#23/22 Gonzaga (23-6, 13-2 WCC) at #17/17 Saint Mary's (24-6, 15-0)
SATURDAY, MARCH 2 | 7 P.M. | UCU PAVILION | MORAGA, CA
TELEVISION: ESPN
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THE TIP OFF
- Gonzaga closes the regular season at Saint Mary's Saturday at 7 p.m. This is the 115th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Saint Mary's. The Bulldogs lead the series 80-34, winning 25 of the last 31 meetings.
- The Zags are 26-20 all-time at Saint Mary's. The Gaels have won the last two meetings in Moraga.
- The Bulldogs are coming off an 86-68 win over San Francisco in the Chase Center Thursday. Graham Ike matched his season-high of 26 points for the second straight game. Nolan Hickman scored 22 points and Ryan Nembhard added 15. GU led by one at halftime and then scored the first 13 points of the second half to pull away.
- The Zags are 18-0 this season when scoring 80 points and 17-0 when shooting 50 percent from the field. GU is 20-0 this season when shooting 30 percent from behind-the-perimeter and 18-1 when making six or more threes.
- Gonzaga leads the West Coast Conference in field goal percentage (51.9, 2nd in NCAA Div. 1), scoring margin (17.0, 4th in NCAA Div. 1), scoring (86.1, 5th NCAA Div. 1), rebounds (40.0) and assists per game (16.2).
- GU clinched its 27th straight 20-win season, which is the second longest active run in the nation. (Kansas 33)
- Head Coach Mark Few reached the 700 win plateau in his head coaching career at Pepperdine. Few ranks second in NCAA Div. 1 history behind Kentucky's Adolph Rupp (700-136) as the fastest to 700 wins.
- Few currently boasts the best winning percentage among active head coaches at 83.3 percent, which also is the best in NCAA Div. 1 all-time with a minimum of 10 seasons.
- The Bulldogs have won 168 straight games when leading by 10 or more points at halftime.
 
ABOUT THE GAELS
- Saint Mary's remained unbeaten in West Coast Conference play with an 83-57 win at Pepperdine Thursday. SMC clinched the WCC regular season title outright with the victory, its first outright title since 2012.
- Five Gaels scored in double-digits led by Augustas Marciulionis's 17 points and 11 assists (three turnovers). Alex Ducas had 12 points (three three-pointers) and 10 rebounds, and Luke Barrett came off the bench for 14 points and eight boards. SMC shot 59.6 percent from the field and held the Waves to 36.7 percent.
- Saint Mary's is second in the nation in scoring defense (58.1) and fourth in field goal percentage defense (38.7). The Gaels top the country in rebound margin (11.9) and are sixth in scoring margin (16.7).
- Aidan Mahaney averages a team-high 13.6 points, while Marciulionis adds 12.5 points. Mitchell Saxen averages 11.5 points and a team-best 7.4 rebounds.
- Marciulionis is second in the WCC dishing out 5.1 assists per outing.
 
SERIES INFO
- This is the 115th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Saint Mary's. The Bulldogs lead the series 80-34, winning 25 of the last 31 meetings.
- Gonzaga is 56-14 against SMC under Mark Few.
- The Bulldogs are 26-20 all-time at Saint Mary's.
- In last season's meeting in Moraga, the Gaels rallied to win in overtime, 78-70. GU led for 37 minutes, including by eight at halftime, and were led by Drew Timme's 23 points. Anton Watson finished with eight points.
- In the first matchup this season in Spokane, Aidan Mahaney scored 20 points and Saint Mary's rallied late to beat Gonzaga 64-62. Ryan Nembhard had 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting to lead the Bulldogs. Anton Watson had 16 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double, while Graham Ike had 12 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth.
- Gonzaga is 37-11 all-time at home against SMC.
- The Zags are 18-3 against SMC in the WCC Tournament, winning eight of the last nine meetings in the event. The teams have met in the tournament 13 of the past 15 years.
- The Bulldogs won the first all-time meeting between the programs, 94-77, in Spokane in 1955.
 
UP NEXT
- The Zags will head to Las Vegas for the West Coast Conference Championships.
- Gonzaga is 65-16 all-time in the West Coast Conference Tournament with 21 titles and 29 finals appearances, including each of the last 26 seasons.
- The Bulldogs are 51-5 under Mark Few in the WCC Tournament with title-game appearances in all 24
seasons.
- The Zags are 32-3 in the WCC Tournament since 2009, when the event moved to Las Vegas.
- GU's three losses in the event in Las Vegas have all been to Saint Mary's, the 2010, 2012 and 2019 finals.
- The Bulldogs were 34-13 in the conference tournament prior to it coming to Vegas.
- The Zags have never lost an opening game of the tournament in Las Vegas, winning all 15.
- Gonzaga has won the opening game of tournament the past 26 years, dating back to a loss in 64-59 in the 1997 quarterfinals to fourth-seeded San Diego as a fifth-seed.
- The Bulldogs are 31-6 in opening games at the event, including 14-6 in the quarterfinals (nine straight wins).
- Gonzaga has won in the WCC tournament semifinals in each of the past 26 years. The Zags last loss in the WCC semifinals was 1994, 83-75, to San Diego in Santa Clara.
- The Bulldogs are 29-2 in semifinal games at the tournament, winning all 15 in Las Vegas.
- Gonzaga is 12-3 in the WCC Tournament finals played in Las Vegas.
- The Bulldogs are 21-8 in championship games at the tournament.
 
