The 0-2 Santa Clara Broncos are led by 3rd year head coach Herb Sendek. Sendek has a solid head coaching resume, taking NC state to 5 straight NCAA Tournament appearances between 2002 and 2006 and Arizona State to two appearances between 2009 and 2014. However, he has had his work cut out for him with Santa Clara. In his first season he finished the year with a 17 and 16 record (decent for a first year coach), but last season he was only able to get his Broncos to 11 wins. Herb hopes to get something going this season with a bunch of new transfers and freshman (8 total first year players for Santa Clara), but has started off the season in a terrible fashion, losing badly Prairie View and UC Irvine.



The start to the season for the Santa Clara Broncos has been nothing short of dreadful. They are averaging only 56.5 points per game on 33.3% from the field, 28.8% from three, and 55.8% from the free throw line. All terrible stats. The team has shown that they can pull down some boards, averaging 40.5 rebounds per game (18 offensive rebounds in their season opener), but they also turn the ball over 17 times per game and foul an incredible amount at 23.5 per game (mostly because they've been down late).



Washington on the other hand is averaging 68.3 points per game on 44.6% from the field, 27.6% from three, and 75.9% from the free throw line. They rebound at a lesser rate than Santa Clara, at 35 per game, but the Huskies only foul 18.3 times per game, and turn the ball over 11.6 times per game. The Huskies should be able to take control of this game early by attacking on offense, and forcing outside shots on defense.



Some players to watch in this one for Santa Clara are senior KJ Feagin, sophomore transfer Tahj Eaddy, grad transfer Josh Martin, and freshman Keshawn Justice.



#10 KJ Feagin is a 6'1, 175lb senior guard that averaged a team high 17.5 points per game last season on 44.3% from the field and 37.2% from three (49% 3pt the season before). He is off to an extremely rough start this season, shooting only 23.5% from the field and 28.6% from three, and averaging only 5 points per game. Although KJ is having a terrible start, he should easily be able to turn it around (hopefully not against UW) because history shows that Feagin can go off. Last season he had 11 games with over 20 points and one game over 30 (against San Diego). He's also known to shoot a ton of threes (17 in one game last season) at a fairly decent rate .



#2 Tahj Eaddy is a 6'1, 165lb sophomore transfer playing a team high 30 minutes per game. Eaddy averages 12 points per game on 31.8% shooting and 63.6% from the free throw line. Tahj clearly likes to shoot the ball, as he leads his team in shot attempts at 11 per game, and three point attempts at 6.5 per game. He could be a thorn in the Huskies side if he is able to convert more often, but the Dawgs should be able to easily shut him down.



#22 Josh Martin is a 6'7, 230lb graduate transfer out of Bothell High School. Josh was a very skilled player in high school averaging 27 points and 14 rebounds per game his senior season. He has even shown to possess double double potential as a red shirt junior for Cal Poly where he had multiple, and has already posted a double double in this year's season opener. Martin currently plays 26 minutes per game, and averages 7 points and 9 rebounds on 41.7% from the field and 37.5% from three. Martin scored 11 points in their season opener against Prairie View, but only had 3 in their loss to UC Irvine. Josh could be a force on the boards against the Huskies.



#14 Keshawn Justice is a very intriguing 6'4, 190lb freshman forward. He is currently playing only 17.5 minutes per game, but is averaging a team high 13 points on 55.6% from the field and 54.5% from three. I'm inclined to believe that his points have all come in garbage time with such a lack in minutes, but a high shooting percentage creates some concerns. We will see if he gets more minutes, and how effective he can be against UW.



Another player to look out for is #13 Josip Vrankic, a 6'8 205lb sophomore forward. Josip is only getting 18.5 minutes per game this season, and shooting an abysmal 14.3% (0-5 in loss to UC Irvine), but he averaged over 10 points per game last season on 40.8% shooting. He should improve as the season goes, but UW should have nothing to worry about when it comes to Vrankic.



The first game in the inaugural Vancouver Showcase against the Santa Clara Broncos should be an easy one for the Huskies if they're defense is running on all cylinders. The Dawgs have had trouble with contesting the three this season (teams are shooting over 38% against us), but with Santa Clara being such a poor shooting team, the Dawgs should be able to get a comfortable, confidence building victory before they take on Texas A&M and Minnesota.



Go Dawgs