MBB | West Coast Conference Tournament Preview

LAS VEGAS — Saint Mary's tips off their 2021 West Coast Conference Tournament run tomorrow at 6 p.m. as they face the winner of the Loyola Marymount and San Francisco game being played later tonight. LMU is ranked as the No. 5 seed while the Dons were seeded eighth.

GAME INFORMATION
Game No. 22 vs. Loyola Marymount/San Francisco
Date/Time: Saturday, Mar. 6 at 6:00 p.m. PT
Location: Orleans Arena
TV: ESPNU
Radio: TuneIn (Alex Jensen)
WATCH | LISTEN | LIVE STATS

THE OPPOSITION
Saint Mary's faced both Loyola Marymount (12-8, 7-5 WCC) and San Francisco (11-13, 4-9 WCC) once during the regular season and within the same week.

Following a three-week layoff due to coronavirus complications, the Gaels took on LMU inside Gersten Pavilion on Jan. 21 and won 65-61. Two days later, SMC battled USF in San Francisco and also emerged with a four-point victory, 67-63.

Matthias Tass led the Gaels against LMU with 18 points in just 27 minutes while Logan Johnson posted 20 in the win over the Dons.

WCC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Saint Mary's has advanced to the finals of the WCC Tournament in four of the past five seasons and have met Gonzaga in the finals each of those years. If the Gaels win on Saturday, they will face the No. 1 Zags on Monday in the semifinals.

Saint Mary's is 20-8 all-time when the WCC Tournament has been played in Las Vegas and 17-9 all-time in the quarterfinal round. The team is 3-3 when seeded fourth.

This is just the second time in the past 18 years that SMC has not been a top-3 seed in the WCC Tournament. The Gaels were a #4 seed in 2013-14 and advanced to the semifinals.

BEST DEFENSE EVER
The 2020-21 Saint Mary's team is on pace to be Randy Bennett's best ever defensive team and the Gaels' best defensive team since the start of the KenPom era (1996-97).

Saint Mary's currently ranks 16th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency. No other SMC team has finished in the top-25.

The Gaels rank first in the nation in assists/field goals made (less than 37%) and third in 3-point attempts/field goal attempts (27.3%).

WHO'S GONNA LEAD?
Jordan Ford, who graduated last year, had led the Gaels in scoring at every WCC Tournament game since 2018. Across those seven games (including two championship games), Ford averaged over 24 points and scored a career-high 42 points in the quarterfinals against Pepperdine last year.

Logan Johnson has led the team in scoring in four of the past six games and averaged 15.5 points in conference play.

#GaelsRise

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Players Mentioned

#3 Jordan Ford: G; 6' 1"; Senior

#0 Logan Johnson: G; 6' 2"; Junior

#11 Matthias Tass: F/C; 6' 10"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#3 Jordan Ford
: 6' 1"; Senior
: G

#0 Logan Johnson
: 6' 2"; Junior
: G

#11 Matthias Tass
: 6' 10"; Junior
: F/C

Players Mentioned

#3 Jordan Ford

#0 Logan Johnson

#11 Matthias Tass

Players Mentioned

#3 Jordan Ford

#0 Logan Johnson

#11 Matthias Tass