SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball is off to Spokane for a late night showdown of undefeated conference teams on Thursday as the Broncos take on No. 8/8 Gonzaga inside the McCarthey Athletic Center. Both the Broncos and Bulldogs are a perfect 4-0 in conference play to start the season. The game will air live on ESPN2 at 8:30 p.m. PT with Roxy Bernstein and Corey Williams on the call. Fans can also tune in to Anthony Passarelli's audio-only call live from Spokane. Both links can be found above.
THE OPPONENT
Checking into the first of two meetings against the Broncos this year with a No. 8 ranking in both the AP and Coaches Polls, Gonzaga is 16-1 overall and one of three teams to start WCC play 4-0, joining Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s). With Mark Few at the helm in his 27th season in Spokane, the Bulldogs are once again near the top of the nation in a majority of offensive categories, ranking 13th in points per game (91.6), ninth in field goal percentage (52.4) and sixth in scoring margin (+24.2). They rank second in the WCC in scoring defense at 67.4 points allowed and lead the league in field goal percentage defense (38.8). In conference play, Gonzaga is averaging 89.3 points, second only to the Broncos (93.5) in the league.
Junior forward Braden Huff leads the team and is second in the WCC in scoring at 18.1 points while senior Graham Ike ranks fifth in the league at 16.8 points. Ike is also the second-leading rebounder in the WCC at 8.5 boards per game and ranks fifth nationally with nine double-doubles.
SERIES HISTORY VS. GONZAGA
Gonzaga has historically had the upper hand in the series that dates back to 1947, leading 72-33 all-time, including a 37-9 advantage in games played in Spokane. The Broncos have made things interesting in the last couple of years, splitting the regular-season series in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.
LAST SEASON AGAINST THE BULLDOGS
Santa Clara fans will not soon forget what happened the last time the Broncos visited Spokane. Behind a brilliant 35-point performance from Tyeree Bryan, Santa Clara picked up their first win in Spokane since Feb. 12, 2007, by taking down the 16th-ranked Bulldogs 103-99 in an offensive clinic by both teams. SCU connected on 18 3-pointers, the second-most in program history, in the winning effort - their first over a ranked opponent in a road game since 1993.
Gonzaga evened the score a little over a month later in Santa Clara with a 95-76 victory in the Leavey Center. Graham Ike and Khalif Battle combined for 45 points for the Bulldogs while Bryan once again led the way for SCU, though this time to the tune of 18 points.
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Clara defended the home court with a wire-to-wire 98-70 win over San Diego, improving to a perfect 4-0 start in conference play. The Broncos shot 50 percent (sixth time this season) with 14 3-pointers and dominated the boards with a 49-25 advantage, including 19 off the offensive glass. The 49 rebounds were their most of the season and most since tallying 52 last season at Portland. Four Broncos reached double figure scoring led by a 21-point effort from Christian Hammond, his second-straight 20-point game, who was 9-of-13 from the field. Thierry Darlan logged 14 points for the third time in his last four games while Allen Graves added 12 points and was a rebound shy of a double-double. Brenton Knapper turned in 10 points for his seventh double-figure scoring game of the season.
SIGHTS SET ON 5-0
At 4-0, the Broncos are off to thier best start in conference play since the 1997-98 season when the team began 5-0 en route to a third-place finish in the WCC.
IN THE NET RANKINGS
Santa Clara currently ranks 62nd in the NET rankings, which is third-best in the WCC behind Gonzaga (4) and Saint Mary’s (24).
IMPRESSIVE START TO LEAGUE PLAY
Santa Clara is one of three teams to start WCC play 4-0, alongside Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s. The Broncos have not only been winning, but have done so in impressive and convincing fashion. SCU won their first four games with a plus-23.0 margin of victory, tied for the second-best nationally in conference games. They currently boast the conference’s top scoring offense in league games at 93.5 points per game and also lead the league in field goal percentage (53.7) and 3-pointers per game (11.8).
Santa Clara also has the best turnover margin in the league at 4.25 and are second in free throw percentage (77.8).
BIG START TO 2026
It’s a small sample size, but Santa Clara has had a successful start to 2026 with two games under their belt. In their 2-0 weekend at home, the Broncos averaged 90 points with a plus-23.5 scoring margin against Pepperdine and San Diego. The team shot 49.6 percent from the floor with 19.0 assists per game while dominating the boards with a plus-12.5 rebound margin.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Santa Clara has had a pair of weekly award winners so far this season. Allen Graves earned WCC Freshman of the Week honors (the first in program history) for the week of Dec. 8th after averaging 12.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks while shooting 47.8 percent in SCU’s two games against Utah Tech and New Mexico. He stuffed the stat sheet in SCU’s 90-80 victory over Utah Tech with 13 points, eight rebounds, four steals, three blocks and three steals.
The most recent winner was Elijah Mahi, who 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.
PROTECTING THE HOME COURT
Santa Clara is off to an 8-0 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 84.3 points at home with a plus-20.0 scoring margin.
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 scored 13 or more in 10 of the last 11 games. Mahi ranks eighth in the WCC in scoring at 14.9 points per game. In four conference games, Mahi has fared even better, ranking fourth in the league in scoring (16.8 ppg) and sixth in field goal percentage (55.3).
Mahi has logged 20 points in three of his last five games and is averaged 17.6 points over that stretch. He began the streak with 21 points against Loyola Chicago before opening league play with 23 points at Oregon State and 22 at Portland.
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 fourth in the WCC in scoring at 17.0 ppg, has scored 10 or more in all but two games with 10 games of 15 or more and seven 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) Pepperdine (20) and most recently against San Diego (21).
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’S 20-POINT OUTINGS
Christian Hammond’s seven 20-point games are the most by a Bronco since Adama-Alpha Bal turned in nine in 2023-24.
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.
HIGH SCORING OFFENSE
Santa Clara currently boasts the second-highest scoring offense in the WCC at 82.5 points per game, second only to Gonzaga’s 91.6. 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
OBOYE BACK TO OLD FORM
Bukky Oboye started the season on a tear when it came to rejecting shots. The big man was one of the national leaders in blocks in the first few weeks of the season, tallying at least one block in his first six games (excluding the season-opener where he exited with an injury after less than a minute). After that, however, the Houston product cooled off significantly, posting just one block over the next seven games. That narrative has changed over the last two games as the big man blocked three shots in each of SCU’s home wins to open 2026. His 1.4 blocks per game rank fourth in the WCC.
TREYS FALLING FOR THIERRY
Junior Thierry Darlan has found his shot from beyond the arc as of late. Dating back to the Loyola game, he has knocked down at least two 3-pointers in each of the last five games and is coming off his best 3-point shooting night of the season with a 4-for-9 performance vs. San Diego. Darlan is averaging 2.5 treys per game on 43.5 percent shooting in league play, which ranks eighth and fifth, respectively, in the WCC.
