Saint Mary's (15-10, 6-4) vs. Santa Clara (13-12, 5-6)
Leavey Center, Santa Clara, California; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: St. Mary's looks for its eighth straight win in the head-to-head series over Santa Clara. Saint Mary's has won by an average of 21 points in its last seven wins over the Broncos. Santa Clara's last win in the series came on Feb. 28, 2015, a 71-70 win.
SQUAD LEADERS: The prolific Jordan Ford is averaging 21.6 points to lead the charge for the Gaels. Malik Fitts is also a big contributor, producing 16 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. The Broncos have been led by Josip Vrankic, who is averaging 13.7 points and 6.7 rebounds.
JUMPING FOR JORDAN: Ford has connected on 43.4 percent of the 122 3-pointers he's attempted and has gone 6 for 13 over his last three games. He's also made 81.3 percent of his foul shots this season.
WINLESS WHEN: The Gaels are 0-6 when they score 68 points or fewer and 15-4 when they exceed 68 points. The Broncos are 0-9 when they fail to score more than 66 points and 13-3 on the season, otherwise.
PERFECT WHEN: The Broncos are 5-0 when at least five of their players score 10 or more points and 8-12 when any fewer than that achieve double-figures. The Gaels are 5-0 when the team blocks at least four shots and 10-10 when they fall short of that total.
DID YOU KNOW: The Saint Mary's offense has recorded a turnover on only 15.8 percent of its possessions, which is the 20th-lowest rate in the nation. The Santa Clara defense has forced opposing teams to turn the ball over on just 15.6 percent of all possessions (ranked 335th among Division I teams).
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
