Santa Clara Travels To Logan, Utah to Face Utah State Aggies Saturday

Posted: Nov 30, 2007

Nov. 30, 2007

Next Game
The Santa Clara Broncos head back to Utah for the second time in the past two weeks, as they take on the Utah State Aggies on Dec. 1 in Logan. The game tips off at 6 p.m. PT and fans can catch all the action on 1220 KNTS and SantaClaraBroncos.com. Utah State enters the game at 4-4 after defeating Iowa last weekend. The Broncos and Aggies met last season at the Leavey Center with Santa Clara grabbing a 77-75 overtime win.

Last Game
Santa Clara won its third straight game on Nov. 29 by defeating Eastern Washington 66-57 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. Mitch Henke led the way with 20 points by hitting a career high four 3-pointers, while Brody Angley had 15 points and six assists. John Bryant continued his solid play with 14 points and seven rebounds in the victory. The Broncos turned a five-point halftime lead into a 15 point lead early in the second half and then held off a late Eagles charge for the victory.

Head Coach Kerry Keating
Santa Clara University named Kerry Keating head coach on April 6, 2007. In his first season on the Mission Campus, Keating, 36, comes to SCU with a long coaching backgroud at a number of top programs. 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 5-1 start in his career.

SCU vs. Utah State
Series Record: Series tied 3-3.
First Meeting: Dec. 29, 1951, SCU won 63-62 at Utah State
Record at SCU: SCU leads 2-1
Record at Utah State: Series tied 1-1
vRecord at Neutral Site: USU leads 1-0
Biggest SCU Win: 56-52 (4) on Jan. 24, 1976
Biggest USU Win: 98-74 (24) on Dec. 30, 1974
Notes: Most of the games between the Broncos and Aggies have been close with SCU winning a one-point game, a four-point game and an overtime game in the series history. The Aggies have won by one point and nine points, as well as winning by 24 once. Five out of the six games have been decided by 10 points or less ... Santa Clara has not played in Logan since the game on Dec. 30, 1974 when Utah State won 98-74 ... Santa Clara is in Utah for the second time this season after defeating the Utah Utes 72-57 on Nov. 19.

Last Game vs. Utah State
Santa Clara defeated the Utah State Aggies 77-75 in overtime on Dec. 23, 2006 at the Leavey Center. John Bryant scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds in the win, including a tying basket in the closing seconds of regulation. The Broncos led by 12 at halftime, but the Aggies came back to force overtime before SCU pulled out the win. Mitch Henke added 14 points and six rebounds despite spraining his ankle in the game. The Broncos held Utah State's high scoring Jaycee Carroll to a then season low 14 points in the game. Stephen DuCharme led Utah State with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the game.

Henke Heats Up
Broncos senior Mitch Henke had his best game of the season at Eastern Washington on Nov. 29. Henke scored a season high 20 points and hit a career high four 3-pointers in the game. In a three minute stretch spanning the first and second halves, Henke scored 11 straight points on three 3-pointers and a lay-up inside. He also hit four clutch free throws down the stretch to clinch the victory.

Three in a Row
Santa Clara has now won three straight road games, defeating Utah, Sacramento State and Eastern Washington. The last time a Bronco team won three straight road games was the 2004-05 season. SCU defeated Saint Mary's, Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine from Jan. 15-22, 2005.

Big Sky Opponents
Santa Clara defeated Sacramento State 77-65 on Nov. 25 in its first game of three this season against Big Sky conference opponents. SCU then knocked off Eastern Washington on Nov. 29 by a 66-57 score to move to 2-0 against Big Sky competition this year. The Broncos play Montana on Dec. 17 in their final game against a Big Sky opponent this year. Last season, SCU defeated Eastern Washington 91-68 and in 2005-06, SCU lost to Montana 67-56. Both games were at the Leavey Center.

VS. WAC Opponents
After losing to Nevada on Nov. 17, Santa Clara has now notched a 154-72 record against the eight current members of the WAC.

Nearly a Record
Santa Clara had a shooting performance for the ages on Nov. 25 at Sacramento State. SCU shot 28-for-39 for the game and 19-for-22 in the second half. For the game, SCU hit .718 percent from the field and in the second half, the team hit .864 percent. The all-time program record for shooting percentage in a game is .719, set on Jan. 4, 1980 against Pepperdine.

Bryant Continues To Impress
Santa Clara's junior center John Bryant has been unstoppable in the team's first six games. Despite attracting double teams all night, he still scored 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting against Eastern Washington on Nov. 29. He scored 26 points at Sacramento State, 17 in the second half, on 12-of-15 shooting on Nov. 25. He also scored 17 points in the second half at Utah on Nov. 19 and 14 after intermission at Nevada on Nov. 17. For the season, Bryant is averaging 22.0 points per game and is shooting a remarkable .705 from the floor. He is also averaging 8.7 rebounds per game and 2.5 blocks per game. He has two double doubles this season.

Angley In Top 10
Senior point guard Brody Angley had 119 assists last season, giving him 342 career assists coming into this season. With 30 assists in the first five games he has now passed Harold Keeling (1981-85) for seventh all-time and now has 372 career assists. John Woolery (1990-94) is sixth on the list with 422.

