Photo by: Michael G. Brown
MBB | Top-5 Moments: Season Opener vs Wisconsin (#3)
4/6/2020 3:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SMCGaels.com is counting down the top-5 moments from the Saint Mary's 2019-20 men's basketball season. Be sure to check back every Monday to read the latest installment of the series. Top-5 Moments is presented by University Credit Union, a proud sponsor of Gael Athletics.
MORAGA, Calif. — No. 3 in the countdown brings us all the way back to the first game of the season, nearly 1,400 miles from Saint Mary's campus, in a tough matchup versus Wisconsin. The game was played at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and marked the first time since the 2004-05 season the Gaels opened their season away from UCU Pavilion.
The Badgers came into the year highly touted and were returning three starters. The season prior, Wisconsin went 14-6 in Big 10 play and were a 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament. UW had the fourth best defense in the nation in 2018-19 according to KenPom and ranked 19th in the final AP-poll.
To their own credit, Saint Mary's was listed at No. 20 in the preseason poll after they returned over 88 percent of their scoring and 12 members from last year's squad. Leading the charge for the Gaels were Jordan Ford and Malik Fitts who had just been named to the All-WCC Preseason team.
Saint Mary's got on the scoreboard first courtesy of Logan Johnson who stole a pass and made two free throws for the team's first points of the season. After some early back and forth, Wisconsin managed to pull ahead 17-9 with 7:38 to play.
SMC got the 3-ball going shortly after and reeled off a 13-0 run to retake the lead and go up by six. Tanner Krebs, Alex Ducas, and Ford all hit treys during the stretch as the defense prevented UW from scoring for five minutes.
The Gaels were up 30-24 at the half. Saint Mary's only made 40 percent of their field goal attempts in the half but were lethal from the perimeter, going 6-for-11, to keep the offense rolling. There were also eight lead changes in the period but SMC led for the final 4:31 and were up by 10 at one point after a good three from Ford.
Wisconsin refused to be put away however and wouldn't allow the Gaels to pull ahead by more than two possessions for the first 10 minutes and change of the final half. Malik Fitts scored back to back layups to give SMC a 50-41 lead with eight minutes remaining but the Badgers rallied back with a 9-0 rally to tie the game up with 3:30 left on the game clock.
With the score tied 54-54, the Gaels had two opportunities to go ahead in the final minute but neither shot found the bottom of the nylon. Wisconsin's Ford Aleem got a last second prayer off before the buzzer but his attempt also did not fall so the teams headed to overtime.
Fitts took charge in the extra session and scored seven of the Gaels' 11 points. The forward came up big in the final two minutes with the Badgers up three by drawing a foul and knocking down both free throws to cut the deficit to one. On the very next possession, he converted on a layup to put Saint Mary's up 64-63 with less than a minute remaining.
Saint Mary's managed to get another stop and retake possession with 35 seconds left, allowing them to whittle down the clock to single figures. Just before the shot clock buzzed, Krebs fired a jumper that clanked iron but freshman Kyle Bowen grabbed an incredibly important offensive rebound and was fouled to send him to the line with four seconds left.
Bowen made the first try but his second came up short. Once again, Aleem had a shot to win it at the buzzer but his hail mary didn't fall and the Gaels escaped South Dakota with a major resume-building win.
Ford led the way with 26 points while playing all 45 minutes of the contest. Fitts added 16 points and Matthias Tass grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out four assists.
Many college basketball experts lauded the Gaels' win over Wisconsin as one of their best wins of the season. The victory was a Quad 1 win according to the NET rankings system and was a major reason the Gaels were slated for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin won their final eight games of the year, went 14-6 in conference play, and finished the season at No. 17 in the national polls.
#GaelsRise — Join the Season Ticket Waitlist today to be part of the Gaels 2020-21 season by clicking HERE. Current season ticket holders can renew their seats HERE and logging in at the top of the page. Email smctickets@stmarys-ca.edu with questions.
MORAGA, Calif. — No. 3 in the countdown brings us all the way back to the first game of the season, nearly 1,400 miles from Saint Mary's campus, in a tough matchup versus Wisconsin. The game was played at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and marked the first time since the 2004-05 season the Gaels opened their season away from UCU Pavilion.
The Badgers came into the year highly touted and were returning three starters. The season prior, Wisconsin went 14-6 in Big 10 play and were a 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament. UW had the fourth best defense in the nation in 2018-19 according to KenPom and ranked 19th in the final AP-poll.
To their own credit, Saint Mary's was listed at No. 20 in the preseason poll after they returned over 88 percent of their scoring and 12 members from last year's squad. Leading the charge for the Gaels were Jordan Ford and Malik Fitts who had just been named to the All-WCC Preseason team.
Saint Mary's got on the scoreboard first courtesy of Logan Johnson who stole a pass and made two free throws for the team's first points of the season. After some early back and forth, Wisconsin managed to pull ahead 17-9 with 7:38 to play.
SMC got the 3-ball going shortly after and reeled off a 13-0 run to retake the lead and go up by six. Tanner Krebs, Alex Ducas, and Ford all hit treys during the stretch as the defense prevented UW from scoring for five minutes.
The Gaels were up 30-24 at the half. Saint Mary's only made 40 percent of their field goal attempts in the half but were lethal from the perimeter, going 6-for-11, to keep the offense rolling. There were also eight lead changes in the period but SMC led for the final 4:31 and were up by 10 at one point after a good three from Ford.
Wisconsin refused to be put away however and wouldn't allow the Gaels to pull ahead by more than two possessions for the first 10 minutes and change of the final half. Malik Fitts scored back to back layups to give SMC a 50-41 lead with eight minutes remaining but the Badgers rallied back with a 9-0 rally to tie the game up with 3:30 left on the game clock.
With the score tied 54-54, the Gaels had two opportunities to go ahead in the final minute but neither shot found the bottom of the nylon. Wisconsin's Ford Aleem got a last second prayer off before the buzzer but his attempt also did not fall so the teams headed to overtime.
Fitts took charge in the extra session and scored seven of the Gaels' 11 points. The forward came up big in the final two minutes with the Badgers up three by drawing a foul and knocking down both free throws to cut the deficit to one. On the very next possession, he converted on a layup to put Saint Mary's up 64-63 with less than a minute remaining.
Saint Mary's managed to get another stop and retake possession with 35 seconds left, allowing them to whittle down the clock to single figures. Just before the shot clock buzzed, Krebs fired a jumper that clanked iron but freshman Kyle Bowen grabbed an incredibly important offensive rebound and was fouled to send him to the line with four seconds left.
Bowen made the first try but his second came up short. Once again, Aleem had a shot to win it at the buzzer but his hail mary didn't fall and the Gaels escaped South Dakota with a major resume-building win.
Ford led the way with 26 points while playing all 45 minutes of the contest. Fitts added 16 points and Matthias Tass grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out four assists.
Many college basketball experts lauded the Gaels' win over Wisconsin as one of their best wins of the season. The victory was a Quad 1 win according to the NET rankings system and was a major reason the Gaels were slated for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin won their final eight games of the year, went 14-6 in conference play, and finished the season at No. 17 in the national polls.
#GaelsRise — Join the Season Ticket Waitlist today to be part of the Gaels 2020-21 season by clicking HERE. Current season ticket holders can renew their seats HERE and logging in at the top of the page. Email smctickets@stmarys-ca.edu with questions.
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