With WCC title up for grabs, Gaels wilt
LAS VEGAS — This was supposed to be the season St. Mary's asserted itself as the class of the West Coast Conference. But in a 77-51 loss to second-seeded Gonzaga in the conference tournament championship game at Orleans Arena on Tuesday night, the top-seeded Gaels sent an altogether different message: They have work to do.
In a game in which it never led, St. Mary's hardly looked like the 16thranked team in the country as it struggled with the Bulldogs' speed and athleticism, forced up jumpers late in the shot clock and endured its most lopsided defeat since Feb. 8, 2020. With Selection Sunday looming, the Gaels can only hope Tuesday was an aberration — not a sign of March regression.
“We didn't show up,” St. Mary's head coach Randy Bennett said. “I don't think we competed very well.”
Over the past four months, as it vexed opponents with its brand of middle-third ball-screens and left-block post-ups, St. Mary's made many wonder: Could this be the best team in Bennett's 22-yearrun? Entering Tuesday, the Gaels appeared well-positioned to earn a top-four NCAA Tournament seed for the first time in program history.
But in the wake of the championship-game shellacking, they could slide out of the top five. From the opening tip, St. Mary's (26-7) appeared out of sorts as Gonzaga (28-5) dictated the tempo as the Gaels fell behind 18 by halftime. Their exacting pace makes big comebacks tough, and Tuesday was no exception.
St. Mary's never seriously threatened the rest of the way, prompting many Gaels fans to leave well before the final buzzer sounded. The sight of Gonzaga hoisting yet another WCC tournament trophy might have been too painful to stomach. Not only have the Bulldogs been somewhat down this season by their lofty standards, but St. Mary's had been executing its system as well as ever.
Logic suggested that, if the Gaels were to dethrone Gonzaga for WCC supremacy anytime soon, this could be the season. After sharing the conference regular-season title and splitting the regular-season series with the Bulldogs, St. Mary's rode a better NET ranking to the WCC tournament's top seed.
But Gonzaga is still Gonzaga, which means it can dominate on any given night — particularly when its opponent is out of sync. The Gaels shot just 33.3% from the field (25% from 3point range) as the Bulldogs bullied them on the glass and watched senior forward Drew Timme (18 points on 8-for-10 shooting) become Gonzaga's alltime leading scorer.
“We've got to get our minds right,” St. Mary's guard Alex Ducas said. “We have to remind ourselves who we are. We're a good team.”
Though St. Mary's will review Tuesday's video, it will be careful not to dwell on a rare embarrassment. Too much is at stake. For the Gaels to solidify themselves as more of a national brand, they must escape the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.
That's entirely possible. St. Mary's just needs to do the opposite of what it did Tuesday. Easy enough, right?
“I think St. Mary's is going to have great success in the NCAA Tournament,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said. “They're an excellent, excellent basketball team.”
So are the Bulldogs. After stumbling to a 5-3 start, Gonzaga heard the chatter suggesting this was Few's worst team ever. Since then, the Bulldogs have gone 23-2 while improving at a rapid rate.
Though Bennett conceded postgame that this Gonzaga team isn't loaded with NBA talent like past iterations, he said that “they're better than what people think.” He should know. In getting up by as much as 37 on their longtime rival, the Bulldogs looked like a dark-horse national title contender.
As for St. Mary's? It will take a couple of days off before returning to practice Friday. In that time, Bennett wants his team to do some self-reflection: Why were the Gaels so bad on such a big stage Tuesday? And how can they make sure it doesn't happen again?
Whomever St. Mary's draws in the first round of March Madness figures to study how Gonzaga pummeled it. To be ready, the Gaels must do what they have done for decades: stay true to Bennett's system and execute.
Even in the afterglow of Tuesday's blowout win, Gonzaga guard Julian Strawther had vivid memories of just how good St. Mary's can be.
“Just their attention to detail,” he said. “They don't make too many mistakes.”