No. 8 Gonzaga hosts Hammond and Santa Clara

By Canadian Press on January 7, 2026.

Santa Clara Broncos (13-4, 4-0 WCC) at Gonzaga Bulldogs (16-1, 4-0 WCC)

Spokane, Washington; Thursday, 11:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Santa Clara visits No. 8 Gonzaga after Christian Hammond scored 21 points in Santa Clara’s 98-70 win against the San Diego Toreros.

The Bulldogs are 7-0 in home games. Gonzaga averages 20.1 assists per game to lead the WCC, paced by Braeden Smith with 4.8.

The Broncos are 4-0 against WCC opponents. Santa Clara leads the WCC with 12.2 offensive rebounds per game led by Allen Graves averaging 2.9.

Gonzaga scores 91.6 points, 21.2 more per game than the 70.4 Santa Clara allows. Santa Clara has shot at a 46.7% rate from the field this season, 7.9 percentage points higher than the 38.8% shooting opponents of Gonzaga have averaged.

The Bulldogs and Broncos meet Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Braden Huff is averaging 18.1 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Graham Ike is averaging 14.9 points over the last 10 games.

Hammond is shooting 41.4% from beyond the arc with 1.8 made 3-pointers per game for the Broncos, while averaging 17 points. Elijah Mahi is averaging 16.1 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bulldogs: 9-1, averaging 89.2 points, 37.5 rebounds, 20.5 assists, 8.3 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 51.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.0 points per game.

Broncos: 7-3, averaging 84.1 points, 30.7 rebounds, 18.9 assists, 9.5 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 47.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.7 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press

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