Growing up in the Australian coastal city of Wollongong, about 52 miles south of Sydney, Joshua Dent didn’t know too much about Saint Mary’s College, where he now is a sophomore on the men’s basketball team.

But he knew what mattered most to him about it: It’s where Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova excelled on their way to successful careers in the NBA.

“I wouldn’t say I followed Saint Mary’s, really,” Dent said. “I wasn’t looking at where Moraga is or what conference they’re in. It was more like, `They went here, must be a good place.’ I always like to say, Australians know the blue bloods (of college basketball) and they always know Saint Mary’s.”

That stems from the Gaels’ enduring connection with Australia, beginning shortly after Randy Bennett became the Gaels’ coach in 2001. Other Aussies who matriculated to Moraga and blossomed with the Gaels include forward Daniel Kickert, guard Emmett Naar and center Jock Landale, who now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.

For Dent, Patty and Delly, as they are known, were at the top of the list. He soaked in everything he could about the two most accomplished point guards to emerge from Down Under. And Dent, a point guard himself, wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get enough of them.

“Definitely, Delly and Patty they were my whole family’s favorite players growing up,” he said. “We always followed the Spurs and Cavs. Got photos with them when we were really young when they were doing national team things.”

Dent’s older brother, Lachlan, recently was called up as an injury replacement for Dellavedova on the Sydney Kings of the NBL, Australia’s top professional league. Joshua said he was tempted to follow his brother’s path, signing with a pro franchise directly out of high school. “But with the NIL and being offered by such places at Saint Mary’s it was hard to turn down,” he said of choosing the college route.

Ten games into his sophomore season, Dent is happy with his decision. He’s averaging 12.3 points and 4.7 assists and is one of the nation’s most efficient free throw shooters, having converted 40 of 41 for 97.6 percent. Among five West Coast Conference players shooting at least 93 percent, Seattle U’s Brayden Maldonado isn’t far behind Dent at 36 for 37 or 97.3 percent.

Dent is also playing for a Gaels’ squad that is 9-1 and ranked No. 17 by the NCAA’s NET computer heading into a Sunday game against Boise State (7-3) at Idaho Falls. Tipoff is 3 p.m.

At Saint Mary’s, Dent is comfortable with the campus, his business classes, his coaches and teammates. But getting to this point required some patience after seeing an average of just 3.5 minutes per game as a freshman while playing behind two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis. 

Dent was informed during the recruiting process he should expect to follow the usual path for Saint Mary’s players: Work hard, develop and wait your turn.

“In meetings and on my visit, the coaches they don’t lie to you. They say this is what happens,” he said. “You know that not everyone hits the ground running. I knew what I was getting myself into.”

So, he had no visions of being Patty Mills, who walked in the door in the fall of 2007 and was an instant star? “Everyone has visions of that,” Dent acknowledged, “but it’s not the way it works a lot of the time.”

Dent has been worth the wait for the Gaels, according to Mickey McConnell, the team’s associate head coach who played point guard for Bennett from 2007-08 on teams that went 106-29 and was voted West Coast Conference Player of the Year as a senior.

“He’s doing great. Obviously, there’s the growing pains and experience he has to keep getting from playing,” McConnell said. “But for a guy who didn’t play much last year and got thrust into that role, he’s been doing a really good job. The biggest thing is he has to keep improving each game, which I think he will do.”

Dent said getting such limited game action last year probably left him a bit rusty, but it also boosted his competitiveness because there was no other option. Practicing daily against Marciulionis meant, “If you don’t bring it, you’re going to get killed.”

He quickly learned to make the best of the season in preparation for this year. “Knowing that the weight room and practice, that stuff matters when you’re fighting for an opportunity,” Dent said. “I’d say I probably got more competitive last year.”

Dent said he’s “reasonably happy” with way the Gaels have played so far and believes he’s made positive contributions. “But I definitely have a lot to improve on in terms of taking care of the ball, getting a little more greedy on defense, things like that,” he said. “As the point guard, I kind of lead the charge in both of those aspects. So, making sure I’m locked into those things and everything else will fall into place.”

McConnell has been a believer in Dent since first scouting him on the Australian National team at the under-17 World Championships in Spain.

“The first thing that stood out was they had a really good team and he was the leader on the court. Any timeout, any dead ball, everyone on the court looked to him,” McConnell recalled. “It’s important as a point guard, you need that. He just kind of ran the show and he did whatever they needed. The intangible of being a leader is so big for us.”

Even so, the inevitable growing pains McConnell referenced surfaced during the Gaels’ trip to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis during Thanksgiving week. Saint Mary’s beat Wichita State and Virginia Tech before suffering its only defeat so far against unbeaten and 15th-ranked Vanderbilt in the final. It was Dent’s first exposure as a starter to high-level DI competition, and he felt it, shooting 0 for 11 on 3’s and averaging nearly four turnovers per game. 

"I think I got too sped up,” Dent said. “Playing up against that level of competition definitely was an eye-opener but it wasn’t like a `I’m not ready eye opener.’ It was maybe we need to focus on some different things.”

McConnell said Dent will be more ready the next time. “We think he’s better than he played at that event. He hasn’t played in many of those games where you’re on the scout, you’re the starting point guard, you’re playing against a top-50, top-10 team. Those are experiences you have to go through.

“He has potential down the road and we’ll need him to be an all-league type of guy. He’s shown glimpses of it. The area he hasn’t shown it yet is he can really shoot. That will come as he gets more reps and comfortable in games.”

Dent responded in the Gaels’ next game, scoring 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting and dishing five assists in a 70-61 road win last Sunday over a Davidson squad that had lost just once this season.

The Gaels have three more games prior to West Coast Conference play, starting with Sunday’s rematch vs. Boise State. The Broncos beat Saint Mary’s 67-65 in overtime last season after winning 63-60 the year before, both times at Idaho Falls.

The competitive edge Dent honed while watching from the bench as a freshman has him eager for another shot at Boise. “We’ve played there the last two years and they got us both times. So, we’re trying to get the monkey off our backs this year.”