SANTA CLARA, Calif.- Santa Clara men’s basketball is back on the road this week as they head south to Palm Springs for the Acrisure Invitational. The Broncos will take on TCU (4-1) on Thanksgiving Day at 1:00 p.m. and will play either Colorado State or Washington on Friday. All games will be streamed live on truTV and Max.
After a dominating offensive performance against UC Riverside, the Broncos went wire-to-wire with ACC powerhouse Stanford, falling on a last second bucket. Christoph Tilly led the Broncos in scoring with 16 points, his fifth game of the season in double figures. Bukky Oboye had the best game of his young career, adding seven points and hitting his first career triple. The Broncos made a season high 21 free throws, shooting 80.8 percent, their third highest this year from the charity stripe.
Coming into the game, the Broncos rank second in the WCC and 64th nationally with 30.17 bench points per game. Tilly leads the conference in field goal percentage, shooting 63.3 percent from the field, which ranks 42nd nationally. Adama Alpha-Bal leads the team with 14.5 ppg (12th in WCC) while Tilly (13.3) and newcomer Elijah Mahi (12.2) are also averaging in double figures. The Broncos rank third in the conference and 82nd nationally with 12.83 offensive rebounds per game.
TCU is 4-1 on the young season with all four wins coming at home in Fort Worth, including most recently against Alcorn State (71-48). Their lone loss came at Ann Arbor where they dropped a 76-64 affair against Michigan. Led by ninth-year head coach Jamie Dixon, the Horned Frogs are looking to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season. They fell in the opening round of the tournament last season against Utah State (88-72).
TCU has a top-30 defense, allowing just 61 ppg (26th in NCAA D1) and are plus-5.4 in turnover margin (26th in NCAA D1). They are also opportunistic off those turnovers with 17.0 fastbreak ppg (30th in NCAA D1). Individually, Trazarien White leads the way as one of three players north of 10.0 ppg with an average of 11.4 on 51.2 percent shooting.
This will be the third meeting between the programs. The Broncos have won both previous showdowns, most recently in San Juan Capistrano on Nov. 22, 2021 (85-66).
Last time out against the Horned Frogs, future first round NBA draft pick Jalen Williams led the scoring barrage with a game-high 22 points as the Broncos shot lights out at 61.2 percent from the floor en route to an 85-66 victory at the SoCal Challenge in San Juan Capistrano.
After connecting on just a pair of treys in the opening 20 minutes, SCU knocked down 9-of-13 chances from beyond the arc in the second half to run away from the Horned Frogs. TCU was held to just 40.6 percent shooting for the night.
For more information, click on the game notes link above.
STREAMING INFO
The game will be streamed live on truTV, and can be accessed here.
Broncos At A Glance…
Tilly Time:
Christoph Tilly had a career night against UC Riverside, scoring a season high 20 points, adding five assists and three blocks, also season highs. Tilly has scored in double figures in five of six games this season, shooting a conference leading 63.3% percent from the field, which ranks 42nd nationally.
Triple Threat:
Three Broncos are currently averaging 12 ppg or better. Adama-Alpha Bal leads the team at 14.4 ppg (12th in WCC), Christoph Tilly is at 13.3 ppg (19th) and Elijah Mahi is 12.2.
On the Boards:
The Broncos rank third in the conference and 82nd nationally with 12.83 offensive rebounds per game, while Johnny O’Neil leads the way individually with 2.0 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks 12th in the conference and 344th nationally.
No Struggle Scoring:
The Broncos rank fourth in the WCC in scoring with 77.2 ppg. They’ve scored 80 or more in three of their six games, and are 2-1 in such outings.
No Off Days:
Santa Clara’s non-conference strength of schedule is currently ranked 44th nationally out of 364 teams. They have the third-toughest non-conference schedule among WCC teams behind Gonzaga (8th) and San Francisco (38th).
