Justice leads Santa Clara against BYU after 26-point game

BYU Cougars (14-7, 4-2 WCC) at Santa Clara Broncos (15-5, 3-2 WCC)

Santa Clara, California; Thursday, 11 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Santa Clara hosts the BYU Cougars after Keshawn Justice scored 26 points in Santa Clara's 92-81 victory against the Pacific Tigers.

The Broncos are 10-3 on their home court. Santa Clara ranks fourth in the WCC in team defense, allowing 70.5 points while holding opponents to 42.6% shooting.

The Cougars are 4-2 in conference games. BYU ranks third in the WCC with 26.2 defensive rebounds per game led by Fousseyni Traore averaging 5.1.

The Broncos and Cougars face off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brandin Podziemski is scoring 18.7 points per game with 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Broncos. Carlos Stewart is averaging 14.9 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 41.4% over the last 10 games for Santa Clara.

Traore is scoring 12.8 points per game with 8.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists for the Cougars. Gideon George is averaging 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 44.5% over the last 10 games for BYU.

LAST 10 GAMES: Broncos: 7-3, averaging 77.2 points, 34.7 rebounds, 13.2 assists, 6.0 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 45.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.9 points per game.

Cougars: 8-2, averaging 75.7 points, 35.1 rebounds, 16.9 assists, 6.5 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.3 points.

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