Broncos Head to Southern California to Play Pepperdine Saturday

Posted: Feb 14, 2008

Feb. 14, 2008

Last Game
The Santa Clara Broncos dropped another close game on Feb. 11 at the Leavey Center to the Saint Mary's Gaels. Two free throws by the Gaels' Diamon Simpson with under 30 seconds to play proved to be the difference in the 54-50 loss. John Bryant led the Broncos with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Brody Angley added 11 points and seven rebounds. The Broncos came back from a 13-point deficit to take the lead late in the game, but the Gaels pulled out the hard-fought victory.

Next Game
The Santa Clara Broncos hit the road this weekend after three straight home games. SCU faces Pepperdine on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. PT at Firestone Fieldhouse and then travel to Loyola Marymount on Monday, Feb. 18. Fans can listen to the action live on 1220 KNTS and SantaClaraBroncos.com. The Broncos and Waves hooked up for one of SCU's highest scoring games in recent history on Jan. 21 at the Leavey Center. The Broncos prevailed 101-86 in that game and will look for the season sweep on Saturday.

Head Coach Kerry Keating
Santa Clara University named Kerry Keating head coach on April 6, 2007. Keating, 36, comes to SCU with a long coaching backgroud at a number of top programs. He is the 14th head coach in the 101 years of Bronco basketball and he is the first coach hired since Harlan Dykes in 1926 that had not previously attended SCU or served as an assistant coach on the Mission Campus. Most recently, Keating helped UCLA reach back-to-back Final Fours as an assistant coach on Ben Howland's staff in Westwood. He has also served as an assistant at Tennessee, Tulsa, Appalachian State, Seton Hall, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. He is off to a 12-11 start in his career at SCU.

SCU vs. Pepperdine
Series Record: SCU leads 64-49
First Meeting: SCU 79-56 win in 1955-56
2006-07 at Malibu: Pepp won 89-82 (OT)
2006-07 at SCU: SCU won 77-55
Record at SCU: SCU leads 38-19
Record at Pepperdine: Pepp leads 30-19
Record at Neutral Site: SCU leads 7-0
Biggest SCU Win: 112-70 (42) in 1965-66
Biggest Pepp Win: 96-58 (38) in 2002
Notes: SCU has won five of the last six games played at the Leavey Center ... Santa Clara is just 8-25 in Firestone Fieldhouse since it opened on November 30, 1973 ... SCU has won just once at Pepperdine since an 87-76 victory over the Waves in 1996 ... Pepperdine has never beaten Santa Clara at a neutral site ... Santa Clara owns the longest win streak in series history with a 19-game streak from 1964-1973 ... Pepperdine's longest win streak over the Broncos was a six-game skein twice ... John Bryant scored a then career high 26 points at Firestone Fieldhouse on Feb. 26, 2007 ... Santa Clara broke the 100-point barrier against Pepperdine on Jan. 21, the first time the Broncos had reached 100 points since 1993.

Last Game vs. Pepperdine
The Santa Clara Broncos got out to a 20-point first half lead and then held off the Pepperdine Waves in the second half for a 101-86 win. Brody Angley scored a then career high 24 points and dished out a career high 13 assists to lead five players in double figures for the Broncos. Ben Dowdell scored 17 points, while Zac Tiedeman set a career high with 13 points. The Broncos had a season high 12 three-pointers and shot .667 from the field, tied for the seventh highest single-game shooting percentage in program history.

Angley Hits 1,000
Santa Clara senior Brody Angley recached 1,000 points for his career with a second half free throw on Feb. 4 against the Portland Pilots. He is the 26th player in school history to reach 1,000. With 1,016 points following the Broncos game on Feb. 11, he is now tied with Jim Young (1951-54) for 24th on the all-time scoring list.

Bryant Nearing 1,000
Junior center John Bryant is also closing in on 1,000 points in his career at SCU. He has scored 921 points with six regular season games remaining. At his current pace, he would reach the 1,000 point mark in the last regular season game.

