Santa Clara Hosts San Diego Saturday Night at the Leavey Center

Posted: Feb 20, 2008

Feb. 20, 2008

Next Game
The Santa Clara Broncos play their final two home games of the season this weekend, hosting the San Diego Toreros and San Francisco Dons. SCU plays San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Leavey Center. The game will be aired live on 1220 KNTS. The Broncos then play Bay Area rival, San Francisco, on Monday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. The game against San Francisco will be aired live on Comcast SportsNet and 1220 KNTS. Both games can be heard on SantaClaraBroncos.com.

Last Game
John Bryant had another monster game for the Broncos with 36 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks to lead Santa Clara to a 66-46 victory over Loyola Marymount on Feb. 18. Bryant shot 15-for-20 from the floor as SCU took a big halftime lead and cruised to the victory. Brody Angley added 12 points and six assists as Santa Clara swept the season series from the Lions. Bryant is the first Bronco since Travis Niesen in 2006 to score over 30 points in a game.

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 13-12 start in his career at SCU.

SCU vs. San Diego
Series Record: SCU leads 34-27
First Meeting: USD 66-65 win on Dec. 19, 1963
2006-07 at USD: SCU won 61-47
2006-07 at SCU: SCU won 80-72
Record at SCU: SCU leads 21-11
Record at San Diego: USD leads 16-13
Record at Neutral Site: 0-0
Biggest SCU Win: 82-48 (34) on March 5, 2004
Biggest USD Win: 96-71 (25) on Jan. 6, 1990
Notes: Santa Clara is 6-6 overall in the Jenny Craig Pavilion and 4-3 against USD in the facility since it opened in time for the 2000-01 season ... SCU is 4-4 against USD in the Leavey Center since it opened that same season ... USD hosted the WCC Championships from 2001-2003 ... Santa Clara swept the series from the Toreros last season for the first time since 1996-97 ... In the game at USD on Jan. 20, 2007, the Broncos held the Toreros to 2-for-22 shooting in the second half and only 16 points.

Last Game vs. San Diego
The Santa Clara Broncos fell 53-51 to San Diego in a tight game at Jenny Craig Pavilion on Jan. 26. Brandon Johnson hit two free throws to give San Diego a late lead and the Broncos could not score in the final seconds. John Bryant led the Broncos with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Ben Dowdell had 13 points, including a three-point play in the final minute that put Santa Clara up 51-50. SCU held the Toreros to just 34 percent from the field, but could not get its sixth road win of the season.

Points in the Paint
Led by John Bryant, the Broncos have dominated the paint this season. SCU has won the points in the paint battle 18 times in 25 games. The team is 12-6 when scoring more points in the paint, 1-4 when losing the paint battle and 0-2 when both teams have an equal number of points in the paint.

Bryant's Monster Weekend
Santa Clara junior center John Bryant had one of the best weekends in Bronco basketball history on Feb. 16 and 18. The San Pablo native started the weekend by shooting 11-for-11 on Feb. 16 against Pepperdine and scoring 25 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked five shots. He ended the night with a streak of 17 straight field goals without a miss. He made his last six shots on Feb. 11 against Saint Mary's to start the streak. He stretched that streak to 19 by making his first two shots against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 18. He would miss his next shot, but finish 15-for-20 against the Lions for 36 points. He also pulled down 15 rebounds and recorded three blocks. The last time a Bronco player scored 36 points was Feb. 21, 1998 when Brian Jones scored 36 against Saint Mary's. Bryant tied for the 14th highest scoring game in school history. The last time any Bronco reached 30 points prior to Bryant was Feb. 20, 2006 when Travis Niesen scored 31 against San Francisco.

Angley Hits 1,000
Santa Clara senior Brody Angley reached 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 1,031 points following the Broncos game on Feb. 18, he is now 24th on the all-time scoring list. He is one point behind DeWayne Lewis (1990-94) for 23rd all-time.

Bryant Nearing 1,000
Junior center John Bryant is also closing in on 1,000 points in his career at SCU. After scoring 61 points over two games on Feb. 16 and 18, he has 982 points with four regular season games remaining.

Bryant Rebounding
Junior John Bryant now has 245 rebounds this season after pulling down 15 on Feb. 18. He also has 632 career rebounds. He is 28 rebounds away from entering the top 10 for single season rebounds and 30 away from entering the top 10 all-time in career rebounds at Santa Clara.

Dowdell and Henke
Senior Mitch Henke and freshman Ben Dowdell both had solid games on Feb. 16 vs. Pepperdine. Henke scored 12 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists and had two steals. It was his highest scoring game of the WCC season. Dowdell had gone four games without reaching double figures in scoring before going for 11 at Pepperdine. He also tied his career high with seven rebounds, while recording a career high two blocks.

