SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball will look to remain perfect on the season when it faces Sacramento State, another team with an unblemished record, on Saturday in Santa Cruz, California.

Tipoff between the Broncos and Hornets is set for 2 p.m. from Kaiser Permanente Arena. Due to Santa Cruz County guidelines, spectators will not be permitted inside the venue.

The Broncos are 4-0 at home on the season, including a 53-47 victory over CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 2 in Santa Cruz. Santa Clara (5-0) earned a win in its first road game of the season, a 76-69 triumph over Cal Poly on Wednesday.

The Hornets are 3-0 on the season, including 2-0 in the Big Sky Conference after a pair of home wins over Idaho last week.

QUICK HITS...
• With Wednesday's road win, the Broncos improved to 13-2 in the month of December over the last three seasons.
• Santa Clara has won 22 of its last 27 games at home, including its first 15 last season in Leavey Center.
• The Broncos are coming off a 20-13 mark last season, their first 20-win campaign in seven years and just fourth occurrence in the last 19.
• Santa Clara returns four starters and seven of its top nine scorers from last season, including preseason All-West Coast Conference performer Josip Vrankic, a three-year starter. The senior ranked first on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 pg) last season. DJ Mitchell was third in scoring (10.7 ppg) and second in rebounding (5.2 pg).
• Before his injury at the beginning of league play last year, junior Guglielmo Caruso was among the most productive and efficient big men in the WCC. He would have ranked first in the league in field-goal percentage (66.1) and third in blocked shots (1.1 pg) but did not appear in enough games to qualify. Caruso missed the last two games of the Bronco Invitational due to concussion protocol after being injured against Idaho State (Nov. 25).
• Mitchell and junior Keshawn Justice were two of the top three 3-point shooting threats in the league in 2019-20. They each shot 38 percent from behind the 3-point line.
• The Broncos had two of more productive first-year players in the WCC a year ago. Jaden Bediako was a member of the WCC All-Freshman team and Jalen Williams proved to be one of the most explosive first-year players in the league. Bediako was inserted into the starting lineup for Caruso as conference play opened and went on to average a team-best 11.9 rebounds per 40 minutes of play. Williams started the final 23 games and tallied the third-most steals (44) by a freshman in school history.
• Newcomers include freshman guard Trent Hudgens Jr. and three transfers in Christian Carlyle (Florida Gulf Coast), Joe Foley (Lehigh) and Vittorio Reynoso-Avila (Princeton). Carlyle and Reynoso-Avila are graduate transfers.

YEAR FIVE UNDER SENDEK...
The Broncos are in their 114th year, including fifth under Herb Sendek, who has been successful in each of his four head-coaching stops. With a resume that includes 18 postseason appearances and three conference coach of the year awards, Sendek has led the Broncos to three winning seasons, including a 20-13 mark in 2019-20. The program had not recorded three winning seasons during a four-year stretch since Dick Davey led it to seven in a row from 1994-95 through 2000-01. Sendek is in his 27th season as a collegiate head coach with stops at Arizona State, North Carolina State and Miami (Ohio).

THE SACRAMENTO STATE SERIES...
Santa Clara has won all seven meetings with the Hornets. They have faced off five times as members of Division I. Sacramento State, which plays in the Big Sky Conference, moved from Division II for the 1991-92 season. The Hornets, who were 16-14 in 2019-20, are led by head coach Brian Katz who is in his 13th season. He was an assistant under Carroll Williams at Santa Clara for two years (1987-89).

TEAM NOTES...
• Santa Clara joins top-ranked Gonzaga (3-0) among West Coast Conference schools without a loss this season.
• The Broncos hold a +5.2 rebounding and +3.0 turnover margin through five games. They had a season-low eight turnovers in Wednesday's win over Cal Poly and outrebounded all but one opponent (CSU Bakersfield, Dec. 2). They have also held the opposition to 57.0 points per game (No. 21 in the NCAA) and 33.1 percent shooting from the floor (No. 7 in the NCAA). The Mustangs shot just 37.3 percent from the floor, but it was the highest mark this season by a foe.
• Santa Clara is averaging 5.2 blocks per game, which ranks No. 36 in the nation. The Broncos have blocked 20 shots over the last three games.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES...
• Josip Vrankic leads the team in scoring (18.8 ppg) and is second in both rebounding (8.6 pg) and assists (2.2 pg). Jaden Bediako leads the Broncos in rebounding (9.0) and has 20 of the team's 56 offensive boards. Christian Carlyle, a graduate transfer Florida Gulf Coast, is the top distributor with 4.0 assists per game.
• Miguel Tomley made his first career start one to remember with regulars Carlyle and Jalen Williams out of action with injuries. The redshirt freshman entered Wednesday's Cal Poly game with five points in 26 minutes of action in his previous three outings, but went 4-for-7 from the floor and made all five free throws in scoring a career-high 15 points in 34 minutes.
• Vrankic (17 points/14 rebounds) recorded the 13th double-double of his career and second of the season in Wednesday's win vs. Cal Poly. His rebounding total was one shy of his career high set against San Francisco (Feb. 9, 2019) and Nicholls (Nov. 28, 2020).

NONCONFERENCE SUCCESS...
The Broncos have won their last 10 nonconference games overall and 21 nonleague home contests, the longest stretch in school history. The last overall loss was a 97-68 road defeat at the hands of Nevada on Dec. 4, 2019. Idaho State was the last nonconference foe to knock off the Broncos in Leavey Center, escaping with a 68-66 victory on Dec. 7, 2018.

RADIO/LIVE STREAM
Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) calls for his 14th season. All Broncos home games and West Coast Conference contests (not on an ESPN platform, CBS Sports Network or BYUtv) will be streamed through WCC Network (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air). In addition, games can also be heard on the TuneIn app. The Lunardi's Market's Pregame Show begins 10 minutes prior to tipoff on TuneIn.

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