The Santa Clara Broncos host the BYU Cougars Saturday evening in a nationally televised contest on ESPNU. Mark Neely and Miles Simon will call the action for the 4:00pm PT tip. The Broncos are still looking for their first conference victory as they sit at 0-13 in WCC play and 8-18 overall. BYU sits at 22-6 and 10-3 overall and needs a win to put some space between themselves and the fourth place Loyola Marymount Lions.
BYU cannot afford a slip-up against the struggling Broncos. The Cougars got a huge win over Gonzaga two weeks ago and have at times barely avoided blowing the value of that. They escaped from San Francisco with a last second 85-84 win over the USF Dons. Althoguh they have passed the 20 win mark, their RPI is struggling now that they are no longer playing in the Mountain West Conference. They might need a win over Gonzaga next Thursday, and/or a win over Gonzaga or Saint Mary's in the WCC tournament in two weeks. Either way, they remain on the bubble.