Typically, Gonzaga sits atop the West Coast Conference standings when the regular season ends.
However, for just the second time this century, Saint Mary’s won the regular-season crown in outright fashion, and there is nothing at stake when the No. 17 Gaels meet the No. 23 Bulldogs in the conference finale on Saturday night in Moraga, Calif.
Saint Mary’s (24-6, 15-0 WCC) clinched its first outright regular-season title since the 2011-12 season with an 83-57 romp over host Pepperdine on Thursday night. The Gaels will be the No. 1 seed and receive a bye into the upcoming WCC tournament semifinals.
“It’s hard to do,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said of his team winning the WCC outright. “They’ve come a long way from the start of the season to now. That was the goal going into this and they got it done. Hard to do with Gonzaga in the league. I think it’s happened two times in the last 22 years, that’s how hard it is.”
The Gaels’ 16-game winning streak is the longest in the nation.
Gonzaga (23-6, 13-2) will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament. The Zags also receive a bye into the semifinals.
So while Saturday’s game is meaningless from a conference standpoint, the Gaels would like to sweep the regular-season series and Gonzaga would like to avoid being swept. Saint Mary’s prevailed 64-62 on Feb. 3 in Spokane, Wash., and has won three of the past six meetings.
“It’s a huge rivalry. It’s probably one of the best rivalries in college basketball,” Gaels point guard Augustas Marciulionis said after the win over Pepperdine. “And we’re playing in front of our own students and our own crowd. If nothing else, 100 percent of your effort and energy is expected from you. That’s what we’ll give on Saturday.”
Marciulionis scored 17 points and tied his career high of 11 assists against the Waves. He is second on the Gaels in scoring at 12.5 points per game and averages a team-high 5.1 assists.
Aidan Mahaney leads Saint Mary’s with a 13.6 scoring average. He scored 20 in last month’s win over the Zags.
Gonzaga has won seven consecutive games after producing an 86-68 road victory over San Francisco on Thursday.
Graham Ike led the way with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 8-of-8 success at the free-throw line.
Ike is looking forward for the rematch after the Bulldogs led for more 30 minutes in the first matchup before the Gaels overtook them.
“It’s big for us to get that double bye,” Ike said after the win over the Dons, “but we still got to take care of business on Saturday. That’s what we’re looking forward to. Glad we got it done. Enjoy it for a couple hours and then … get ready for Saint Mary’s.”
Nolan Hickman added 22 points against San Francisco, while Ryan Nembhard had 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Bulldogs coach Mark Few liked that his club held the Dons to 28 percent shooting from 3-point range. He also liked the start of the second half as the Zags used a 33-8 burst to turn a one-point halftime lead into a commanding 68-42 advantage with 9:39 remaining.
“It was just a great response to what was a really hard-fought game,” Few said. “It started with our stops. I don’t know how many consecutive stops we had with our defense. It was just absolutely fantastic in that first 10 minutes of the second half and that led to us getting out on our break. That’s when we’re always at our best.”
Ike leads Gonzaga with a 16.7 scoring average. Anton Watson puts up 14.6 per game, and Hickman averages 14.3.
–Field Level Media