Shooting Percentage
Santa Clara shot .667 from the floor on Jan. 21 against Pepperdine, tying for the seventh best shooting performance in school history. It also marked the eighth time SCU has shot better than 50 percent this year. After shooting 55 percent from the floor against USF on Jan. 28 and 52 percent against Gonzaga on Feb. 2, SCU has broken the 50 percent barrier 10 times. The season high of .718 was set on Nov. 25 at Sacramento State. That performance at Sacramento State was the second best shooting percentage in Santa Clara history. For the game, SCU hit .718 percent from the field and in the second half, the team hit .864 percent (19-of-22). The all-time program record for shooting in a game is .719, set on Jan. 4, 1980 against Pepperdine.

100 Points
Santa Clara scored 101 points against the Pepperdine Waves on Jan. 21. The Broncos had not scored 100 in a game since scoring 111 against Chico State on Nov. 27, 1993. Brody Angley hit two free throws in the final minute to put SCU over 100.

Five in Double Figures
Santa Clara had five players score in double figures on Jan. 21 vs. Pepperdine. Brody Angley (24), Ben Dowdell (17), John Bryant (17), Zac Tiedeman (13) and Jonathan Gunderson (12) all reached double figures. The last time SCU accomplished that feat was Feb. 26, 2007 at Pepperdine.

Assists
Santa Clara made 36 field goals on Jan. 21 and the team recorded 29 assists on those field goals. The 29 assists tied for the fourth most ever by a Santa Clara team. The all-time record for assists in a game is 35, set on Jan. 31, 1975 against Loyola Marymount. Nine different players registered assists against Pepperdine.

Blocks
Santa Clara tied a season high with nine blocks against Portland on Feb. 4. John Bryant set the pace with five blocks. The Broncos also had nine at Sacramento State on Nov. 25.

Overtime
Santa Clara played its first overtime game, a double overtime contest, of the season on Feb. 2 vs. Gonzaga. SCU played two overtime games last season, beating Utah State 77-75 and losing to Pepperdine 89-82. The last time Santa Clara played a double overtime game was Dec. 22, 2003 against Maryland-Baltimore Country, winning 65-63.

Angley Career High
Senior Brody Angley scored a career high 28 points on Feb. 2 against Gonzaga and played a career high 48 minutes for SCU. Angley shot 10-for-19 from the floor in the game and also grabbed six rebounds and notched six assists. Angley's previous career high was 24, set on Jan. 21 vs. Pepperdine.

Bryant Scores at the Line
Gonzaga forced Santa Clara junior John Bryant to work for his 22 points, as Bryant was fouled throughout the game on Feb. 2. Bryant was great from the line, however, hitting a career best 12-of-13 shots from the charirty stripe.

Tiedeman Injury
Sophomore Zac Tiedeman suffered a left knee sprain on Saturday, Jan. 26 at San Diego. He missed the Broncos' games on Monday, Jan. 28 at San Francisco, Saturday, Feb. 2 vs. Gonzaga and Monday, Feb. 4 vs. Portland. He is expected to be out 4-5 weeks.

Bryant Double Doubles
John Bryant notched his 11th double double of the year on Feb. 11 vs. Saint Mary's with 21 points and 12 rebounds. He has had six double doubles in eight conference games. He also earned them against Saint Mary's, Loyola Marymount, San Diego, San Francisco and Portland, but just missed a double double on Jan. 21 vs. Pepperdine with 14 points and nine rebounds. Bryant is now averaging a double double in conference games, 17.5 ppg and a league high 10.9 rpg. He also has had double doubles against Cal State Monterey Bay on Nov. 9, Sacramento State on Nov. 25, San Jose State on Dec. 8, Montana on Dec. 17 and Denver on Dec. 28. Bryant had five double doubles in 2006-07 and four double doubles as a freshman during the 2005-06 season.

