SANTA CLARA, Calif. –
Christian Hammond and
Bukky Oboye each turned in career-best outings as the duo combined for 49 of Santa Clara's 98 points in the Broncos' 98-83 rout over Nevada in a battle of undefeated teams in the Leavey Center. Santa Clara (4-0) led wire-to-wire for the second consecutive game and put together their best shooting percentage since 2017 at 62 percent.
Hammond scored a career-best 27 points while Oboye notched a career-high 22 points to go with an outstanding seven blocks in the winning effort.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Santa Clara shot 62.3 percent from the floor with 12 3-pointers. They led by as much 22 in the second half.
- Unlike their previous game at Xavier, the Broncos turned to the 3-ball early and often, scoring their first nine points all by way of a 3-for-3 start from beyond the arc. The spree was part of a 5-for-5 start from the floor for SCU, who jumped out to a 13-7 advantage ahead of the game's first media timeout.
- SCU used a 13-3 run midway through the half to take a 14-point advantage at 34-20 with 7:50 remaining ahead of the half.
- Nevada (3-1) cut the deficit to single digits following a 5-0 spurt with 2:19 remaining in the first half to make things 41-32, but Hammond responded with a 3-ball to take the 12-point advantage right back. Hammond ended up scoring the final 10 points for the Broncos in the half to send SCU into the locker room with 48-34 advantage.
- The Broncos topped their 3-point numbers from the Xavier win in the first half alone, knocking down eight of 15 attempts in the first 20 minutes.
- Santa Clara jumped all over the Wolf Pack to open the second half, using an 8-2 run to take a 20-point advantage at 56-36. Oboye was responsible for six of the points during the spree and finished the half with 19 on 7-of-8 shooting.
- The Broncos shot 66.7 percent in the second half alone and held their double-digit lead for the remainder of the night. The closest Nevada came was within 11 with 3:33 remaining, but a Brenton Knapper layup and Jake Ensminger 3-pointer swung the momentum right back over to the home team.
- SCU held Nevada to 45 percent shooting and scored 16 points on 12 Wolf Pack turnovers. They also edged Nevada in the rebounding battle, 31-29.
- Corey Camper Jr., led Nevada in scoring with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
- Nevada scored 24 of their 83 points at the charity stripe where they shot 24-of-28 (85.7 percent).
NOTABLE NUMBERS:
- Santa Clara's 62.3 shooting percentage is their best since shooting 63.9 percent vs. Pepperdine on Feb. 16, 2017.
- Hammond was electric in the opening 20-minutes, besting his previous career-high scoring total in the first 20 minutes alone. The Denver product was 8-of-10 for 20 points at the intermission.
- Santa Clara shot 58 percent in the first half, their best shooting percentage in a half since Feb. 22, 2025 at Washington State.
- Hammond finished with 27 points, his fourth-consecutive game in double figure scoring to open the season and the most scored by a Bronco since Tyeree Bryan notched 35 against at No. 16 Gonzaga last season.
- Hammond and Mahi are the first duo to each score 20 points in a game since that same Gonzaga victory a season ago – Bryan (35) and Adama-Alpha Bal (20).
- Hammond is the first Bronco to score 20 or more in a half since Carlos Stewart Jr. scored 25 in the second half against San Francisco last season.
- The WCC block leader, the Broncos notched 11 blocks for the second-consecutive game, which is tied for the third-most in program history.
- Oboye is the first Bronco to tally at seven blocks in a game since John Bryant swatted seven against San Francisco in the WCC Tournament on March 8, 2008.
- Knapper finished with a season-high 13 points and a career-best three steals.
- Elijah Mahi chipped in 10 points to make it four-straight games that the senior has reached double figure scoring to open the season. The Toronto native also tied his season/career high of two blocks.
- Jake Ensiminger, who entered the game third nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio, tied his career-high of six assists and had a season-best 10 rebounds (11th double figure rebounding game of his career) to go with five points and a block.
- Freshman KJ Cochran scored a career-best five points.
- The Broncos finished 12-of-25 from 3-point range, their third game with 10 or more treys this season.
- SCU has won all four games this season by double digits. They have also led at the half and out-rebounded their opponents in each game.
- Santa Clara dished out a season-high 27 assists.
- Santa Clara improved to 36-30 all-time against Nevada.
POSTGAME COMMENTS:
HIGHLIGHTS:
UP NEXT:
The Broncos will remain at the Leavey Center for their second of the three-game homestand when they take on Idaho State on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
