25'-26' WCC Game #18: vs Oregon State

Game Preview/Recap
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Game Preview: Santa Clara vs. Oregon State (Senior Night)

Tip-off: Saturday, 5:00 PM PT at the Leavey Center

TV: CBS Sports Network (John Sadak & Tre Demps)

Line: Santa Clara -17.5

Over/Under: 153.5

Kenpom: Broncos #38, Beavers #152

The 2025–26 regular season concludes tonight at the Leavey Center. While the midweek loss in Moraga locked the Broncos into the #3 seed for the upcoming WCC Tournament in Las Vegas, there is massive history on the line tonight. Between Senior Night ceremonies and program-record milestones, this is far from a “meaningless” season finale.

The Stakes: Chasing History

This isn’t just a tune-up for Vegas; the Broncos are on the verge of one of the greatest seasons in school history:

• The Sendek Era Peak: A 24th victory tonight would officially make this the winningest season of the Herb Sendek era (surpassing the 23 wins in 2022–23).

• Historical Context: Win #24 would tie for the 3rd-most wins in program history, matching the 2010–11 squad.

• Protecting the Pavilion: SCU is 13–1 at home this year. A win tonight would result in a .933 winning percentage at the Leavey Center—the second-best home record in school history, trailing only the legendary 1996–97 team.

Honoring the Seniors

Tonight we celebrate the contributions of Brenton Knapper, Elijah Mahi, Malachi Douyon, and Brendan Yarusso. This quartet has been the backbone of a team that has now secured five straight 20-win seasons and five straight top-four WCC finishes. Expect the energy in the building to be electric from the jump.

Honoring the Bronco Band

In addition to Senior Night, the SCU Pep Band is celebrating its 20th Anniversary! Alumni from the last two decades are returning to campus for a weekend of music and pride. Expect over 60 band members (and fam) to be rocking in the stands.

Scouting the Beavers

Oregon State (16–14, 9–8 WCC) arrives in Santa Clara desperate to secure the #4 seed and a helpful 3-round bye.

• The Threat: Josiah Lake II is their engine, leading the team with 12.8 PPG in conference play.

• The Vulnerability: While they’ve won two straight, the Beavers allow 74.5 points per game defensively. They struggled mightily with the Broncos’ pace in December, losing 102–64 in Corvallis.

• The Series: The Beavers hold a slim 7–6 lead all-time, but SCU has won four of the last five meetings.

The Broncos’ Blueprint

The Broncos’ offense is currently averaging 83.5 PPG, just a hair behind the all-time program record of 83.7 (set in 1969–70). To break that record and secure win #24, they need:

1. Feed the Hot Hands: Allen Graves has practically lived on the podium lately, winning WCC Freshman of the Week in four of the last five weeks.

2. Mahi’s Encore: Elijah Mahi won WCC Player of the Week back in December specifically for torching the Beavers for 23 points. Look for him to be aggressive early on his Senior Night.

3. Efficiency in the Paint: In the first matchup, SCU shot a staggering 63.6% from the floor. If Bukky Oboye and the frontcourt can establish deep post position, Oregon State’s defense tends to collapse.

Final Outlook

The Broncos are locked into the #3 seed, but the motivation tonight is about momentum and legacy. We are watching one of the most prolific offenses in Santa Clara history. Expect a focused, high-energy performance to send the seniors out the right way and carry a head of steam into the WCC Championship.

(Thank or blame Gemini for this post. I can’t take credit for its inaccuracies)

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Glad to see we could be pulled away from the divining rods, ouija boards and tinfoil hats in bracket land to remember we have a game today!

Obviously massive asymmetrical downside risk in this one for the Broncos. A loss here ends any at large discussion.

Interesting what AI misses outside the four corners of the game itself - Oregon State fired Coach Wayne Tinkle last week. He will, however, finish out the season as coach.

Tinkle, a Montana alumnus, was hired by Oregon State after a successful run as head coach at Montana. Montana had produced more than its fair share of successful coaches who went on to bigger schools - Mike Montgomery, Stew Morrill, Larry Krystkowiak.

Tinkle’s 2020-21 squad reached the Elite Eight. Then the NIL came, the Pac-12 disintegrated and all sense of stability and normalcy departed from Oregon State (and Wazzu). Those two programs are easily the biggest losers in re-alignment - whatever the new look Pac-12 ends up being, it won’t be anything like where they once were. OSU followed up their Elite Eight appearance with a 1-19 Pac-12 record and last place finish the very next year.

Nonetheless, OSU had won 6 of the last 8 and with a new league coming next year, I find it a little curious to get rid of Tinkle now, especially a few games before the end of the year. It appears their AD might be a bit embattled as well.