Shooting Percentage
After shooting 54 percent from the floor against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 18, SCU has broken the 50 percent barrier 12 times this season. Santa Clara shot .667 from the floor on Jan. 21 against Pepperdine, tying for the seventh best shooting performance in school history. 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.

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 36.0 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 on Jan. 12, foul trouble forced him to play just 31 minutes, his lowest total since he played 31 on Dec. 8 against San Jose State. In the seven games from Jan. 19-Feb. 11, Angley averaged 39.1 minutes per game.

Injury Update
Sophomore Zac Tiedeman suffered a left knee sprain on Saturday, Jan. 26 at San Diego. He has missed the past six games and is expected to be out 2-3 more weeks. Andrew Zimmermann was diagnosed with an enlarged spleen last week and did not make the trip to Southern California with the team on Feb. 16 and 18. He is doubtful for this weekend's games against San Diego and San Francisco.

Bryant Double Doubles
John Bryant notched his 13th double double of the year on Feb. 18 at Loyola Marymount with 36 points and 15 rebounds. He has had eight double doubles in 10 conference games. He also earned them against Saint Mary's (2), Loyola Marymount (2), San Diego, San Francisco, Portland and at Pepperdine, 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, 20.1 ppg and a league high 11.4 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 double doubles 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 24 out of 25 games, including a career high 36 at Loyola Marymount on Feb. 18. He has also scored over 20 points 12 times. He has grabbed at least four rebounds in every game. The San Pablo, Calif. native has recorded seven or more rebounds 19 times.

Conference Stats
The 2007-08 Broncos are among the leaders in a number of statistical categories in the West Coast Conference. SCU is first in field goal percentage (.488), first in 3-point field goal percentage (.380), first in scoring defense (61.1), first in rebounding defense (27.6) and tied for second in free throw percentage (.710). Individually, John Bryant is second in scoring (18.8), first in rebounding (9.8), first in field goal percentage (.613) and first in blocked shots (2.32). He is also first in double doubles with 13. Brody Angley is second in assists (5.48), third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.57), sixth in 3-point percentage at .398 and seventh in free throw percentage (.776). Jonathan Gunderson and Calvin Johnson are fourth and seventh in 3-point field goal percentage at .423 and .397 respectively.

Conference Only Stats
In West Coast Conference games, John Bryant and Brody Angley have been dominant. Bryant is first in scoring at 20.1 points per game, first in rebounding (11.4) and first blocked shots (2.80). Angley is fifth in scoring at 13.7 points per game and second in assists at 6.20 per game. Bryant and Angley are also fourth and seventh in free throw percentage at .803 and .742 respectively.

Angley Assists
Senior point guard Brody Angley had 119 assists last season, giving him 342 career assists coming into this season. With 137 assists in the first 25 games he has now passed Kyle Bailey (2001-05) for fourth all-time and has 479 career assists. Next on the list is Eddie Joe Chavez (1974-78), who had 482 assists.

Angley Threes
Brody Angley has made 117 three pointers on 331 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 158. 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 Loyola Marymount, the Redding, Calif. native, now has 105 starts. He passed Dan Weiss (1984-88) for third all-time. 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 3,481 all-time. That number places him third on Santa Clara's all-time list. Next on the list is Steve Kenilvort (1982-86), who racked up 3,633 minutes.

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 58 blocks in the first 25 games this year, Bryant now has 144 career blocks, moving him past Jens Gordon (1985-89) into second all-time in blocks. Nick Vanos (1981-85) is first with 159 blocks. His 58 blocks this season rank second all-time for blocks in a single season. The record is 67, set during the 1983-84 season by Nick Vanos.

The Century Mark
Senior Brody Angley has now appeared in 116 games in his career at Santa Clara after starting against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 18. He is tied for seventh all-time in appearances. 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 111 in his career.

On the Road
Santa Clara is currently 7-7 on the road this season. SCU has matched 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 16 of its 25 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. SCU and Pepperdine also tied in rebonding with 33 apiece on Feb. 16. Overall, the Broncos have outrebounded opponents 809-691 for a +4.7 margin.

Free Throw Line
SCU has improved significantly at the free throw line this season through 25 games. The Broncos are shooting 71 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 .423, (33-for-78) followed by Johnson at .397 (29-of-73) and Angley (.398, 43-for-108). The record for 3-point percentage for a season is .454, set by Steve Nash in 1994-95. As a team, SCU is shooting .380 from beyond the arc. The season record at Santa Clara is .390, set in 1994-95.