SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball is off to Albuquerque for just their second true road game of the 2025-26 season. The 8-1 Broncos will take on the 6-2 New Mexico Lobos on Saturday evening inside University Arena (The Pit) in a 6:00 p.m. PT tip that will air live on the Mountain West Network.
THE OPPONENT
New Mexico sits at 6-2 on the season and is riding a three-game win streak that began with an 80-78 victory over Mississippi State. Led by first-year head coach Eric Olen, the Lobos are averaging 80.3 points per game while allowing just 68.8 points. Like the Broncos, they put up plenty of shots from distance, leading the Mountain West with 29.9 3-point attempts per game, and they connect on an average of 10.0 per game. Tomislav Buljan is averaging a double-double of 11.7 points and 11.1 rebounds, the latter of which ranking 11th-best in NCAA D1. Jake Hall leads the team in scoring at 14.4 points per game as one of five Lobos that average double figures.
SERIES HISTORY VS. NEW MEXICO
Santa Clara and New Mexico are meeting for the ninth time overall and the second time over the last three seasons. The teams last met on Dec. 9, 2023 on neutral ground at the Jack Jones Classic in Henderson, Nev. where the Lobos came away with a 93-76 victory. New Mexico is 5-3 all-time in the series with Santa Clara’s last victory coming on Nov. 24, 2011 in a 79-76 overtime victory in Anaheim, Calif.
This will be Santa Clara’s sixth time facing the Lobos in Albuquerque. The Broncos are 1-4 against New Mexico in such games and are looking for their first win over the Lobos inside “The Pit” since the 1968 NCAA West Regional Semifinal, where the defeated the sixth-ranked Lobos, 86-73, to advance to the regional final. SCU fell in the final, 87-66, to John Wooden, Lew Alcindor and the UCLA Bruins en route to their second consecutive national championship title.
IN THE NET
Santa Clara debuted at No. 32 in the initial NET Rankings (12/1) and currently sit at No. 37. They are one of three WCC teams that find themselves inside the top 40 of the rankings.
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos led wire-to-wire and held off a late comeback bid against Utah Tech to improve to 8-1 with a 90-80 victory inside the Leavey Center. For the second consecutive game, six Broncos scored 10 or more points, and all players that saw the court scored at least six points. Freshman KJ Cochran, Sash Gavalyugov and Bukky Oboye each scored 14 points to lead the way while Elijah Mahi and Allen Graves added 13 points apiece. Santa Clara knocked down 11 3-pointers for their fifth game with 10 or more, and also notched their fifth game of 20 or more assists with 26 on the night.
OFF TO A HOT START
Santa Clara is 8-1 for the first time since 2019-20. The Broncos were 12-2 in nonconference play to open the year that season.
RAINING THREES AGAIN
Santa Clara set a WCC record with 368 made 3-pointers last season and have continued to put up a high volume of attempts from beyond the arc this season (28.7 per game). The Broncos have made 10 or more treys five times this season. They had their best 3-point shooting night of the young season against Minnesota. SCU was 16-for-31 (51.6) - their most makes of the year and most since also knocking down 16 against UC Riverside in the NIT last season.
YOU GET SOME POINTS, AND YOU GET SOME POINTS, AND YOU GET SOME POINTS..
Santa Clara’s scoring has been distributed well over the last two games where each player that has seen the floor has finished with at least three points. In both games, six players finished with 10 or more points.
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 6.1 blocks per game, which leads the WCC and ranks 12th 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.
GRAVES MAKING THE MOST OF HIS OPPORTUNITY
Redshirt freshman Allen Graves is off to a big start in his first season of action. The big man ranks fourth on the team in scoring (9.4) and second in rebounding (6.2). He leads the team and is second in the WCC with 2.0 steals per game. The Louisiana native has scored in double figures in five-straight games and five of the last seven outings with a season-high 13 against both Saint Louis and Utah Tech.
Graves is coming off a monster game against Utah Tech where in addition to 13 points, he posted eight rebounds, four steals, three blocks and three assists.
Over the last five games, Graves is averaging 11.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.6 blocks.
