UC Irvine at Santa Clara
Thursday, Dec. 15 | 7:00 p.m. PT
Leavey Center | Santa Clara, Calif.
AM 830 | Live Stats | Watch (WCC Network) | Tickets | Notes

UC Irvine closes out their road non-conference stint at Santa Clara on Thursday Dec. 15 with a 7 p.m. start.

WCC ENTANGLEMENT
UC Irvine is looking to improve to 2-1 on the season against WCC teams after facing both LMU and Pepperdine earlier in the non-conference schedule.
 
HOHN'S HOMECOMING
In the return to his home state, Justin Hohn helped UC Irvine snap South Dakota's three game home winning streak in the 83-71 victory. Hohn posted 14 points on 6-9 shooting, making two of his four attempts from behind the arc.
 
BIG WEST VICTORY LEADER
Head coach Russell Turner's win against South Dakota moves him to 249 career wins pushed him ahead of the late New Mexico State head coach Neil McCarthy to rank fourth in the Big West victory leaders ledger. Turner is now one win away from hitting the 250 mark in his career.
 
NET WORTH
The first NET ranking of the season was released on Monday Dec. 5. The 'Eaters are the highest ranked and only Big West team within the top-100 sitting at 57 with UC Davis locking in the second position at 130.
 
SIX
Over the last four games, Dawson Baker has made exactly  six field goals in his minutes on the court.  He went 6-10 vs. New Mexico St., 6-11 vs. San Diego St., 6-11 vs. Fresno St., and 6-8 vs. South Dakota.
 
LONE COMPANY BEHIND THE ARC
DJ Davis is the lone Anteater to score a three-pointer in every game this season extending his streak to 13 consecutive contests.

600 POINTS
DJ Davis is just one point shy of hitting the 600 career point mark. Teammate and fellow junior Dawson Baker  hit the same career mark back against Fresno State.
  
DOUBLE DIGIT SCORING STAR
After his performance at South Dakota, Dawson Baker sets a new streak of five consecutive games scoring in double figures. Baker has recorded nine double digit scoring games this season and has posted 31 in his career thus far.
 
LEADING THE BIG WEST
Several Anteaters sit in the top ten of the Big West individual statistical rankings: scoring (5th--Davis), field goal percentage (2nd-Baker and 8th-Davis), three-point field goal percentage (1st–Davis), three-point field goals per game (1st—Davis), free throw percentage (1st—Davis), assists (1st–Crockrell II), assist-TO ratio (3rd–Crockrell II), and blocks (8th—Keeler).
 
NATIONAL STATISTICS 12.14.22
UC Irvine is ranked top-50 nationally in the following categories: scoring offense (48), scoring margin (17) rebounds per game (21), rebound margin (10), assist per game (36), field-goal percentage defense (41), three-point field goal percentage (7), and three-point field goal percentage defense (50).

ABOUT THE BRONCOS
> Santa Clara has started the season 9-3 coming off of a three point win against Portland State (78-75) on Tuesday evening
> SCU sits atop the WCC standings and were the first team to hit nine wins
> This will be the Broncos fifth consecutive home game, playing all nine in December at the Leavey Center
> UC Irvine has met with Santa Clara six times with five of the meetings occurring in November
> Santa Clara finished third in the WCC with an overall record of 21-12 and had their best conference finish since the 2006-07 season
> SCU's 21 wins were the most in the Sendek era and most for the program since 2012-13
> The Broncos earned a berth to the NIT, their first postseason appearance since 1996
> Brandon Podziemski, the Illinois transfer, is Santa Clara's leading scorer, averaging 19.2 points per game
> The senior also leads the team in rebounds, averaging 9.0 rebounds in 12 games played
> Podziemski earned WCC Player of the Week honors on Nov. 14 and Dec. 5
> Santa Clara was picked to finish sixth in the WCC preseason media poll
> Keshawn Justice was named to the 10-man preseason All-WCC team and is currently averaging 11.7 points on 45-137 shooting