When last seen at the NCAA Tournament, Saint Mary’s creating problems for eventual national champion UConn.
The Gaels were leading at the 16-minute mark of the second half before the Huskies shut it down in the homestretch for a 70-55 win in a West Region second-round game in Albany, N.Y.
Saint Mary’s appears to have the pieces to stir more March mayhem, returning three starters and being ranked No. 23 in the preseason. The Gaels will get their season started Monday night in Moraga, Calif. with a home game against Division II Stanislaus State.
Nothing about the preseason suggests a regression is in line for Saint Mary’s, which went 27-8 last season and tied Gonzaga for the regular season West Coast Conference title. The Gaels looked impressive on Oct. 20 in a 92-58 rout at Hawaii in a charity exhibition game.
Aidan Mahaney, a freshman All-American last season, scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half. Augustas Marciulionis, the son of former NBA star Sarunas Marciulionis, contributed 22 points and appears to be making the switch from sixth man to the starting lineup seamlessly.
Also back for Saint Mary’s is first team all-conference pick Mitchell Saxen, who averaged 11.6 points and 7.6 rebounds while canning 55.7 percent of his shots from the field, and 3-point threat Alex Ducas. He contributed 12.5 points per game and sank 41.4 percent of his attempts from the 3-point line.
During a recent podcast, long-time college basketball writer Jeff Goodman predicted the Gaels for a breakthrough trip to the Final Four.
“No expectations, huh?” joked veteran coach Randy Bennett. “Do we have the pieces? Yes. I’ve never been past the Sweet 16 before, but it’s pretty wide-open. The big-time blueblood programs have the advantage but it’s not what it used to be.”
A five-time WCC Coach of the Year, Bennett has scheduled aggressively. Saint Mary’s will play New Mexico, San Diego State, Xavier or Washington and Utah before the calendar flips into December. It will also take on Boise State, UNLV, Middle Tennessee and Missouri State in December.
Meanwhile, Stanislaus State is aiming to make improvements on a 10-18 season in 2022-23 that saw it go 8-14 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, good for a tie of ninth place. The Warriors will return 10 players, including 5-foot-11 junior guard Tony Singleton, an all-conference player in 2021-22.
Singleton was averaging 12.8 points per game and hitting nearly 46 percent of his 3-pointers in five games last season before an injury knocked him out of the final 23 games. Stanislaus State returns nine other players but none of them are Marlon Short or Kobe Ordonio, the team’s top two scorers last season at 15.3 and 14.4 ppg, respectively.
Coach Paul Trevor is hoping for more stability than he received last season, when 10 different players earned at least one start as he tried to find a winning combination. Entering his seventh season, Trevor is 54-60 with the Warriors and 171-156 in his career.
The game is an exhibition for Stanislaus State. It lost its only previous meeting with the Gaels two years ago, a 76-39 decision in Moraga.
–Field Level Media