Angley Double Double
Senior point guard Brody Angley notched his fourth career double double and third of the season on Jan. 28 at San Francisco. Angley scored 11 points and had 10 assists against USF. He also had a double double on Jan. 21 vs. Pepperdine, notching career highs in points (24) and assists (13), and Dec. 29 vs. Niagara, scoring 10 points and tying his career high with 11 rebounds. His only previous double double came on Nov. 26, 2005 against Pacific when he scored 12 points and grabbd a career high 11 rebounds.

Bryant's Consistency
Junior center John Bryant has had an impressive season so far for Santa Clara. He has scored in double figures in 22 out of 23 games, including a career high 29 at Simpson on Nov. 13. He has also scored over 20 points 10 times. He has also grabbed at least four rebounds in every game. The San Pablo, Calif. native has recorded seven or more rebounds 17 times.

Conference Stats
The 2007-08 Broncos are among the leaders in a number of statistical categories in the West Coast Conference. SCU is second in field goal percentage (.483), first in 3-point field goal percentage (.387), first in scoring defense (61.7), first in rebounding defense (27.6) and first in free throw percentage (.719). Individually, John Bryant is second in scoring (17.7), first in rebounding (9.5), first in field goal percentage (.586) and first in blocked shots (2.17). He is also first in double doubles with 11. Brody Angley is second in assists (5.22), third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.62) and tied for sixth in free throw percentage (.788). Jonathan Gunderson and Calvin Johnson are fourth and sixth in 3-point field goal percentage at .435 and .408 respectively.

Conference Only Stats
In West Coast Conference games, John Bryant and Brody Angley have been dominant. Bryant is second in scoring at 17.5 points per game and first in rebounding (10.9) and blocked shots (2.50). Angley is fourth in scoring at 15.2 points per game and third in assists at 5.62 per game. Bryant and Angley are also fourth and fifth in free throw percentage at .833 and .767 respectively.

Dowdell's Roll
Freshman Ben Dowdell scored only four points at San Francisco on Jan. 28. However, prior to that performance, he had been on a roll for SCU. He scored 13 points, grabbed four rebounds and notched a block and a steal at San Diego on Jan. 26. He also converted a last-minute three-point play that put SCU up 51-50. Following that game he had scored in double figures in five of the seven games after accomplishing that only once in his first 11 games. He raised his scoring average from 4.6 following the Minnesota game on Dec. 22 to 7.8 after the game at San Diego. He has also shown a knack for getting to the free throw line, taking at least four free throws in eight straight games from Dec. 28-Jan. 26.

Threes
Santa Clara shot 12-for-20 from beyond the 3-point line on Jan. 21 against Pepperdine, setting a season high for 3-pointers made. The 12 three-pointers were the most since the Santa Clara hit 13 threes on Jan. 6, 2005 against Gonzaga. Santa Clara has hit double figures in three-pointers made three times this season, vs. Pepperdine Jan. 21 (12), at San Francisco on Jan. 28 (10) and vs. Gonzaga on Feb. 2 (10).

Angley Racks Up The Minutes
Senior Brody Angley is used to playing a lot of minutes, as he was averaging 28.4 minutes per game for his career coming into this season. However, this year, Angley has been an iron man, playing 36.1 minutes per game to lead the Broncos in that category. In the seven games prior to the Saint Mary's game on Jan. 12, he had not played fewer than 35 minutes in any game. Against Saint Mary's, foul trouble forced him to play just 31 minutes, his lowest total since he played 31 on Dec. 8 against San Jose State. In his past six games, he played 36 minutes vs. LMU on Jan. 19, 38 against Pepperdine on Jan. 21, 38 at San Diego on Jan. 26, 35 at USF on Jan. 28, a career high 48 vs. Gonzaga on Feb. 2, 40 against Portland on Feb. 4 and 39 against Saint Mary's on Feb. 11.

On the Road
Santa Clara is currently 6-6 on the road this season. With one more road win, SCU will match last season's total of seven road wins. The Broncos went 5-2 on the road in conference play last season.

