SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball (13-5, 4-1) return to the Leavey Center Saturday night for the first of three consecutive home games. The Broncos will host LMU (11-7, 2-3) in a 7:00 p.m. PT tip that will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Anthony Passarelli (pxp) and Henry Caruso (analyst) on the call.
THE OPPONENT
LMU enters their first of two contests against the Broncos with a 2-3 mark in league play and sit at 11-7 overall. Led by fifth year head coach Stan Johnson, the Lions are coming off an 84-82 victory over San Francisco at home. They boast the fifth-best scoring offense in the WCC at 77.1 points per game and are sixth defensively at 69.4 points allowed. Junior guard Rodney Brown Jr. leads the team in scoring (8th in WCC) at 14.7 points per game while fellow junior Jan Vide has the lead the way in conference games, ranking sixth in the league at 17.8 points per game.
SERIES HISTORY VS. LMU
The series with Loyola Marymount dates back to 1937 and has seen the Broncos hold a 98-65 advantage, including wins in six of the last seven meetings. Santa Clara leads 35-19 in games played at home and have won the last four meetings inside the Leavey Center dating back to 2022.
LAST SEASON AGAINST THE LIONS
Santa Clara split their two games against the Lions last season, falling 57-54 in Los Angeles before evening the score with a 76-61 win in the Leavey Center. In the teams’ first meeting in Los Angeles, the Broncos’ usually excellent 3-point shooting was out of sorts with SCU finishing just 4-for-26 from distance. The Lions took advantage of a late missed layup, drew a foul and made both free throws to pick up the three-point victory, breaking a five-game losing skid against the Broncos.
It was a different story when the teams revisted in Febraury at the Leavey Center as SCU built a nine-point halftime lead and ran away in the second half for the 15-point victory. Brenton Knapper (12) and Elijah Mahi (10) both scored in double figures while Jake Ensminger pulled down a career-best 13 rebounds.
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos went into the Kennel in Spokane with sights set on a 5-0 conference start and an upset over the No. 8 Bulldogs, but a 21-2 Gonzaga run midway through the second half spoiled those plans. Santa Clara led by eight in the first half and the game was tied at halftime. Unfortunately for the Broncos there was no stopping Gonzaga’s Graham Ike, who put the team on his back with a monster 34-point, 11-rebound performance. Allen Graves had one of the top games of his young career with a season-best 18 points to go with nine rebounds and three steals.
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.
IMPRESSIVE START TO LEAGUE PLAY
SCU won their first four conference games with a plus-23.0 margin of victory, tied for the second-best nationally in conference games. Following the Gonzaga loss, the margin of victory dropped to plus-16, which still ranks 15th nationally. The Broncos currently boast the conference’s top scoring offense in league games at 90.2 points per game, are third in field goal percentage (51.5) and first with 10.8 treys per game. SCU also leads the league in field goal percentage (79.7).
IN THE NET RANKINGS
Santa Clara currently ranks 56th in the NET rankings, which is third-best in the WCC behind Gonzaga (6) and Saint Mary’s (26).
BIG NIGHT FOR GRAVES
A big bright spot from the loss at Gonzaga was the play of redshirt freshman Allen Graves, who was 7-of-14 for a career-best 18 points despite dealing with foul trouble. The big man also pulled down nine rebounds (five offensive) and had three steals for his seventh game with three or more.
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.
