With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, this is new territory for the two premier men’s basketball programs in the West Coast Conference.
When Saint Mary’s visits Gonzaga on Saturday night, the scenarios will be unlike anything we’ve seen in years. But with the conference regular season championship in the balance, the bottom line is the same for both teams: “We’ve just got to compete,” Zags’ coach Mark Few said.
Tipoff is 5 p.m. at the McCarthey Center, known better to WCC fans as The Kennel. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
The Gaels (24-4, 14-1 WCC) will arrive at Spokane equipped with a two-game lead over the Zags (21-7, 12-3) with three games to play. In itself, that is a different landscape for a conference where Gonzaga has won or shared 26 of the past 31 regular-season championships.
A Saint Mary’s victory on Saturday would clinch the outright crown for the Gaels, giving them two in a row for the first time in program history. It would also mark the first time since the 1992 and ’93 seasons — more than three decades — that the Zags went two years without at least a piece of the WCC title.
There are other subplots:
— Saint Mary’s is attempting to beat Gonzaga two years in a row at Spokane for the first time since the 1989 and ’90 season
— The Gaels, who won 62-58 when the teams met at Moraga on Feb. 1, haven’t swept the regular-season series — home and away — in nine years.
— Having shared the 2023 regular-season title with Gonzaga before winning it outright last season, Saint Mary’s is positioned to secure at least a piece of three straight league championships for the first time in program history.
Saint Mary’s senior point guard Augustas Marciulionis, talking after the Gaels’ 79-66 win over Portland on Wednesday, said the focus in this next one won’t stray beyond trying to beat a formidable opponent on the road.
“I just learned today we have this chance to win the league. But we’re going to treat it like every Gonzaga game,” the reigning WCC’s Player of the Year said. “We’re playing a really good team in a really tough atmosphere. That’s what we’re focused on. We’re just focused on the game itself, not everything that surrounds it.”
Both Few and Gaels coach Randy Bennett understand better than anyone what’s at stake here. But they also will try to keep the mission streamlined, uncluttered by all the side stories.
“It’s February, man. When the games come around, you’ve to go out and perform,” Few said after an 84-63 win at Washington State on Wednesday night. “Got another big one coming up on Saturday.”
Bennett, whose Gaels have won three of the past four meetings vs. Gonzaga, knows that recent history won’t translate to any advantage on Saturday.
“We always look forward to playing this game. It’s a high-level game,” he said after the Portland victory. “Up there you better really bring a good effort and a good performance. You can’t roll up there and have a `C’ game. We’ll have to play better than we did tonight.
“There’s always a lot on this game. There is again this year.”
Saint Mary’s lost four key players from its 2023-24 squad and was picked second behind the Zags in the preseason coaches poll. Asked if given those circumstances, a victory Saturday would have extra meaning, Bennett made it clear he doesn’t view things that way.
“It would mean we won the championship — that means a lot. I don’t think it needs to mean anything more than that,” he said. “People always say, `Hey, you’ve got to take the next jump.’ What is the next jump?
“One of the things is being able to do it year-in and year-out. That’s what Gonzaga’s done. Nobody’s done it as long as they have. Nobody.”
Nothing that happens on Saturday will diminish anything the Zags have achieved during an unprecedented run of elite-level success. The Gaels’ agenda is their own.
“We did it last year. We were able to get in the NCAA Tournament, we were able to win the league. That’s what we’re trying to do this year,” Bennett said. “And then the other step you can make if you get in the (NCAA) tournament is to win a game and then games. But you don’t even get a crack at that if you don’t get in.”
Winning on Saturday “would be a small step, but it’s a huge step,” Bennett continued. “It would mean a lot if we could do something like we did last year and win the league.”
Meanwhile, Gonzaga seems to be hitting its stride, having won five games in a row by an average margin of 24 points since its visit to Moraga.
“We’re trying to put ourselves in the best position to win the league. That’s the goal — win the game,” Gonzaga senior forward Graham Ike said.
In order to claim the WCC title, or even a piece of it, the Zags will not only need to win their final three games but will need Saint Mary’s to lose one of its other two remaining contests, next week at LMU or at home vs. Oregon State.
Gonzaga guard Nolan Hickman likes what he’s seeing from his team.
“It’s good to have this momentum around this time of year,” he said. “We’ve got a tough schedule coming up, tough games. I think this is what we need heading into March and I think my guys are going to be more than capable of pulling everything off.”
ELITE POINT GUARD MATCHUP: The game within the game Saturday is the duel of two point guards playing at a high level. “Two best in our league,” Bennett said. “They’re both good.”
Marciulionis contributed 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists to the Gaels’ win over Portland. He’s averaging 18.8 points, 7.8 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 3.0 steals and shooting 50 percent from the field over the past five games. In four games vs. the Zags the past two seasons, he’s provided 10.5 points and 6.5 assists and won three times.
“He has continued to improve this year, which doesn’t always happen,” Bennett said of Marciulionis. “He’s been playing as good as he’s played the last 10 games. His percentages have gone up and he’s really turned into a good defender. It’s hard to get a guy who does that much for you offensively and has to take their best guard every night.”
Gonzaga senior Ryan Nembhard, despite a season-low two assists at WSU, continues to lead the nation at 9.7 per outing. He has broken Gonzaga’s single-season assist record two years in a row and needs just 13 assists over the next three games to eclipse the WCC’s single-season mark of 284, set by Emmett Naar of Saint Mary’s in 2017-18.
Nembhard has produced 15.5 points and 8.5 assists in four games vs. the Gaels, but emerged victorious just once.
“He’s one of the best point guards in the country,” Marciulionis said. “You want to compete against guys like him. As a competitor, you want to play the best players.”