Gonzaga vs. Santa Clara

Gonzaga Bulldogs -10 vs. Santa Clara Broncos

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Truly the class of the West Coast Conference year in, year out, Gonzaga seeks to finish perfect in league play for the third time in six seasons. They have two games remaining within the WCC, starting Thursday night with a matchup with a sub-.500 Santa Clara in their building.

If their last matchup with Santa Clara was any indication, 17th-ranked Gonzaga (21-5, 12-0) will not need much effort to make their magic number one. On January 15th, the Bulldogs scored their biggest margin of victory over the Broncos, 95-53. Gonzaga shot 55.4 percent and had no less than five players scoring in double figures. Austin Daye led the team with 20.

While they had not reached the heights of that first game, they have blown out two straight opponents, most recently a 92-58 thrashing of Pepperdine Saturday. The win clinched the Bulldogs ninth straight regular season title and extended their winning streak to four games.

Santa Clara (14-15, 6-6) has lost 15 of their last 16 against Gonzaga and eight straight since an 84-71 win in 2001. The Zags have won their 12 conference games by an average of 22 points this season. The Broncos have lost two of three overall.

Their last loss was a heartbreaker, losing by one point, 67-66 in overtime against San Francisco on Saturday night. With his 20 points, Kevin Foster reached an accomplishment in the losing effort, breaking Kurt Rambis school point record set by a freshman. He now has 418 points on the season, four more than Rambis achieved back in 1976-77. Foster leads all freshmen in the league with 14.4 points per contest.

To contrast Fosters skills, the Bulldogs will employ John Bryant who is averaging 18 points and leads the WCC with 13.7 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.

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