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Two local rivals off to perfect starts will collide Tuesday night when Stanford plays host to Santa Clara in a nonconference game.

The Cardinal (2-0) opened their season last week with two wins against California State University programs.

They squeaked by Cal State Northridge 88-79 on Nov. 6 and then had a much easier time against Sacramento State on Friday, cruising to a 91-73 victory.

“It’s the last year of the (Pac-12) Conference and we want to finish the conference strong, but it’s one game at a time and that’s our goal,” said Brandon Angel, who scored 18 points to lead Stanford against Sacramento State.

The Cardinal had several other quality performances against the Hornets and also set a program record for assist-to-turnover ratio. Stanford had 22 assists compared to four turnovers (5.5-to-1), beating their previous best mark (4.75-to-1) produced against Oregon State on Feb. 13, 2013.

Stanford senior Jared Bynum tied his career high with 10 assists and committed just one giveaway, while sophomore Benny Gealer had a career-high six assists and no turnovers.

“The coaches give me a lot of confidence when I’ve got the ball in my hands to play free and make the decisions,” Bynum said.

Spencer Jones (15 points), Maxime Raynaud (14) and Andrej Stojakovic (12) also scored in double figures for the Cardinal on Friday.

Santa Clara is also off to a 2-0 start following wins against Utah Tech, 77-69 on Wednesday, and Saint Francis (Pa.), 82-59 on Saturday.

Taking on the Cardinal will be an even bigger test for Santa Clara, which is coached by Herb Sendek. He was a head coach in the Pac-12 with Arizona State from 2006-15.

“Stanford is a really talented team,” Sendek said. “Returns a lot of firepower, brings in some nationally acclaimed recruits, so we’re going to have to be at our best, obviously, going on the road early in the season to face an outstanding Stanford team.”

Santa Clara is led by Carlos Marshall Jr., who scored 25 points against St. Francis after putting up 22 in the opener.

Stanford holds a 51-27 lead in the all-time series against Santa Clara, but the Broncos won the most recent matchup 88-72 at home on Nov. 12, 2021.

–Field Level Media