Gonzaga set to square off with St. Mary's for WCC supremacy

Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are set to rekindle their rivalry for the first time this season on Saturday, and the Zags find themselves in an unusual position. Saint Mary’s is the better team.

As far as rivalries go, this one doesn’t look the part if you only look at the record. Since Randy Bennett took over as head coach in Moraga, California, ahead of the 2001-02 season, Gonzaga holds a 45-12 advantage over the Gaels. The necessary context here is no team in the West Coast Conference has managed anything close to what Saint Mary’s has done to Gonzaga over the years. The Gaels have been a thorn in Gonzaga’s side, and they’ve occasionally managed to draw blood.

Saint Mary’s has shared the regular season title with the Zags, most recently in 2016. In 2012, the Gaels won it outright. No other WCC team has managed to do the same since Pepperdine shared the title with Gonzaga back in 2002, Bennett’s first season coaching the Gaels. They’ve also won the WCC Tournament three times, most recently in 2019. You have to go back to 2007, back when the WCC Tournament was held at campus sites (it was in and won by San Diego that year), to find a team other than the Gaels or Zags that won the tourney. 

The Gaels have spent the past two decades being the only real threat to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference.

Over that time the rivalry has produced its fair share of memorable moments. Omar Samhan willingly accepted his role as public enemy number one in Spokane. Matthew Dellavedova and his mouthguard ended the Zags’ 11 season run of regular season championships. ESPN’s College GameDay went to Moraga in 2017 for a top-20 matchup. The next season the two teams met again in Moraga for a top-15 matchup, the first top-15 matchup in conference history. Oh yeah, and the Gaels have upended Gonzaga twice when the Zags had a No. 1 ranking next to their name.

Despite all that history, we might be experiencing the apex of this rivalry to date. The Zags and Gaels have been ranked in the AP Poll for each of the past three meetings. Saturday will be the fourth straight ranked-on-ranked meeting in the series, the most such games in a row in the history of the rivalry. And again, the Gaels are better than Gonzaga right now.

Saint Mary’s is ranked sixth nationally in the NCAA’s NET Rankings (GU is 12th). They’re seventh in the analytically-minded KenPom rankings (Zags are 16th). Statistician Bart Torvik has the Gaels third in the country (the Bulldogs come in at No. 24), and his metrics say they’ve been the best team in the entire sport since January 4 (Gonzaga at No. 38 over that timeframe).

SCOUTING THE GAELS

Zag fans have come to know, and loathe, the Gaels’ style of play over recent seasons. The squad from Moraga is once again playing at a snail's pace offensively, limiting possessions and absolutely hounding opponents defensively. Remember when they held Gonzaga to just 47 points in their upset win in the 2019 WCC Tournament Final? That's the game plan you should expect to see on Saturday.

The Gaels don’t force a ton of turnovers, though they are defensively adept at it nonetheless. They disrupt offenses instead by completely taking teams out of their flow. The Gaels close down passing lanes and force teams to play in isolation. Assists are at an absolute premium for teams facing Saint Mary’s, which could easily frustrate a Gonzaga team that often relies on pumping the ball into Drew Timme or making extra passes to shooters on the perimeter — the Gaels are third nationally at preventing assists and 26th in preventing three pointers.

Teams simply don’t get many good looks against Saint Mary’s. More accurately, they don’t get many looks period. The Gaels play the 20th slowest tempo in the sport, limiting possessions, and they crash the offensive glass with abandon, grabbing the third highest percentage of offensive rebounds in the country.

Zags fans will remember upperclassmen like Logan Johnson, a pest defensively in the backcourt, sharpshooting wing Alex Ducas, floppy haired Aussie Kyle Bowen and plodding center from Seattle's Mitchell Saxen. 

The name to know, though, is Aidan Mahaney. The fearless freshman, who played his high school ball just two miles from campus at Campolindo High School, has become SMC's best player.

The former four-star recruit made his presence known immediately by dropping 25 points in the season opener. He leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game and has also displayed a knack for coming through in the clutch.

Last weekend against BYU he knocked down the game winning shot with 0.3 seconds to play. It wasn’t a fluke, either. Mahaney had the ball in his hands for the entire possession. The coaching staff clearly trusts their freshman phenom. 

Gonzaga’s Julian Strawther took home WCC Player of the Week honors this week thanks to his 40-point performance at Portland, but Mahaney landed the nod for Freshman of the Week. He’s earned that honor eight times this season, including each of the past five weeks.

If the Zags can snap that streak, they might find themselves once again atop the WCC standings.

NEXT UP

Men

Gonzaga vs. Santa Clara • Thu, Feb. 2 at 8 pm • CBS Sports Network

Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s • Sat, Feb. 4 at 7:30 pm • ESPN

Women

Gonzaga at Santa Clara • Thu, Feb. 2 at 6 pm • WCCSports.com/watch

Gonzaga at San Francisco • Sat, Feb. 4 at 2 pm • KHQ