On the Boards
Santa Clara has held the rebounding edge in 15 of its 23 games this season and have been outrebounded in six games, Stanford on Dec. 19, Niagara on Dec. 29, San Jose State on Jan. 7, Saint Mary's on Jan. 12, at San Diego on Jan. 26 and vs. Portland on Feb. 4. Santa Clara and Utah State each had 26 boards on Dec. 1 and SCU and Pacific each had 32 on Dec. 12. Overall, the Broncos have outrebounded opponents 735-635 for a +4.3 margin.

Double Digits
Santa Clara defeated Portland by two points (52-50) on Feb. 4. The game marked just the third time this year that SCU has won by less than 10 points. The Broncos have earned nine of their 12 victories by 10 points or more this season. Their three single-digit wins were by nine points, vs. Eastern Washington on Nov. 29 (66-57), vs. Denver on Dec. 28 (74-65 in OT) and vs. Portland on Feb. 4 (52-50).

Free Throw Line
SCU has improved significantly at the free throw line this season through 23 games. The Broncos are shooting 72 percent from the charity stripe this year after shooting 67 percent last season.

Threes
Senior Brody Angley, junior Calvin Johnson and sophomore Jonathan Gunderson are all shooting well from 3-point range this year. Gunderson leads the way at .435, (30-for-69) followed by Johnson at .405 (29-of-71) and Angley (.396, 40-for-101). The record for 3-point percentage for a season is .454, set by Steve Nash in 1994-95. As a team, SCU is shooting .387 from beyond the arc. The season record at Santa Clara is .390, set in 1994-95.

Angley Assists
Senior point guard Brody Angley had 119 assists last season, giving him 342 career assists coming into this season. With 120 assists in the first 23 games he has now passed Kyle Bailey (2001-05) for fourth all-time and has 462 career assists. Next on the list is Eddie Joe Chavez (1974-78), who has 482 career assists.

Angley Threes
Brody Angley has made 114 three pointers on 324 attempts in his Santa Clara career. Both of those numbers place him eighth all-time in program history. Brandon Rohe (2003-07) is next on the list for threes made with 119.

Angley More Top 10s
Brody Angley also finds himself in the Top 10 all-time in steals at SCU with 155. He passed Steve Nash (1992-96) for fifth all-time with a steal on Jan. 7. Next on the list is John Woolery (1990-94) with 192. Along with steals, Angley now finds himself in the Top 10 all-time in games started as well. After starting against Saint Mary's, the Redding, Calif. native, now has 103 starts, he is tied with Dan Weiss (1984-88) for third all-time in games started. Angley has an opportunity to end his career second all-time if he starts 28 games this season. The all-time leader is Brian Jones (1996-01) with 116 starts. Kurt Rambis (1976-80) is second with 107. Angley has now also reached the Top 10 in minutes played as well with 3,411 all-time. That number places him fifth on Santa Clara's all-time list.

Bryant Moving Up
Center John Bryant blocked 49 shots last season, surpassing his 37 from the 2005-06 season. Bryant's 49 blocks were the third highest single season total in school history. He surpassed Jens Gordon (1987-88), who had 48. After 50 blocks in the first 23 games this year, Bryant now has 136 career blocks, moving him past Jens Gordon (1985-89) into second all-time in blocks. Nick Vanos (1981-85) is first with 159 blocks. He needs seven more blocks this year to reach 57 for the season and tie Vanos for the second most single season blocks in program history.

The Century Mark
Senior Brody Angley has now appeared in 114 games in his career at Santa Clara after starting against Saint Mary's on Feb. 11. He will enter the top 10 in school history for games played if he appears in one more game. The school's all-time record of 127 is held by Kyle Bailey (2001-05.) Fellow senior Mitch Henke also reached 100 games played after starting against Niagara in the Cable Car Classic and has now appeared in 109 in his career.