SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball will spend Thanksgiving in Palm Desert for the second consecutive season as they get set to take part in the 2025 Acrisure Invitational. The undefeated Broncos will take on 5-0 Saint Louis on Thanksgiving afternoon in a 4:00 p.m. PT tip that will be a national television broadcast on CBS Sports Network. Ed Cohen (play-by-play) and Dan Dickau (analyst) will have the call live from the Acrisure Arena. Santa Clara will face either Minnesota or Stanford on Friday to close out their time in the desert.
THE OPPONENT
Saint Louis is also off to undefeated start in Josh Schertz’s second season at the helm. The Billikens most recently picked up an easy 91-60 win over Purdue Fort Wayne. They feature one of the nation’s top offenses, ranking 12th nationally with 95.6 points per game while averaging 11.0 3-pointers per outing. Saint Louis has also been elite at the free throw line with the nation’s third-best clip at 83.2 percent. The Billikens average 44.8 rebounds per game, good for 24th-best nationally. Four players currently average better than 10.0 points per game, led by Amari McCottri (14.8) and Robbie Avila (13.6).
SERIES HISTORY
Santa Clara and Saint Louis have met five times previously with their most recent match coming in last season’s season-opening Field of 68 Showcase in Sioux Falls, S.D. Five Broncos scored in double figures that night led by 24 points from Adama-Alpha Bal as SCU pulled ahead late for an 85-78 victory. Elijah Mahi scored 10 points from off the bench in his Santa Clara debut.
TRENDING UP
Santa Clara received three votes in the latest AP Top 25 Poll (Nov. 24). The Broncos have not been ranked inside the top-25 since the 1995-96 season where they reached as high as No. 22.
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a wire-to-wire 80-43 win over Louisiana. Santa Clara held the Ragin’ Cajuns to just 25 percent shooting, including a 1-for-9 approach from 3-point range, forced a season-high 18 turnovers resulting in 26 points and won the rebounding battle by 15 at 45-30.
Christian Hammond led all scorers with 19 points and a season-high four assists while Bukky Oboye added 13 points, five rebounds and two blocks, and Allen Graves notched 11 points for the second-straight game to go with five rebounds and a season-high three blocks. Jake Ensminger had yet another standout performance with a season-high 11 rebounds to go with seven points and three assists. Senior walk-on Brendan Yarusso put a cap on the night by knocking down his fourth and final 3-point attempt with less than 10 seconds to play for his first-career field goal.
6-0 AND LOOKING FOR MORE
Santa Clara is 6-0 for the third time in the last six seasons (2020-21 and 2023-24). If they get one more victory, it will be the team’s best start since the remarkable 1968-69 campaign that saw the Broncos win 21 consecutive games as part of a 26-1 regular season.
MORE BLOCKS THAN A SPAM CALLER
Santa Clara is off to a tremendous start when it comes to protecting the rim. The Broncos are averaging 6.8 blocks per game, which leads the WCC and ranks eighth nationally.
SCU logged 11 blocks in consecutive games at Xavier and against 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.
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 is tied for fifth in the WCC in scoring at 17.0 ppg and has logged 12 or more points in each outing. In the win over Nevada, he knocked down 11-of-17 attempts for a career-high 27 points. He is coming off a game-high 19 points in the win over Louisiana.
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 26 assists against just one turnover through six games. His 26.0 assist/turnover ratio leads the nation.
Ensminger’s 4.6 assists per game rank eighth-most in the WCC. He also leads the team in rebounding at 8.2 per game, which is third-best in the WCC. His 3.5 offensive boards per game leads the team and ranks 50th nationally.
Ensminger has twice pulled down double figure rebounds, including his most recent outing against Louisiana where he tallied a season-high 11 to go with seven points and three assists.
OBOYE BECOMING AN ELITE RIM PROTECTOR
Sophomore Bukky Oboye has had an outstanding start to the season ranking third on the team in scoring at 10.8 points, and has really shined on defense where he has logged a team-best 13 blocks in six games. The Houston product’s block output ranks 23rd nationally and his 2.6 per game are 19th-best nationally. Both marks rank second in the WCC.
Oboye has two double figure scoring outings on the season with a career-best 22 vs. Nevada and most recently turned in 13 points against Louisiana. He also pulled down a season-high five rebounds to go with a pair of blocks.
DISHING ‘EM OUT (AND DOING SO EFFICIENTLY)
Santa Clara is averaging a WCC-best 19.5 assists per game, which ranks 27th in NCAA D1. They also rank 22nd nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.89. The Broncos have a plus-4.7 turnover margin, which ranks 44th nationally.
WINNING THE BOARDS
Santa Clara is plus-11.2 in rebounding, good for third in the WCC and 34th nationally. They are one of the best teams in all of NCAA D1 in cleaning up the offensive glass, ranking 7th with 16.8 offensive boards. SCU’s 42.5 rebounds per game rank 45th nationally and third in the WCC.
GRAVES MAKING THE MOST OF HIS OPPORTUNITY
Redshirt freshman Allen Graves made a splash in his first six collegiate games. The Louisiana native is averaging 8.2 points and 7.3 rebounds, which ranks second on the team and fifth in the WCC. He is also pulling down 3.3 offensive boards per game, which ranks third in the league and 66th nationally.
Graves earned his first start of the season against McNeese, finishing with a season-high 13 rebounds. He has since turned in a double-double of 10 points, 11 rebounds at Xavier, set career-highs in points (11) and steals (4) while pulling down nine rebounds vs. Idaho State and most recently scored 11 points again to go with a season-high three blocks in the win over Louisiana.
STEALING IS BAD (BUT ACTUALLY GOOD)
The Broncos are averaging 9.3 steals per game through five games, which is second-most in the WCC and ranks 54th nationally. SCU has notched 10 or more steals in three games with a high of 14 against Cal Poly Humboldt. They recently tallied 12 in the win over Idaho State and had 10 on the road against Xavier.
DEFENSE PUTTING IN THE WORK
SCU is allowing just 61.5 points per game, good for the third-best scoring defense in the WCC and 17th-best nationally. Opponents are connecting on just 36.9 percent of their shots, which also ranks third in the league and is 28th nationally.
The Broncos are also locking down around the perimeter allowing opponents to connect on just 27.8 percent on attempts from beyond the arc - good for third in the WCC and 56th nationally.
