SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball will look to stay hot as they get set to host San Diego (6-9, 1-2) for a Sunday evening showdown inside the Leavey Center. The Broncos (12-4, 3-0) are off to a perfect 3-0 start against conference opponents and are looking for their eighth-consecutive win at home. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Anthony Passarelli (pxp) and Henry Caruso (analyst) on the call.
THE OPPONENT
San Diego is off to a 1-2 start in league play with a 66-54 home win over Pacific, a six-point loss against Gonzaga and most recently a 74-64 defeat up the road at San Francisco. Led by fourth-year head coach Steve Lavin, the Toreros are 6-9 overall and average 71.2 points per contest while allowing 76.7 points defensively. Junior Ty-Laur Johnson leads the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game and averaged 21.5 points per game in the team’s first two conference games before missing their last outing with a concussion.
SERIES HISTORY VS. SAN DIEGO
Santa Clara leads the all-time series against the Toreros 59-40. The Bronocs have won the last four meetings and eight of the last 10. SCU is 30-18 against San Diego at home and won the last meeting 93-70 on Feb. 8, 2025.
LAST TIME AGAINST THE TOREROS
Santa Clara swept last year’s regular-season series with a narrow 81-80 victory in San Diego and a 93-70 win at the Leavey Center. The latter of those games was particularly memorable for Elijah Mahi as he put together his best game in a Bronco uniform with a career-high 28 points on 9-of-11 shooting with a 3-for-3 mark from 3-point range to go with six rebounds and a career-best seven assists.
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos improved to 3-0 in conference play with an 82-63 home win over Pepperdine in the team’s first game in the Leavey Center in almost a month. Santa Clara shot 49.3 percent and used multiple large runs to lead by as much as 21 down the stretch. Christian Hammond logged his sixth 20-point game with 20 points to lead all scorers while Elijah Mahi and Bukky Oboye added 15 and 13 points, respectively. Obyoe did a little bit of everything with a team-best seven rebounds, three blocks and a career-best three steals.
SIGHTS SET ON 4-0
The Broncos are off to a 3-0 start in WCC play for just the third time since 2003-04, joining the 2023-24 squad. SCU is looking for a 4-0 start for the first time since 1997-98 when the team won their first five conference games.
PROTECTING THE HOME COURT
Santa Clara is off to a 7-0 start inside the Leavey Center this season, their best start since winning 15-straight to open the 2019-20 campaign. That streak was part of a 17-game home win streak as a whole, which stands as the longest in program history. The Broncos are averaging 82.3 points at home with a plus 18.9 scoring margin.
IN THE NET RANKINGS
Santa Clara rose 27 spots in the NET rankings following the win over Oregon State, and are currently ranked 70th, which is third-best in the WCC behind Gonzaga (4) and Saint Mary’s (21).
IMPRESSIVE OFFENSIVE START IN LEAGUE PLAY
The Broncos offense is off to a terrific start in their three league games. The team ranks first in the WCC in scoring at 92.0 points, field goal percentage (55.1) and 3-pointers per game (11.0).
MAHI NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Elijah Mahi was honored by the WCC as the league’s Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 29 after his 23-point performance at Oregon State. It is the second weekly honor of the season for the Broncos with Allen Graves winning Freshman of the Week earlier in Decemeber, and the second such award for Mahi in his Bronco career.
MAHI ON A TEAR
Preseason All-WCC pick Elijah Mahi has lived up to the hype in his final season in the red and white. The Toronto native leads the team with 14 double figure scoring games and has done so in 10 consecutive games, including 20-point outings in three of the last four games. Mahi ranks eighth in the WCC in scoring at 15.4 points per game. In three conference games, Mahi has fared even better, ranking second in the league in scoring (20.0 ppg), fourth in 3-point percentage (47.1) and fifth in field goal percentage (63.9).
Over Mahi’s 10 game double figure scoring streak, he has averaged 17.2 points on 49.2 percent shooting with a 41.4 percent clip from 3-point range. He’s also averaged 4.9 points and 2.1 assists. He has scored at least 13 points in each game.
HAMMOND MAKING NOISE
Christian Hammond has established himself as one of the top players in the WCC since assuming a full-time starting role after redshirting last season. The Denver native ranks fifth in the WCC in scoring at 16.6 ppg, has scored 10 or more in all but two games with nine games of 15 or more and six 20-point outings. He scored a career-high 27 points against Nevada (11-17 FG) and also has 20-point outings against Minnesota (20), New Mexico (22), Arizona State (22), Loyola (25) and most recently against Pepperdine (20).
Hammond opened the season by scoring 10 or more in 10 consecutive games - the longest such streak to open a season since Keshawn Justice (11) and Jalen Williams (18) in 2021-22.
HAMMOND INCLUDED ON LOU HENSON AWARD WATCH LIST
Christian Hammond is one of 50 players that was listed on the initial Lou Henson Award Early Season Watch List. He is also one of just two WCC players on the list (Saint Marys’ Paulius Murauskas). The award is handed out annually to the top mid-major player in the nation.
DYNAMIC DUO
Christian Hammond and Elijah Mahi are one of three duos that rank inside the top 10 in the WCC in scoring joining Gonzaga’s Braden Huff and Graham Ike and LMU’s Myron Amey Jr. and Rodney Brown Jr.
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 (8.4), leads the team and is sixth in the WCC in rebounding (6.4) and is third in the WCC with 2.0 steals per game. His 32 total steals lead the conference, rank 24th nationally, and are already tied for the eighth-most by a freshman in program history. The big man has six games with three or more steals, has reached double figure scoring in eight games and leads the team with four games of 10 or more rebounds.
Graves is one of just three freshmen nationally that are averaging more than one block and one steal per game, joining North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson and Siena’s Francis Folefac.
MR. EFFICIENCY
Jake Ensminger has done a little bit of everything for the Broncos this season. The Ulm, Germany product missed three games due to injury, but has started every other game and currently leads the team in assists (3.6) while running second to Graves in rebounding (6.2). Those marks both rank ninth in the WCC. The junior also averages 7.2 points per game and boasts the second-best assist-to-turnover margin in the WCC (3.9), which ranks 16th nationally.
HIGH SCORING OFFENSE
Santa Clara currently boasts the second-highest scoring offense in the WCC at 81.5 points per game, second only to Gonzaga’s 92.2. The Broncos have posted a top-three scoring offense in the league in each of the last four seasons.
2024-25 2nd 81.9
2023-24 3rd 76.9
2022-23 2nd 80.1
2021-22 2nd 77.5
STEALING IS A GOOD THING
The Broncos lead the WCC in steals with 9.1 per game and have eight games with 10 or more on the season. They are coming off a season-high 15 in the win over Pepperdine, which is tied for the 10th-most in program history.
CLEANING UP THE OFFENSIVE GLASS
Santa Clara continues to clean up the offensive glass better than anyone else in the WCC. The Broncos lead the conference and are 32nd nationally in offensive rebounding at 13.9 per game.
