Hoops: Santa Clara

The Broncos of Santa Clara pay a visit to Rupp Arena tonight. They sport an 8-3 record being well handled by Cal and Missouri St. in two of their three losses and they're just coming off a 16 point win at Standford just three days ago. The Broncos are just about as turnover plagued as Kentucky has been committing about 16 turnovers a game. They're shooting 46% as a team with a +8.5 scoring margin and an +8.6 rebounding margin, and assists come very good for these guys with about 16 per game.

They are led by senior forward Sean Denison, senior guard Danny Pariseau, and soph center John Bryant - their top three scorers all of whom are shooting better than 50%. Pariseau is the Broncos' three-point getter, shooting 46% which is better than what Kentucky has been facing lately, and also is second on the team with 13 steals and a 2.2 a/to ratio. Other three-point shooters for Santa Clara include Scott Dougherty and Calvin Johnson who both come off the bench shooting better than 30% from three-point land, and they also have two other guys who have shot the three ball 22 times in Angley (who leads the team in steals with 15) and Henke, so Santa Clara is very familiar shooting the three and will probably drop a few on Kentucky.

John Bryant is their man on the glass with 73 rebounds so far this season, 52 of which come on the defensive end and he's their shot blocker with 20 blocks. They also have three guys in Denison, Bryant, and Josh Higgens who all three have 20 or more offensive rebounds.

I'm hoping for a convincing blowout win against a team they should take care of if they have any hopes of keeping the confidence meter bar growing. A pre-Christmas let down is not what Kentucky needs which goes for Friday's game as well against UMass. We'll see.

· Game Notes. Kentucky | Santa Clara, tonight at Rupp, 7pm est.