SANTA CLARA, Calif. – A fast start and another terrific defensive effort powered Santa Clara men's basketball to a 37-point victory (80-43) over Louisiana on Friday evening inside the Leavey Center. The Broncos held the Ragin' Cajun's to just 25 percent shooting, was plus-15 on the boards and dished out 20 assists on 30 field goals as they rolled to a 6-0 start, their third such start over the last six seasons.
Christian Hammond led all scorers with 19 points while
Bukky Oboye (13) and
Allen Graves (11) reached double figure scoring, and
Jake Ensminger turned in yet another efficient night with seven points, season-best 11 rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Broncos (6-0) jumped out to an early 10-2 advantage thanks to six quick points from Bukky Oboye. That spree was part of a 14-0 Bronco run that pushed the lead to 16-2 at the under 12 timeout.
- Santa Clara finished the opening period with a 42 percent shooting clip while holding Louisiana (1-5) to just 5-of-21 (24 percent). The Broncos, who have led at the half in all six games this season, took a 38-15 advantage into the locker room. Oboye led the scoring charge in the opening 20 minutes with eight points in just seven minutes of work.
- SCU forced eight first-half turnovers that resulted in 12 points, while coughing the ball up just three times offensively.
- The Broncos used a 19-2 run in the second half to take a 35-point lead at 63-28.
- Santa Clara shot 41 percent in the second half and held the Ragin' Cajuns to just 26.1 percent defensively.
- Senior walk-on Brendan Yarusso entered the game late and knocked down his first-career field goal on a 3-pointer to give the Broncos their largest lead of the night at 80-43.
- Santa Clara finished the game shooting 42 percent (30-72) while allowing just 25 percent (11-44) defensively, including a 1-for-9 mark from 3-point range.
- Nearly half of Louisiana's 43 points came at the free throw line where they knocked down 20-of-25 attempts.
NOTABLE NUMBERS:
- Christian Hammond has scored 12 or more in all six games on the season.
- Ensminger's 11 rebounds were a season-best and was his 12th career-double figure rebound game, second of the season.
- Ensminger entered the night as the nation's leader in assist-to-turnover ratio and dished out three assists against zero turnovers once again to increase the number to 26.0.
- Oboye pulled down a season-high five rebounds to go with two blocks and a steal in just 17 minutes.
- Graves matched his season-high in points (11) and added five rebounds and a season-high three blocks.
- KJ Cochran notched a season-high nine points while Sash Gavalyugov turned in career-highs in rebounds (7) and assists (5).
- The Broncos outrebounded Louisiana 45-30 and have won the rebounding battle in all six games on the season. 21 of those boards came on the offensive glass.
- Santa Clara dished out 20 assists, their third game of the year with 20 or more.
- Brenton Knapper returned to the starting lineup after missing the last game with a shoulder injury, finishing with five points, three steals and two assists.
- Elijah Mahi scored nine points to go with four rebounds and a pair of assists.
- 43 points are the fewest SCU has allowed the season and is also the lowest any team in WCC has allowed thus far in 2025-26.
- Louisiana's 15 points in first 20 minutes are the fewest Santa Clara has allowed in the first half since holding Mississippi Valley State to 13 on Nov. 20, 2023.
- SCU forced 18 total turnovers resulting in 26 points.
- Santa Clara is now 1-1 all-time against Louisiana, avenging their 1984 NIT quarterfinal loss in Lafeyette.
POSTGAME COMMENTS:
HIGHLIGHTS:
NEXT UP:
The Broncos are heading to SoCal for the Acrisure Invitational for some Thanksgiving hoops Nov. 27-29. SCU will take on Saint Louis on Thanksgiving Day in a 4:00 p.m. tip that will be carried live on CBS Sports Network.
