Nov. 22, 2009
Check out the Shootaround Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFoSJzCNoTE
Santa Clara (2-1) travels to Stockton on Sun., Nov. 22 to play Pacific (2-0) at 5 pm for the 125th time in school history. Santa Clara holds an 86-38 advantage, but the Tigers have won the past two meetings. Santa Clara is playing the Tigers as part of the West Coast Classic. The two teams will tangle again next month when Pacific visits the Leavey Center for a 7 pm contest on Dec. 21.
Pacific's two wins this season are against WCC teams. They won at Pepperdine in double overtime on Nov. 13 (67-64) and then in Stockton vs. San Diego on Nov. 16 (56-55). The Tigers played at Northern Arizona on Nov. 19, but the game was suspended due to a power outage in the Flagstaff area. The Tigers were trailing 45-43 with 8:50 left in the second half. At this point the game is suspended and there is no word on when/if they will resume the game.
Who is In: the West Coast Classic
SCU is in the middle of hosting the West Coast Classic the next two weeks. The Classic represents five different Division I conferences including the West Coast (Santa Clara), the Mountain West (San Diego State), Big Sky (Northern Arizona), Big West (Pacific) and WAC (Fresno State).
The West Coast Classic is considered one of the first of its kind because each school gets to host two home games. Santa Clara will host two games in the exempt event this season and can host an event like this once every five years. As part of the West Coast Classic, Santa Clara will play at San Diego State (Nov. 19) and at Pacific (Dec. 22) and then host Northern Arizona (Nov. 25) and Fresno State (Nov. 28).
Listen up
The SCU-Pacific game will be broadcast at 5 pm via the Bronco Radio Network on both KDOW 1220 AM and Broncos All-Access on the web at www.SantaClaraBroncos.com. The pregame show will begin at 4:45 pm. Anthony Passarelli is in his third season as the Santa Clara men's basketball play-by-play announcer after six seasons of handling those duties for SCU women's basketball.
All Big West home and conference games will be available this season live on the Internet at www.BigWest.org. The Pacific game will be available free.
US
The Broncos, playing short-handed, fell 86-53 to San Diego State on Nov. 19. Niyi Harrison led the team with 14 points and seven rebounds. Raymond Cowels added 11 and Marc Trasolini scored 10, collecting a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks. Troy Payne had four steals, seven points and five rebounds. San Diego State put five scorers in double-figures including the game's leading scorer Billy White who had 17.
Santa Clara played at SDSU without its leading scorer, Kevin Foster, who did make the trip due to academic obligations. Chris Cunningham also did not travel due to an injury he sustained in the game at CSU Bakersfield. Both are expected back for the game at Pacific on Sunday.
The Broncos, which features no seniors and nine underclassmen, are led by Foster, a preseason All-WCC honoree by the league's coaches, and Trasolini, a WCC All-Freshman team honoree last year. SCU returns two starters and seven letterwinners; and features six newcomers.
Big Time
Santa Clara shot 81.3% from the line at San Diego State, making 13 of its 16 free throws. Ben Dowdell was 4-4 and Troy Payne was 3-3. The Broncos shot 81.3 percent or better seven times last year, including four of their last five games. They shot a season-high 1.000 at UNLV, hitting 11 of 11 tries from the charity stripe. It was the Broncos best showing since they shot 1.000 at San Francisco on Feb. 16, 2000 when they made 16 of 16 free throws.
Santa Clara is tied with San Diego for the league lead in steals with 8.3. Troy Payne leads the way for the league with 3.0 spg and he is third in rebounds with 9.7 rpg.
Second Half
The Broncos scored 49 of its 84 points in the second half on Nov. 13 at CSU Bakersfield and then 44 of its 79 points in the second half vs. Menlo on Nov. 16.
Last season, the Broncos didn't posted 40+ in the first half however the Broncos did score 40+ in the second half of seven games. The last time Santa Clara scored 40+ points in the first half was Feb. 25, 2008 vs. San Francisco. The Broncos scored 48 points in the first half and won 87-55. The last time Santa Clara scored 50+ points in the first half was Jan. 21, 2008 vs. Pepperdine. SCY scored 53 points in the first half and won 101-86.
How Young?
In its first two games, Santa Clara started two juniors (one, Payne, is a transfer), two sophomores and a freshman. Against San Diego State Santa Clara started two freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors.
More than, Less than
Santa Clara is 1-0 when scoring 80+ points this year. The Broncos were 5-0 last season when scoring 80-89 points and now 8-1 in Keating's three-year history. When they scored 70+, the Broncos are 17-2 under Keating. But, when scoring between 50-69, the Broncos are 0-1 this season, 8-14 last season and 16-27 in Keating's watch.
