www.statbroadcast.com

Tickets: Mini-plans and single-game options are available. Click here to purchase tickets (link to single-game) For information, call (408) 554-4660 weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. or email BroncoTickets@scu.edu. Doors to Leavey Center open one hour prior to tipoff. The ticket office is also open one hour prior to the start of the game. During games, Chad Cardinal and Jesse Moreno of the ticket operations staff will be located above Section 105 to answer questions.

Parking: There are two venues available for gameday parking. The campus parking structure is located just inside the main campus entrance off El Camino Real. The Leavey Center parking lot also has a limited number of spaces. Gameday parking is $10. Click here for a campus map.

Radio/Live Stream: Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) and John Stege (color) will call the action for the Broncos on KSCU 103.3 FM. The game can be heard over the air or online through tunein. All Broncos home games and West Coast Conference contests will also be streamed through TheW.tv (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air).

Quick Hits...
After dropping their first seven games of the season, the Broncos, led by ninth-year head coach Kerry Keating, have gone 7-5 since Nov. 29. They have been improving offensively, especially behind the 3-point line. After connecting on 34.1 percent from the field, including 25.1 on 3-pointers, in the first five games, the Broncos are hitting 44.0 percent (37.2 on 3-pointers) in the last 14 contests.
• Jared Brownridge, in his third year as a starter, ranks third in the WCC and No. 42 nationally in the scoring (19.3 ppg). He is second on the team in assists (2.5 pg) and third in rebounding (career-high 3.6 pg). He is connecting on 83.8 percent of his free throws (third in the WCC) and his 98 makes from the charity stripe are tied for No. 15 in the NCAA this year. He also ranks tied for 21st nationally on 3-point field goals (53). Brownridge is the only player in the nation to rank in the top 30 of both those categories. Junior forward Nate Kratch is second on the team in scoring (11.2 ppg) and leads in both rebounding (9.0 pg/third in the WCC) and FG percentage (57.8/fourth in the WCC).
• Despite playing just two-plus seasons, Brownridge already ranks third in school history with 241 career 3-pointers and 15th in scoring (1,432 points). In addition, his career scoring average (17.2 ppg) ranks No. 6 on the Broncos all-time chart and his career 3-point field-goal percentage (42.1) is tops in school history. After missing most of preseason practice Brownridge had an uneven start to the season, but has been heating up. He has scored in double figures each of the last 10 games, averaging 21.4 points on 44.9 percent shooting from the floor, including 47.4 from behind the 3-point line.
• KJ Feagin has emerged in the last month as another scoring option and been a consistent distributor. The freshman guard has scored in double figures in seven of the last 11 games and averaged 12.5 points in that span. He has posted a career high in assists twice in WCC action (8 vs. Pacific, Dec. 21; 9 vs. Saint Mary's, Dec. 23) and tallied the second-highest point total of his career (25), including a career-best 13 FTs, vs. Portland (Jan. 2).
• Eight of Santa Clara's 12 losses have been by eight points or less, including six that were within three. The Broncos have lost three times in overtime.
• The Broncos have two players on the shelf and three others battling injury. Sophomore guard Evan Wardlow (broken right wrist) missed the last 10 games and will be out approximately two months. Sophomore forward Jarvis Pugh (knee) missed the previous seven games before playing against Saint Mary's (Dec. 23), but sat out the last five. Junior guard Brendyn Taylor (concussion) returned vs. Nevada (Dec. 19) after missing seven games. Freshman forward Tony Lewis (leg) has not played this season. Sophomore forward Matt Hubbard was limited to only five minutes vs. Saint Mary's due to an ankle injury, but did play in the last five games.

Team Trends...
• After connecting on 48.6 percent of their 3-point field goals in the previous five-game stretch, the Broncos have hit 30.1 percent in the last four. However, they have nailed 50.4 percent of their 2-point field goals in that span.
• Santa Clara has averaged 21 free-throw attempts in the last four games, including a season-best 37 vs. Portland (Jan. 2). The Broncos rank fourth in the WCC in free-throw percentage (71.2), but connected on only 58.1 percent during BYU and San Diego games. They were 6 of 8 vs. Pepperdine.
• The opposition connected on 38.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc in the first five games, but has been held to 31.6 percent in the last 14 contests. In five of the last six games, the Broncos have held foes to 33 percent or less on 3-pointers.

Spreading the Wealth...
The Broncos placed four players in double figures for the third time in the last four games in Thursday's win vs. Pepperdine. Nate Kratch led the way with a game-high 15 points. During the first 15 games of the season, Santa Clara only had as many as three players in double figures six times. The Broncos are 6-3 when at least three players reach double figures, including 3-0 with four players scoring 10 or more.