Angley More Top 10's
Brody Angley also finds himself in the Top 10 all-time in steals at SCU with 134. He passed Lacoby Phillips (1988-92) on Nov. 25 with two steals and is now eighth on the all-time list. Doron Perkins (2003-05) is seventh with 137 steals. Along with steals, Angley should find himself in the Top 10 all-time in games started as well. The Redding, Calif. native now has 86 starts, one shy of Londale Theus (1976-80), who is in 10th all-time with 86 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.

Injury Update
Santa Clara has been hit by the injury bug during the early part of the season, as a number of players have missed practice time and games due to injuries. The injury list grew after the game against Eastern Washington. Brody Angley took a blow to the head that left him with an eye injury. He is questionable for Saturday night's game against Utah State. The team still has two players out with injuries. Senior Josh Higgins has a left knee injury that will keep him out of the lineup for another 1-2 weeks. Freshman Scott Thompson is still recovering from an appendectomy and is unavailable for the Broncos.

Bryant Moving Up
Center John Bryant blocked 49 shots last season, surpassing his 37 from the 2005-06 season. Bryant's 49 blocks are the third highest single season total in school history. He surpassed Jens Gordon (1987-88), who had 48. After 15 blocks in the first six games, Bryant now has 101 career blocks, placing him third all-time in blocks in SCU history. Jens Gordon (1985-89) is second with 133.

Johnson Starts Strong
Junior Calvin Johnson got off to a great start in his first three games this season. After missing the games against Cal State Monterey Bay and Simpson with a back injury, Johnson scored 14 points in his debut against Nevada and 21 against Utah, before going for 11 at Sacramento State. At 12.8 points per game, he is now second on the team in scoring. All 13 of his field goals have been three-pointers and he is shooting 52 percent from beyond the arc in the four games (13-for-25). He has attempted only two two-point baskets all year.

First Half/Second Half
In the first three games of the season Santa Clara had outscored its opponents 98-67, but in the second half of the first three games, the Broncos were dead even with their opponents at 104 points apiece. SCU turned that around against Utah on Nov. 19. After leading 29-27 at the half, the Broncos outscored the Runnin' Utes 43-30 in the second half to win by 15. After allowing Utah to hit 59 percent of its shots in the first half, Utah hit just 39 percent in the second half. Conversely, SCU shot 59 percent from the field in the second half after shooting 39 percent in the first half. That trend continued at Sacramento State on Nov. 25. Santa Clara trailed 29-25 at the half, but outscored the Hornets 52-36 in the second half to pick up a 12-point win. SCU shot .864 from the field in the second half and outrebounded Sacramento State 16-4. Santa Clara is now outscoring opponents 234-201 in the second half.

Second Half Spurts
On Nov. 19, Santa Clara was tied with Utah 41-41 at the 12:20 mark of the second half after a basket by the Utes. Following that basket, SCU went on a 21-4 run that lasted until 2:24 when Utah's Johnnie Bryant hit a three-pointer. During that stretch, SCU held the Utes without a field goal from 10:46 until 2:24, a stretch of 10:22. Also, Utah did not score from the 8:50 mark until 2:24. On Nov. 25 at Sacramento State, the Broncos did it again. Trailing 51-42 at the 11:45 mark, SCU outscored the Hornets 21-2 over the next 8:28 of the game to build a 63-53 lead. The Hornets went scoreless from the 8:41 mark to the 3:17 mark as SCU grabbed control of the game. The trend continued on Nov. 29 against Eastern Washington although the spurt happened early in the second half. SCU started the second half vs. EWU with a 13-2 run in the first 5:48 to turn a five-point lead into a 16-point advantage.

Zimmermann On the Court
Freshman forward Andrew Zimmermann made his first appearance in a Bronco jersey on Nov. 25 at Sacramento State. He played nine minutes and scored one point, while also notching an assist. He then scored his first basket and grabbed two rebounds on Nov. 29 at Eastern Washington in 15 minutes of action. The 6-9 native of Oostburg, Wis. missed the first four games of the season with a back injury.

Road Trip
Santa Clara is in the middle of a stretch of seven games away from home. The Broncos have not had a road stretch this long since the 1996-97 season when the team also played seven in a row away from home. This year, SCU plays Simpson, Nevada, Utah, Sacramento State, Eastern Washington, Utah State and San Jose State during the road trip. In 1996-97, the Broncos faced San Jose State, Fairfield and New Orleans at the MetLife Classic in San Francisco, Eastern Illinois and Indiana at the Indiana Classic in Bloomington, Ind., and finished up with games at Eastern Washington and Pacific. The 1996-97 Broncos went 4-3 on that trip. The team is now 4-1 on its current road trip.

Steals
After getting only 12 steals in their first three games, the Broncos turned up the defensive pressure vs. Utah and Sacramento State. Against the Utah Utes on Nov. 19, SCU had a season high nine steals, led by Brody Angley's four thefts. They then had seven more steals at Sacramento State on Nov. 25.

On the Boards
Santa Clara has held the rebounding edge in all six of its games this season. Overall, the Broncos have outrebounded opponents 201-141 for a +10.0 margin.