SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball is off to a 4-0 for the third time over the last five seasons and will look to improve to 5-0 when they take on Idaho State for a 7:00 p.m. PT tip inside the Leavey Center on Tuesday, Nov. 18. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Anthony Passarelli and Thomas Dunn on the call.
THE OPPONENT
Idaho State is 2-2 on the season and is coming off a 83-74 loss in Seattle against fellow WCC member Seattle U. Despite the loss, senior forward Caleb Van De Griend shined with a career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. Van De Griend (15.5 ppg) is one of two Bengals averaging better than 15.0 ppg, joining grad student Connor Hollenbeck, who has scored 11 or more in each contest and averages 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Led by seventh-year head coach Ryan Looney, Idaho State already has one win against a WCC squad under the belt this season, as they took down San Diego in a tight 71-68 final inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion. The Bengals are averaging 70.8 points on offense while allowing opponents to score 73.8 points.
SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday’s tilt will be the eighth meeting between the Broncos and Bengals with SCU holding a slim 4-3 advantage in the first seven. The teams have met inside the Leavey Center four times since 2001 with the Broncos taking three of those four contests, including the last two in 2019 (78-65) and 2020 (62-49).
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Clara led wire-to-wire for the second straight game, jumping out to a 14-point halftime advantage and cruising to a 98-83 victory over previously undefeated Nevada inside the Leavey Center. The Broncos shot 62.3 percent - their best shooting clip since Feb. 16, 2017 vs. Pepperdine (63.9) - and knocked down 12-of-25 3-point attempts in the rout. SCU dished out a season-best 27 assists and blocked 11 shots, tying their tally against Xavier for the third-most in program history.
Redshirt sophomore Bukky Oboye was responsible for seven of those blocks to go with a career-high 22 points (19 in the second half alone) on 8-of-10 shooting. Fellow redshirt sophomore Christian Hammond led the team in scoring with a career-high 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Brenton Knapper turned in a season-high 13 points while Elijah Mahi reached double figure scoring for the fourth-straight game with 10 points. Jake Ensminger continued to impress with six more assists against zero turnovers to go with a season-high 10 rebounds.
MORE BLOCKS THAN A SPAM CALLER
Santa Clara is off to a tremendous start in terms of blocking shots. The Broncos are averaging 8.0 blocks per game, which leads the WCC and ranks fifth nationally. SCU has logged 11 blocks in each of their last two games at Xavier and vs. Nevada, which is tied for the third-most in program history. The performance at Xavier is tied for their most-ever in a road game.
Both totals are SCU’s most since tallying 13 in 2005 against UC Riverside.
HUGE NIGHT FOR HAMMOND
Christian Hammond went off in the win against Nevada to the tune of a career-high 27 points (11-17 FG). He scored 20 in the first half alone - first player since Carlos Stewart Jr.’s 25 second-half points vs. USF last season to score 20 or more in a single half. His 27 point total is not only the most by a Bronco this season, but the most since Tyeree Bryan went off for 35 points in last season’s 103-99 victory at No. 16 Gonzaga.
BUKKY'S BIG NIGHT
Not to be outshined by his fellow sophomore teammate, Bukky Oboye also had a career game against the Wolf Pack, scoring 19 second-half points to finish with a career-high 22 on the evening. He was efficient across the board with a 10-for-12 mark from the field, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe. Oboye was also a menace defensively with a whopping seven blocks. It’s by-far the most of his young career and stands as the most by a Bronco since John Bryant also swatted seven in the 2008 WCC Tournament vs. San Francisco (3/8/08).
HAMMOND MAKING NOISE
Christian Hammond is off to an outstanding start in his new starting role after redshirting last season. The Denver native leads the team and ranks sixth in the WCC in scoring at 16.8 and has logged 12 or more points in each outing. His most recent outing was his best of the bunch as he knocked down 11-of-17 attempts for 27 points in the win over Nevada. Hammond also leads the team in defensive rebounding with an average of 5.0 per game and is second on the team with 1.75 steals per game.
MR. EFFICIENCY
No player in college basketball has done a better job at taking care of the ball than redshirt junior Jake Ensminger. The Ulm, Germany product has dished out a team-high 18 assists against just one turnover through four games. His 18.0 assist/turnover ratio leads the nation and five better than second place (Nebraska’s Pryce Sandfort with 13.0). Ensminger’s 4.5 assists per game rank eighth-best in the WCC. He is also the team’s second-leading rebounder at 7.3 boards per game, which is seventh-best in the WCC. He is coming off a season-high 10 rebounds and six assists in the win over Nevada.
MAHI OFF TO A BIG START
Through four games, preseason All-WCC pick Elijah Mahi has lived up to the billing. The Toronto native ranks second on the team and 11th in the WCC in scoring at 15.3 points per game, and has scored in double figures in all four games. His season-high was 19 at home against McNeese before turning in 18 on the road against Xavier. In his last outing vs. Nevda, the big man turned in 10 points and a career high-tying six assists.
GRAVES MAKING THE MOST OF HIS OPPORTUNITY
Redshirt freshman Allen Graves made a splash in his first four collegiate games. The Louisiana native came off the bench in the opener vs. Humboldt to score seven points and grabbed four rebounds. He was thrown into the starting lineup against McNeese in place of injured Bukky Oboye and absolutely rose to the occassion by pulling down 13 rebounds (seven offensive). Graves came up big yet again in the road win at Xavier, pulling down 11 rebounds to go with 10 points for the first double-double of his young career.
Graves leads the team and ranks fifth in the WCC with 7.5 rebounds per game. He ranks second in the league and 55th nationally in offensive rebounds with an average of 3.75 per game.