TRIPLE BYE IN VEGAS
- Gonzaga has clinched the second seed in the 2024 West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
- The top two seeds earn triple byes in the event to the semifinals on March 11.
- GU has been the top seed in the WCC Tournament in 11 of the 14 years that the event has been in Las Vegas since 2009. The other three years, GU has been the two-seed.
 
THE BEST IN THE WEST
- Gonzaga and Saint Mary's have finished in the top two of the West Coast Conference standings in 12 of the past 13 seasons, and 15 of the last 19 seasons. (SMC: second in 2021-22 and 2022-23, fourth in 2013-14 and third in 2006-07)
- The last 23 regular season titles have been won or shared by Gonzaga or Saint Mary's. The Zags have won or shared 21, while SMC has won or shared three.
- The last 14 WCC Tournament titles have been won by either Gonzaga or SMC. GU has 11 of those 14 titles.
- Gonzaga has won eight of the 11 meetings when both teams have been ranked.
 
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENT
- Gonzaga led San Francisco 35-34 at halftime in the win over the Dons at the Chase Center.
- The Zags opened the second half making 13 of their first 14 shots from the field and outscored USF 13-0 to start the second stanza.
- GU opened the second half on a 26-4 run to blow open the score to 61-38.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
- Ryan Nembhard is three away from passing his brother Andrew, John Stockton, and Matt Santangelo for eighth most in a single season in program history.
- Anton Watson is 13 points from passing Kyle Wiltjer (1,374) for 23rd on the program's all-time scoring list.
- Watson has played 145 games at GU, which is third in program history behind Przemek Karnowski (152) and Josh Perkins (153).
- Watson is 128-17 (88.3) in his career appearances, his 128 wins are third all-time at GU behind Josh Perkins (134) and Przemek Karnowski (137).
- Ben Gregg has 100 appearances at Gonzaga.
- Nolan Hickman is two games played from 100.
 
WHERE WE RANK
- GU is second in the nation in field goal percentage (51.9) and 20th in field goal percentage defense (40.3).
- The Zags lead the WCC in scoring offense (86.1), which also ranks fifth in the nation. GU is fourth in the country in scoring margin at 17.0, which tops the conference.
- The Bulldogs are fourth in the nation in two-point percentage (59.2), led by Ben Gregg who is 11th in the country inside-the-arc at 71.4 percent (48/68).
- Gonzaga is eighth in the country in rebound margin (8.9), and 20th averaging 40.00 rebounds per game.
- Ryan Nembhard tops the WCC in assists per game (6.3), which also ranks 13th in the country. He also leads the WCC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.76).
 
QUITE THE FEAT
- Ryan Nembhard tops the conference at 6.6 assists per league game, and with a 3.8 assist to turnover ratio.
- He has a career-best 182 assists this season, which is three away from passing his brother Andrew, John Stockton, and Matt Santangelo for eighth most in a single season in program history.
- The Canadian notched double-doubles in both of Gonzaga's double-digit wins, posting 16 points and 11 assists against Loyola Marymount, and 18 points and 10 assists against Pacific, becoming the first Bulldog to have back-to-back double-digit assist games since Derek Raivio had 11 assists versus Portland State and 13 assists against Montana to open the 2004-05 season.
- Nembhard was the first Zag to get back-to-back double-doubles with assists since Dan Dickau on Jan. 12 and 13, 2001 (13 pts, 10 asts at USF and 15 pts, 12 asts at SMC).
 
HICKMAN HOT OVER LAST FIVE
- Over the last five games, Nolan Hickman is averaging 19.8 points per outing, which is second on the team.
- He is making 54.2 percent of his shots from the field over that stretch, including 54.3 percent from three (19-of-35).
- The junior is also 22-for-25 from the line. He had a string of 19 straight before missing his second attempt against Santa Clara.
- Hickman is 23-of-41 (56.1 percent) from three-point range over the last seven games.
 
GOLDEN GRAHAM
- Graham Ike has scored a season-high 26 points in each of the last two games.
- He's the first Zag to have six straight 20 or more point games since Kyle Wiltjer in the 2015-16. Adam Morrison had a stretch of seven straight 20 or more point games in 2005-06.
- In the home win over Pacific Ike made all nine of his shots from the field. It was the most makes without a miss by a Zag since Rui Hachimura went 9-for-9 against Denver on Dec. 21, 2018.
- Ike has scored 20 or more points in nine of the last 11 games and has a team-high 14 20-point games.
- He is averaging 16.7 points per game, which is second in the WCC, and a conference-best 18.1 per WCC game.
- The junior is shooting 65.1 percent from the field in WCC games, which ranks second in the conference behind teammate Anton Watson's 65.7 percent.
 
FEEL FREE TO USE THESE AT A PARTY ...
- The Bulldogs have won 168 straight games when leading by 10 or more points at halftime.
- Gonzaga's seven straight road wins ranks as the third longest current active streak in the country.
- The Bulldogs' seven straight overall wins is the eighth longest current active streak in the nation.
- Anton Watson is the only player in program history to have 1,000 points, 700 rebounds, and 200 steals.
- The Zags are 22-1 when scoring 76 points this season.
- Gonzaga has won 32 of their last 35 games in the month of February. Over the past three seasons, GU is 21-3 in February, with the three losses to Saint Mary's.
- Gonzaga is one of five schools to have its women's and men's teams ranked in the latest AP polls. The Zag women are 29-2 and are ranked No. 16. Gonzaga joins Baylor (Women: 21, Men: 15), Connecticut (Women: 10, Men: 3), Creighton (Women: 23, Men: 12) and South Carolina (Women: 1, Men: 18) with both teams ranked.
- Gonzaga has the second-best combined record in the nation with the women's and men's teams at 52-8. South Carolina is best at 51-5.