Saint Mary’s popped into the national rankings for the first time this season and was immediately dealt a setback.
The No. 22 Gaels look to bounce back from their 77-72 loss to Santa Clara when they host San Diego in West Coast Conference play on Thursday night.
Saint Mary’s (19-5, 7-2 WCC) will be looking to defeat the Toreros for the 15th consecutive time and 20th in the past 21 meetings.
The Gaels will be craving a better defensive effort after allowing a season-high point total in Tuesday’s loss to the host Broncos.
Saint Mary’s allows an average of 59.2 points per game. It has held 13 foes below 60 points this season.
But the Gaels had trouble corralling the Broncos, who shot 55.4 percent while beating a ranked team for the first time since downing No. 4 North Carolina in November 2004. Santa Clara ended a 43-game losing streak against ranked foes.
“We didn’t defend well enough to win the game,” Gaels coach Randy Bennett said after his team’s seven-game winning streak was snapped. “They’re a good team though. I knew that coming in. They’ve been talking all year about the four (best) teams in the league. The whole time I’ve been saying pay attention to Santa Clara.”
Tommy Kuhse had 16 points and six assists off the bench for the Gaels on a night in which only one starter (Matthias Tass with 12) scored in double figures. Saint Mary’s shot 43.3 percent from the field and had just four fast-break points.
Tass leads the Gaels in scoring (13.1 points per game) and rebounding (6.4).
Bennett’s club will strive for a much better performance against San Diego (13-11, 6-5).
The Toreros have lost their past two games, including Saturday’s 79-66 home loss against Santa Clara.
San Diego trailed by as many as 23 in the first half in a disappointing performance.
“As simply as I can put it,” Toreros wing Josh Parrish told the San Diego Union-Tribune, “they came out with an edge and we didn’t. Where we’re trying to go as a program, as a team, you can’t come out with halves like that.”
The loss to the Broncos followed a 92-62 home whipping at the hands of No. 2 Gonzaga.
Though San Diego is an improved team, all six of its WCC victories have come against the bottom four teams in the conference.
So the biggest goal for the Toreros is to notch that elusive upset.
“Beating a good team would essentially show we can do it,” Parrish told the Union-Tribune. “We still have yet to do that. That’s going to be our task in the month of February.”
Marcellus Earlington scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting against Santa Clara to mark his sixth 20-point outing of the season. Earlington leads the Toreros with a 13.8 scoring average and ranks second in rebounding (6.7) behind Terrell Brown-Soares (7.1).
Jase Townsend is the other San Diego player scoring in double figures at 10.6 per game.
The Toreros’ most-recent win over the Gaels came on Jan. 30, 2014 — a convincing 61-43 home win.
–Field Level Media