SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball will look to improve to 2-0 in West Coast Conference play when it faces Pacific on the road on Thursday.

Tipoff between the Broncos and Tigers is set for 2 p.m. in Alex G. Spanos Center.

Santa Clara (7-2, 1-0) is coming off a thrilling 66-64 road win over Saint Mary's. Keshawn Justice scored a season-high 23 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 18 seconds left, to help the Broncos claim their second-straight win in Moraga.

The Tigers (3-1) will be playing their first WCC contest and have been out of action since a 92-64 win over Westmont College on Dec. 20.

QUICK HITS...
• Santa Clara's 6-0 start to the season was tied for the eighth-best in school history.
• Santa Clara has won 23 of its last 29 home games, 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.
• 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 Broncos had only three winning records in the previous 15 seasons, and the program had not recorded three winning campaigns 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 SAINT MARY'S SERIES...
The Broncos have a 99-46 edge in a series that dates to 1905 and won four of the last five meetings. This is the eighth season the Tigers have been a member (for the second time) of the West Coast Conference, with the Broncos leading 10-5 in that span. But the teams have faced each other every season since 1994-95. The 145 games played are the fifth-most among Santa Clara opponents. Santa Clara has won four of the last six in Stockton, though the Tigers prevailed last season.

TEAM NOTES...
• Santa Clara's win at Saint Mary's on Saturday was its second straight in Moraga, California. The Broncos hadn't won in back-to-back seasons at Saint Mary's since 2001-02 and 2002-03.
• The Broncos have played three home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena due to COVID-19 restrictions in Santa Clara County. There have been four cancellations (Dec. 5 vs. New Mexico State; Dec. 12 vs. Sacramento State; Dec. 18 vs. San Jose State; Dec. 23 vs. Bethesda) and one postponement (Jan. 2 vs. LMU) in games scheduled for the facility. The team is also practicing in Santa Cruz.
• Santa Clara has held the opposition to 36.8-percent shooting from the floor (No. 8 in the NCAA) and 63.3 points per game (No. 34 in the NCAA). USC shot 45.7 percent from the floor on Dec. 29, the highest mark this season by a foe, but the Broncos rebounded to hold Saint Mary's to 39.0 percent on Saturday. Santa Clara has struggled shooting from outside, connecting on just 25.6 percent from behind the 3-point line. though they connected on a season-high 50 percent (6-for-12) on 3-pointers vs. the Gaels.
• The Broncos are averaging 5.1 blocks, which ranks 16th in the nation, and hold a +4.6 rebounding edge per game. They have outrebounded all but three opponents (CSU Bakersfield, Dec. 2; USC, Dec. 29; Saint Mary's, Jan. 9). Santa Clara is second in the WCC in defensive rebounding percentage (78.5), trailing only Saint Mary's (80.6).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES...
• Josip Vrankic ranks ninth in the WCC in scoring (15.6 ppg) and second in rebounding (8.3 pg). Vrankic and Jeremiah Bailey of Pacific are the only players in the WCC averaging at least 15.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Jaden Bediako is tied for sixth in the league in rebounding (7.0 pg) and second in offensive rebounding (2.8 pg). Along with having 25 of the team's 91 offensive boards (27.5 percent), Bediako has two or more blocked shots in six games. His 2.0 blocks per contest rank No. 35 in the NCAA.
• Christian Carlyle, a graduate transfer Florida Gulf Coast, is third on the team in scoring (9.1 ppg) and second in assists (2.3 pg). Keshawn Justice is second on the team in scoring (10.3 ppg), first in assists (2.2 pg) and third in rebounding (6.1 pg).

HOW TO WATCH
All Santa Clara home games and West Coast Conference contests not shown on a national platform (ESPN, CBS Sports Network or BYUtv) will be streamed through the WCC Network (local blackout restrictions apply for games broadcast over the air). All events that are not selected for a Stadium Plus broadcast or a national outlet, can be viewed on the following platforms:

• WCCsports.com
• Roku
• Android Device
• iOS Device: Mobile • tvOS
• FireTV

Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) calls the action in his 14th season as Voice of the Broncos.

HOW TO LISTEN
All home games and most road contests can be heard on the TuneIn app. The Lunardi's Market's Pregame Show begins 10 minutes prior to tipoff with Anthony Passarelli (play-by-play) calling the action in his 14th season as Voice of the Broncos. Thursday's game vs. Pacific will be available on TuneIn.

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