Two of the top teams in the West Coast Conference will engage in a showdown when Santa Clara battles No. 8 Gonzaga on Thursday night at Spokane, Wash.
The Bulldogs (16-1, 4-0) typically are at the top of the standings, but the Broncos (13-4, 4-0) have been a surprise thus far and have won their first four conference games by an average of 23 points.
Saint Mary’s (15-2, 4-0) also is unbeaten in a league expected to receive multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Santa Clara can show it is worthy of consideration if it can spring a road upset of Gonzaga for the second straight season. The Broncos notched a 103-99 win in Spokane last season; the Bulldogs won 95-76 at Santa Clara later in the season.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few said he is expecting a battle on Thursday.
“They do a great job evaluating guys,” Few said of the Broncos. “They do a great job developing guys. Put them in the right system, and they’ve really raised the profile of that program recently. They put it on us last year in here, so I’m sure the guys will be fired up.”
Gonzaga has won nine consecutive games after drubbing visiting Loyola Marymount 82-47 on Sunday. The Bulldogs used first-half runs of 15-0 and 14-0 and a second-half surge of 21-0 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 get whittled away before prevailing 99-93 on Dec. 30 and then trailed visiting Seattle University by 12 with 8 1/2 minutes left before rallying to force overtime and eventually surviving 80-72 on Friday.
Few said he didn’t have any issues with being involved in such a close game with Seattle.
“You got to get thrown into the skillet a couple of times and see how you react,” he said. “And we were thrown in multiple times.”
Santa Clara has victories of 38 points against host Oregon State, 19 over visiting Pepperdine. and 28 over visiting San Diego during its 4-0 WCC start. The lone close contest was a 92-85 road victory over Portland on Dec. 30.
The Broncos overwhelmed San Diego with a 49-25 rebounding advantage on Sunday. Santa Clara never trailed against the Toreros.
Christian Hammond wasn’t feeling 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 past couple days. A lot of guys wouldn’t have played. Not only did he play, but he gave us a stellar 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-best nine assists while grabbing seven rebounds.
Mahi ranks second on the Broncos in scoring (14.9 ppg) and 3-pointers (31), and Hammond has made 29 treys.
Reserves Thierry Darlan and Allen Graves both had stellar 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 ppg) and leads with an 8.5 rebounding average.
Braden Huff, who boasts a team-best 18.1 scoring average, had just eight points to score in single digits for the first time this season.
The Bulldogs received nearly double the points from reserves (53) as starters (29) in the blowout win.
Mario Saint-Supery had 13 points, Jalen Warley added 12, and Adam Miller scored 11. The trio was a combined 15 of 20 from the field.