The collective presence of Wazzu and OSU looks like it will amount to two forgettable years where each ended up between 100 and 200 in the NET and were not competitive for any league regular season or tournament titles.

Santa Clara and OSU have a long shared hoops history - Santa Clara’s Final Four appearance way back in 1952 was at Gill Coliseum. We first played almost 100 years ago in 1929. Hope to see the Beavers again soon.

Anyway, looking for a Bronco victory today with no injuries!

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Thank you for these incredible previews and for mentioning Brendan. He has had a tough year with the on court incident in November, getting his body used to the medication’s side effects, and additional occurrences as they got the dosages right. He has loved his four years with the team and all the friendships. I did not want to share his internal comments so I tried not to post but I think I have read every preview and comment about the team. Being 2000 miles away, it has made me feel closer to the team. Hoping for a win today and a few more to get into the dance. I would love a trip to Dayton as I can drive to a game for the first time. Thank you again and Go Broncos.

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Congrats to Brendan! Much respect for walk-ons in all sports, they put in the same time and effort as others w/o the financial incentive/payoff.

I hope Brendan enjoyed his time at SCU and I’m sure he’ll be a success in his next steps in life.

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Broncos have to flush the disappointing SMC game and be laser focused on this one. Not losing to anyone below us in the WCC standings is the primary reason we’re still in the Bracketology / Bubble discussion.

It’s absolutely critical we when this game and our quarterfinal game in WCC to even continue to be in the Bubble discussion. That probably makes for a less than 50/50 NCAA bid proposition and a lot of nail biting for the week leading up to tourney selection. We may also need a win over SMC in the semis…..but that only matters if we secure wins in the next 2 games.

As the preview notes, Josiah Lake is key for them. He’s a dynamic, athletic point guard and put up 19pts on us in the 1st game. Knapper and Sash need to do a better job of bottling him.
They have some size in the front court, have to keep those guys off the glass and can’t repeat the horrible rebounding of the SMC game.
Some of complimentary guys had strong games in the 1st matchup….Jake w/ 13pts, Darlan w/ 14pts…..likewise probably need at least one of them or others (Sash, Cochran) to step up with a better than typical game.

Re: senior night….hopefully both BK and Mahi have solid nights and a blowout would be nice to get some PT for Brendan. One caveat on Mahi….as a JC transfer I wonder if he plans on petitioning for another year of eligibility as other guys have enjoyed in recent years including Tyree Bryan.

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Thanks for starting the thread and apologies for losing track of the time. My emotional hangover from McKeon hit hard.

OSU has been playing better, but I like the matchup with them for SCU. I also like that Pacific is certain to be on the other side of the WCC Tournament bracket. I do not want SCU to have to face Pacific and then SMC back-to-back–that sounds brutal given what we saw on the glass on Wednesday night. That said, at least one, if not both of Seattle and Wazzu are likely to be on the Broncos’ side of the bracket which are not gimmes by any stretch.

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With USF about to beat Pacific (up 15 w/ under 3 mins), that locks in OSU at 4th place and USF at 5th.
A 4-way tie is possible for 5th if WSU beats Pepp (likely) and Seattle wins @ LMU (close to a toss up) with USF, Pacific, WSU and Seattle all finishing 8-10. USF holds the tiebreaker as they’re undefeated against those 4 teams.

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Unfortunate since I want OSU, USF, or LMU to be our opponent in Vegas, but it’s likely we will be stuck with the Redhawks or Cougars who I think are the toughest matchups of the middle tier opponents.

Santa Clara looking drunk so far. Oregon State just looking pretty bad. The fouls are starting to pile on SCU, though.

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Definitely looking more Malley Center than Leavey center so far!

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I would like to say that the refs are making soft calls, but I really just think the Broncos are playing out of control.

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It’s the latter. We look so undisciplined tonight….just head scratching fouls.

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Stop fouling!!!

Most are not a result of aggressive or good defense….from yet another foul from Bukky in the first minute 30 feet from the hoop to a bunch of slapping and reaching these are not smart or good fouls. I’m all for pressuring aggressive D and looking to generate TO’s but this is not how you do it….it’s just undisciplined play.

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Ugh. That graphic with UOP on our side of the bracket. I really thought they were locked for 5th. That’s annoying.

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USF beat Pacific twice, USF is locked in at 5th.

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Okay, that was a soft foul on Graves.

Also a pretty questionable block/charge on Jake.

I’ll whine about those two. The previous 13 were our fault.

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We pulled down more rebounds in the first half tonight than we did in the entire SMC game.

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Kinda feels like we’re overcompensating for getting pushed around at SMC. They need to settle down just a bit.

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Maybe…..but excessive and dumb fouls have been an issue all season.
We are 355th out of 365 teams in opponent FT rate.

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Sash has a brace on his knee and is dressed like he’s done for the night