Two of the best teams in the West Coast Conference will engage in a showdown when Santa Clara takes on No. 8 Gonzaga on Thursday night in Spokane, Washington.
The Bulldogs (16-1, 4-0) are usually at the top of the standings, but the Broncos (13-4, 4-0) have been a surprise so far and have won their first four conference games by an average of 23 points.
Saint Mary’s (15-2, 4-0) is also undefeated in a league expected to receive multiple NCAA Tournament bids.
Santa Clara can show it’s worth consideration if it can pull off an upset of Gonzaga for the second straight season. The Broncos rolled to a 103-99 victory in Spokane last season; the Bulldogs won 95-76 at Santa Clara later in the season.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few said he expected a battle Thursday.
“They do a great job evaluating guys,” Few said of the Broncos. “They’re doing a great job developing guys. Put them in the right system, and they’ve really raised the profile of this program recently. They handed it to us last year here, so I’m sure the guys will be excited.”
Gonzaga has won nine straight games after beating Loyola Marymount 82-47 on Sunday. The Bulldogs used runs of 15-0 and 14-0 in the first half and a 21-0 spurt in the second half to make it a one-sided game.
But Gonzaga’s previous two games were decided by an average of seven points. The Bulldogs let a 21-point second-half lead against host San Diego shrink before winning 99-93 on Dec. 30, then trailed by 12 at Seattle University with 8 1/2 minutes left before rallying to force overtime and ultimately survive 80-72 on Friday.
Few said he had no problem being involved in such a close game against Seattle.
“You have to throw yourself in the frying pan a few times and see how you react,” he said. “And we got thrown out a few times.”
Santa Clara has wins of 38 points against host Oregon State, 19 against visiting Pepperdine. and 28 visiting San Diego in its 4-0 start at WCC. The only close game was a 92-85 road win over Portland on December 30.
The Broncos dominated San Diego with a 49-25 rebounding advantage on Sunday. Santa Clara never trailed against the Toreros.
Christian Hammond didn’t feel well but looked good with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field. Hammond leads the Broncos with a 17.0 scoring average.
“Christian showed a lot of heart,” Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek said afterward. “He’s been sick the last few days. A lot of guys wouldn’t have played. Not only did he play, he gave us an outstanding performance.”
Elijah Mahi had just seven points on 3-of-11 shooting after averaging 19.2 points over the previous six games. But he had a career-high nine assists while grabbing seven rebounds.
Mahi ranks second on the Broncos in scoring (14.9 points per game) and 3-pointers made (31), and Hammond has made 29 triples.
Reserves Thierry Darlan and Allen Graves both had outstanding contributions. Darlan made four 3-pointers and scored 14 points while Graves had 12 points and nine rebounds.
For Gonzaga, Graham Ike led the way with 16 points and seven rebounds against Loyola Marymount. Ike is second on the Zags in scoring (16.8 points per game) and leads with an 8.5 rebounding average.
Braden Huff, who has a team-best 18.1 scoring average, was just eight points shy of scoring in single digits for the first time this season.
The Bulldogs received nearly double the points of the reserves (53) as starters (29) in this resounding victory.
Mario Saint-Supery had 13 points, Jalen Warley added 12 and Adam Miller scored 11. The trio was 15 of 20 from the field.
–Field level media
