Towson opens at Santa Clara without last season's top two scorers. Tyler Tejada averaged 17.7 points and Dylan Williamson averaged 14.6 for the Tigers in 2025-26.
Santa Clara returns Jake Ensminger, last season's team leader at 2.9 assists per game. He ranked second in the WCC with a 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Ensminger has a familiar perimeter option in Sash Gavalyugov, who made 67 threes last season. Gavalyugov also averaged 14 points and 5.7 assists at the WCC tournament.
I'm backing Santa Clara -13.5 on its returning guards and scoring options through the rotation. Fedor Zugic scored 14 points and Sidi Gueye added 8 off the bench in the Oct. 24 exhibition at Utah State.