SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The 2025-26 men's basketball regular season is coming to a close and Santa Clara is set to host Oregon State in their final game Saturday, Feb. 28, before heading off to Las Vegas for the Credit Union 1 WCC Championship. The Broncos (23-7, 14-3) will host the Beavers (16-14, 9-8) for a 5:00 p.m. PT tip that will be aired nationally on CBS Sports Network with John Sadak and Tre Demps live on the call from Leavey Center. Fans can also catch Anthony Passarelli and Henry Caruso's audio-only call via Sidearm Sports. The game will serve as the final regular-season contest for seniors Brenton Knapper, Elijah Mahi, Malachi Douyon and Brendan Yarusso, and the quartet will be honored in a senior day ceremony as part of the pregame festivities.
THE OPPONENT
Oregon State enters the contest 16-14 overall and 9-8 in conference play with wins over Pepperdine (83-73) and San Diego (92-82) in their last two outings. The Beavers are fighting for the No. 4 seed in the WCC Tournament. They are averaging 69.9 points in conference play while allowing 74.5 points defensively. Josiah Lake II leads the team in scoring in league play at 12.8 points.
SERIES HISTORY VS. OREGON STATE
Santa Clara and Oregon State are meeting for the 14th time. The Beavers hold a one-game lead in the series at 7-6, but it has been the Broncos with the upper hand as of late. SCU has won four of the last five meetings, splitting the series last year, and winning earlier this season in Corvallis for the first time since 1952. The Broncos lead 2-1 in the three previous meetings inside Leavey Center, including a thrilling 82-81 overtime victory last year.
LAST TIME AGAINST THE BEAVERS
Six Broncos scored in double figures (surprisingly Christian Hammond was not among them) to help Santa Clara run away from the Beavers with a 102-64 victory in Gill Coliseum - the program’s first win in Corvallis since 1952. Elijah Mahi led the charge with 23 points while Thierry Darlan (14), Jake Ensminger (13), Brenton Knapper (13), Allen Graves (12) and Bukky Oboye (10) also logged double-figure outings. Hammond was a point shy of making it seven in double-figures. SCU was outstanding from 3-point range, finishing 15-of-27 and shot a season-high 63.6 percent from the floor in the blowout victory.
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Clara started off well, but was unable to keep up with Saint Mary’s down the stretch as the Gaels fed off of the sold-out home atmosphere to run away with an 86-67 win. Allen Graves logged 20 points - his second-highest outing of the year - while Christian Hammond chipped in 11 points to lead the Broncos while Saint Mary’s saw all five starters score in double figures and three grab 10+ rebounds. The loss locked the Broncos into the No. 3 seed for the upcoming WCC Championship Tournament.
TOP FOUR YET AGAIN
Santa Clara has secured a top-four finish in the WCC standings for the fifth-straight year - the program’s longest streak since an eight-year stretch from 1995-2002. The Broncos can finish no worse than third in the final standings and are third for the first time since back-to-back third place finishes in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
OFFENSE ON HISTORIC PACE
At 83.5 points per game, Santa Clara’s offense is on a near-record-setting pace, and is currently just behind the 1969-70 team (83.7) for the best average in program history. Their 11.0 scoring margin currently checks in at No. 3 on the all-time list.
WHAT’S ON THE LINE...
A 24th victory would tie for the third-most in a season in program history (2010-11).
A NEW RECORD FOR CONFERENCE WINS
With 14 WCC victories, Santa Clara has broken the program record for conference wins in a season previously held by the 1967-68 and 1968-69 squads who both finished 13-1.
MOST WINS OF THE SENDEK ERA
The Broncos’ 23 victories are currently tied with the 2022-23 team (23-10) for the most of the Herb Sendek Era (since 2016-17).
HIGH SCORING NUMBERS IN CONFERENCE SCORING
Santa Clara ranks fifth nationally in scoring average in conference games (86.8). SCU is one of just two teams in the league (LMU) that has three individuals averaging better than 13 points per game in league play - Christian Hammond (15.5), Elijah Mahi (13.8) and Allen Graves (13.5).
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Santa Clara is 13-1 inside Leavey Center this season where they have averaged 84.4 points per game and posting a plus-16.7 scoring margin. The Broncos are shooting 46.3 percent at home, are plus-4.9 on the boards and forcing 15.6 turnovers in front of the home crowd. SCU began the year with a perfect 13-0 start at home - tied for the third-longest home winning streak in program history.
The Broncos are looking to win 14 home games for the third time over the last five seasons - 2022-23 (14-5) and 2021-22 (14-4). A 14-1 (.933) finish would be the team’s second-best winning percentage at Toso Pavilion/Leavey Center all-time, trailing just the 1996-97 Broncos who were a perfect 8-0 at home.
FIVE STRAIGHT WITH 10 OR MORE...
Santa Clara has recorded double-digit conference victories for the fifth-straight season, extending their program record that began back in 2021-22.
...AND FIVE STRAIGHT WITH 20
At 23-7, Santa Clara has reached the 20-win marker for the fifth-consecutive season. Excluding the 2020-21 campaign in which SCU only played in 20 games total, that streak extends to six consecutive seasons. Prior to this stretch, the Broncos had never won 20-plus games in more than three-consecutive seasons at a time, doing so in both 1968-70 and 1983-85.
MAHI EARNS WCC POTW HONORS FOR SECOND TIME
Elijah Mahi’s career night at USF earned him his second WCC Player of the Week honor of the season. The Toronto native previously won the award for the week of Dec. 29 after scoring a then-season-high 23 points at Oregon State. Mahi has won the award three times in total in his two-year Bronco Career.
THE ALLEN GRAVES AWARD (AKA WCC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK)
The West Coast Conference Freshman of the Week Award has belonged to Allen Graves in four of the last five weeks, including a stretch of three-straight weeks. The big man has won the award a total of five times this season for the most weekly honors (POTW or FOTW) won by a Bronco in program
history.
