STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pacific men's basketball team returns home when it hosts Santa Clara at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14, in a West Coast Conference showdown at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
Coming off a road sweep of San Diego and Pepperdine, the Tigers are off to the best conference start since the 2019-20 season. The Tigers are currently on a three-game winning streak, the longest since winning five straight from January 30 until February 13, 2020.
After the first four conference games of the season, Pacific is tied with BYU for third place in the WCC standings, while Gonzaga and Saint Mary's continue to sit at the top with undefeated conference records.
Keylan Boone and Moe Odum earned recognition from the league for their efforts in the team's wins last week, with Boone scoring a career-high 27 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to secure his second career double-double at San Diego.
Odum shined in the team's two victories and was named Co-Freshman of the Week. In the win at San Diego, Odum tallied a career-high 10 assists, becoming the first Tiger to dish out 10 or more assists in a game since Jahlil Tripp on March 2, 2019.
Playing a crucial role at Pepperdine, Odum tallied a career-high 11 points in 18 minutes. The freshman from Bronx, N.Y., also propelled the team defensively, adding a team-high two steals and securing four rebounds.
Scoring a season-high 19 points against the Waves, Judson Martindale reached double figures for the second time this season. Shooting 70 percent (seven-for-10) from the field, Martindale nearly recorded his first double-double as he led the team with eight rebounds.
Santa Clara enters Saturday's contest dropping two of the last three games, including an 81-76 loss to Gonzaga last week. The Broncos are currently tied for fifth place in the conference standings with two wins over San Francisco and Pepperdine.
Brandin Podziemski leads the Broncos and ranks third in the conference in scoring, averaging 18.7 points per game. Podziemski has reached the 25-point threshold five times and scored 30 and 34 in the season's first two games against Eastern Washington and Georgia Southern.
The Illinois transfer is averaging 20.3 points per game in four WCC games and had his best scoring night with 27 in the 89-79 win at Pepperdine last week.
Leading the team defensively, Podziemski averages 8.5 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.
Saturday's showdown will be the 136th meeting between the two programs dating back to the 1910-11 season, where the Tigers earned a 29-26 victory over the Broncos in the first-ever meeting. Since the 1999-00 season, the Tigers have strung together 13 wins, including nine of those victories at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
For more information about the 2022-23 season and future events, follow Pacific men's basketball on social media and download the Pacific Athletics mobile app.
