Men's Hoops - By the Numbers - Crushing Santa Clara

DU crushed tournament host, UC Santa Clara, 55-33 in game two of the Cable Car Classic. DU won every important category of the game, other than turnovers (12-10) and points-off-turnovers (3-9).

Nate Engesser, coming off the bench, scorched the Santa Clara Broncos by nailing 6 of 10 three-pointers for a game leading 18 points. He also had a team leading six rebounds, a steal, an assist, a block and a rebound. The starting lineup was the same as game one with veterans Bryant Rucker and Marcus Byrd paired with C.J. Bobbitt, Thomas Neff, Joe Rosga. The rookie triad scored a combined 18 points and secured 10 boards. Bryant Rucker was a monster in his 19 minutes with 9 points, 4 rebounds and a steal creating huge energy in his time on the floor. Jake Pemberton hit two big 3-pointers (2-2), a steal, a couple of assists and two rebounds to contribute from the bench as well.

As a team, DU led in rebounds (34-28), assists (14-9), steals (6-4) and bench points (24-8) and had two fast breaks.

Santa Clara, coming off a double OT loss the night before, shot a miserable 22.9% from the floor - but DU played the night before, too. Santa Clara's all WCC player, Jared Brownridge , who had 27 points against Lipscomb could only collect 7 points against the pesky Pioneers. The closest the Broncos could get was 29-34 with 11:20 remaining in the game but the Pioneers extended their lead from there.

The 55 points scored by the Pioneers is somewhat deceiving. While the Pioneers did slow the pace in the second half to protect their lead, it should be noted that they played a very fast, opportunistic pace on offense. They are taking scoring chances when they are presented and not just running down the clock on offense. The  Pioneers shot 45.5% from the field and a stunning 41.9% from the 3-point arc.

Daniel Amigo was injured and only played 3-minutes.

Plus: DU played 11-players deep again with major contributions from nearly every player that hit the floor.
Biggest Area for Improvement - None. When you beat the home team by 20+ points in their own tournament what's to complain about!
Surprise: Why did Engesser only play 12 minutes the night before. This senior leader is unbelievable when he gets hot with 3-point shots.