Tidbits...
• After going five straight games without reaching double figures, Nate Kratch has tallied at least 10 points in the last two games (averaging 16.0). He led the led the team in scoring each of those contests.
• Santa Clara's three turnovers vs. Pepperdine were a season-low (six vs. Pacific Union and Saint Mary's) and the fewest since posting two vs. Simpson College on Nov. 10, 2012.
• With 12 points vs. Pepperdine, Jared Brownridge (1,443) moved from 16th to 15th on the school's career scoring list, passing Bud Ogden (1,437/1965-69), an All-American and NBA player.
• Since an 0-for-3 performance from the free-throw line at Pacific (Dec. 21), Feagin has connected on 21 of 22 free throws (95.5 percent). He has improved from 59.1 to 77.3 percent from the line in the last five games.
• The Portland game was the first time in school history two Bronco players made at least 13 free throws. Brownridge was 13-for-13 and Feagin 13 of 14. Brownridge is the fifth Santa Clara player on record to be perfect from the line in Leavey Center with at least 10 attempts. The last was Steve Nash who made all 21 of his attempts (a school record) vs. Saint Mary's on Jan. 7, 1995
• Brownridge has scored 20 or more points in six of the last 10 games and eight times on the season. He has connected on seven or more 3-pointers three times (seven vs.  Arizona, Nov. 26; seven at Nevada, Dec. 18; career-high eight vs. Pacific, Dec. 23).
• Sophomore forward Jarvis Pugh made his return from a knee injury vs. Saint Mary's, playing 24 minutes and scoring six points to go with four rebounds. However, he had to sit out the last five games with the same ailment.

Scouting the Lions...
Loyola Marymount, 8-9 (1-5 WCC) on the season, snapped a five-game skid with Thursday's 87-83 road victory vs. San Francisco. The Lions received 48 bench points and shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half to claim their first league win of the year. Adom Jocko, an athletic forward, leads the team in scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 pg). Guard Brandon Brown is second on the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and ranks fourth in the WCC in assists (5.8 pg). The Lions are first in the league in turnover margin (+3.1 per game) and second in free-throw shooting (72.7 percent). However, they are No. 10 in the WCC in opponent field-goal percentage (44.6).

The LMU Series...
The series began in 1937 with the Broncos holding a 86-57 lead. Santa Clara has won four of the last five, including all three meetings last season.

Notables...
• Nate Kratch and KJ Feagin have been the team's most accurate shooters. Kratch has connected on 57.8 percent from the floor (fourth in the WCC), scoring mostly in the paint, while Feagin has hit 46.8 percent of his field-goal attempts on a mix of drives and jump shots. Forward Jarvis Pugh has connected on 50 percent from the floor, though he has missed 2 games with a knee injury.
• In seven conference games, three players - Henrik Jadersten (50.0/7 of 14) Kai Healy (47.4/9 of 19), Jared Brownridge (44.0/22 of 50) and - have each hit at better than a 40-percent clip on 3-pointers.  
• Feagin has totaled 58 assists during the last 12 games (4.8 pg), including a career-high nine vs. Saint Mary's (Dec. 21). His assist-to-turnover ratio in that span is 2.4-to-1.
• Brownridge and Kratch are the only players to start all 19 games. Emmanuel Ndumanya made his first career start in the Gonzaga game (Dec. 31) and was also in the starting lineup the last three games. His 24 minutes played vs. Gonzaga were one shy of his career high (25 vs. Portland, Feb. 7, 2015).
• Until the Gonzaga game, the Broncos used the same starting lineup - Kratch, Matt Hubbard, Jared Brownridge, Feagin and Healy - for six straight outings. Ndumanya was in the starting lineup vs. the Bulldogs replacing Hubbard who injured an ankle in the previous game vs. Saint Mary's. Hubbard, who started the previous eight games, has played as a reserve in the last five outings.

By The Numbers…
1...Jared Brownridge is the only player in the NCAA to rank in the top 30 in both made free throws (t-15th at 98) and 3-pointers (t-21st at 53) this season.
3...Jared Brownridge (1,443) needs three more points to move from 15th to 14th on the school's career scoring list. Mike Stewart (1,446/1970-73) is currently 15th.
7...The Broncos have used seven different starting lineups this season.
8...Nate Kratch has eight rebounds in 12 of 19  games this season, including 12 vs. UC Riverside (Nov 19), 14 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 23), 12 vs. San Jose State, 18 vs. Pacific Union (Dec. 5) and 14 vs. Portland (Jan. 2).
38.1...Average career games played among the 12 active players on the roster (freshmen Tony Lewis and Bryson Lockley have not played). That group has played in a total of 457 games, with juniors Jared Brownridge (84) and Nate Kratch (84) accounting for 168.