Hot Start for Mahi:
Junior forward Elijah Mahi has started his SCU career with a bang, scoring in double figures in four of the first six games to open the season. The Toronto product opened with 10 points against Saint Louis and followed with a team-best 19 points (8-15 FG) in 28 minutes vs. Arizona State. He most recently tallied 16 points in the loss against North Dakota State, and was a major bright spot on the road against Nevada, scoring a career-best 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Sustained success:
The Broncos have won 20 or more games in three consecutive seasons and four if you exclude the 2020-21 covid season.
Bal Back:
After flirting with the NBA Draft, Adama-Alpha Bal decided to return to the Broncos for one last season. The Le Mans, France, product is poised to once again be among the top players in the WCC in 2024-25 after an outstanding showing last year. Bal was a First Team All-WCC and Second Team NABC All-Dis-trict selection after averaging 14.4 ppg (7th best in WCC) in a team-high 31.2 minutes of work. He also ranked ninth in the league with 3.1 assists per game and led the Broncos with nine 20-point games. Through five games this season, Bal leads the team in scoring with 14.5 ppg, which ranks 12th in the WCC and 322nd nationally.
Familiar Faces:
In addition to Bal, who was a First Team All-WCC selection last year, the Broncos brought back six other key rotation pieces. Among them, All-WCC Honorable Mention last season Christoph Tilly, and All-WCC Freshman Team selection sophomore forward Jake Ensminger. In addition, the Broncos return senior forward Johnny O’Neil, senior guard Tyeree Bryan, junior guard Brenton Knapper, and senior forward Camaron Tongue, all key rotation pieces for the Broncos last season. The Broncos returned four of their five starters and 72.8 percent of their scoring from 2023-24.
Added Experience:
The Broncos also bring back senior guard and former Bronco standout Carlos Stewart Jr. As a sophomore at Santa Clara, Stewart Jr. was a First Team All-WCC selection, avg.15.2 ppg. The Broncos also added West Valley College transfer Elijah Mahi, who joins the Broncos after leading West Valley College to an undefeated 33-0 season in 2023-24, capturing the state championship title, and being named California Player of the Year and winning MVP in the state tournament.
Louisiana Ties:
Santa Clara has not one, but two Gatorade Louisiana Basketball Player of Year winners on the roster - Stewart (2020-21) and freshman Allen Graves (2023-24).
Preseason Poll:
The Broncos were picked to finish third in the WCC preseason poll, while Bal and Stewart Jr. were named to the Preseason First Team All-WCC.
Career Marks:
Carlos Stewart Jr. tied a career high 5 assists in the season opener against Saint Louis, while Camaron Tongue scored a career high 18 pts. Christoph Tilly made a career high two three pointers in the victory, and Elijah Mahi scored a career high 22 pts against Nevada. Johnny O’Neil posted a career high 14 rebounds against North Dakota State.
Pipeline to the Pros:
There are just five NCAA D1 men’s basketball programs that produced top-20 picks in the 2022 and 2023 NBA Drafts: Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Baylor.....and Santa Clara.
The Broncos have produced back-to-back first round selections in the form of Jalen Williams (12th overall to Oklahoma City in 2022) and Brandin Podziemski (19th overall to Golden State in 2023). Additionally, former Bronco forward Keshawn Justice was signed by the Utah Jazz in October 2023 and is currently a member of the Salt Lake Jazz.
After becoming the first Bronco to hear his name called in the NBA Draft since Steve Nash in 1996, Williams more than lived up to his lottery pick hype, finishing runner-up in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting, earning NBA All-Rookie First Team honors and was named to the 2023 Rising Stars Challenge. He was even better in year two, averaging 19.1 ppg while starting 71 games and was once again voted to the Rising Stars Challenge.
Podziemski was the first WCC player taken off the board in 2023 and also turned in a fantastic rookie season, earning NBA All-Rookie First Team honors and being named to the Rising Stars Challenge. Podz became the first Golden State rookie since Stephen Curry (2009-10) to tally 20-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and five or more in a single game, doing so on Dec. 12 against the Phoenix Suns.
Both Williams and Podziemski were also named to the USA Select Team in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
