SAN FRANCISCO — Saint Mary's Men's Basketball enters a massive week of West Coast Conference play, with one road game followed by one home game. First, the Gaels will head to San Francisco to take on the Dons in a pivotal WCC game on Thursday night, followed by a home contest against Pepperdine on Saturday evening inside University Credit Union Pavilion.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels (15-4, 3-1) at San Francisco Dons (16-4, 3-2)
Thursday, January 27 at 7:00 pm PT
War Memorial Gym at the Sobrato Center – San Francisco
Television: Stadium TV (Barry Tompkins, Doug Gottlieb)
Live Audio: The Varsity Network (Alex Jensen, Dave Lewis)
Watch | Listen | Live Stats
All-Time Head-to-Head Record: 84-101, last meeting on 1/23/21, Gaels 67, USF 63
 
Saint Mary's Gaels vs. Pepperdine Waves (6-15, 0-6)
Saturday, January 29 at 5:00 pm PT
University Credit Union Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
Television: CBS Sports Network (Chick Hernandez, Pete Gillen)
Live Audio: The Varsity Network (Alex Jensen, Joe Lunardi)
Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Get Tickets
All-Time Head-to-Head Record: 75-74, last meeting on 1/13/22, Gaels 77, PEP 62
 
LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's is on a three-game winning streak in WCC play after sweeping both games last week. The Gaels first took down Santa Clara 73-65 on the Gaels home court before smacking Loyola Marymount on Saturday at their place to the tune of an 83-51 score. The offense is picking up for the Gaels, having scored at least 73 points in all three of their WCC wins. On the heels of consecutive victories, Alex Ducas was named the WCC Player of the Week, in part for his 22-point performance on the road against LMU.
 
MOVEMENT IS KEY
The Gaels continued to show great ball movement when their offense is at peak efficiency, and Saturday was no exception. The Gaels put up 21 assists on 32 made shots against the Lions, with Logan Johnson leading the way with five. Six Gaels had at least two assists, and on the flip side, they held the Lions to just five helpers. Saint Mary's put up 20+ assists for the third time this season, and their first time since their December 11 home game against UC Santa Barbara. The Gaels have lost just six times in the last three-plus seasons when recording at least 10 assists in a game.
 
DUCAS – WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ducas was the hottest-shooting Gael this past week as SMC swept both of their WCC opponents in Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount. Ducas had 17 points to tie for the team lead in the win over Santa Clara, and led the Gaels with 22 against Loyola Marymount on Saturday. He shot 61.9% from the floor on the week, and was 6-10 from beyond the arc en route to his 39 points. Ducas is currently on the best streak of his career, in which he has scored 10+ points in five-straight games. The 22 points against LMU ties a season-best. Ducas was also perfect from the free throw line (7-7) and added five steals and four rebounds. Ducas is now the third Gael this season to take home WCC Player of the Week honors, joining Dan Fotu and Logan Johnson. Both Ducas and Johnson have now taken home the award in the month of January.
 
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO
They've been some of the darlings of the NCAA all season long, and now the Gaels will finally get their chance to take on the Dons. San Francisco is off to a 16-4 start this season, one of the best in program history, and they began the year 13-2 in non-conference play. Their non-conference schedule featured impressive wins over Davidson, Towson, UAB, Fresno State, and Arizona State, and they also narrowly lost on a neutral floor to both Grand Canyon and Loyola Chicago. The offense can be tough to stop, and that's in part to a three-headed monster at the top of their rotation. Jamaree Bouyea (17.9 ppg), Yauhen Massalski (13.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg), and Khalil Shabazz (12.4 ppg) all create a diverse scoring offense that is averaging 76.3 points per game.
 
ABOUT PEPPERDINE
As the Gaels saw just two weeks ago, the Pepperdine Waves are struggling to get their footing in this year's WCC. The Waves have begun conference play with an 0-6 record, though they nearly had their chance at Loyola Marymount last Thursday, when they lost by five points in overtime. Their defense has been tested in conference affairs, allowing 84 points per game on 46.5% shooting from the field, and opponents have gotten to the line nearly twice as often in those games. Jan Zidek has been a beast for Pepperdine in WCC play, averaging 15.3 points per game and shooting at nearly a 48% clip.
 
DIGITAL GAMEDAY PROGRAM
All Saint Mary's Men's Basketball gameday programs will be virtual during the 2021-22 season, and the fifth edition can be found HERE. In it, will find a preview of the next four WCC games (through LMU on February 5) and a recap of the exciting start to WCC play for the Gaels.
 
2021-22 YEARBOOK
The 2021-22 Saint Mary's Basketball Yearbook is available HERE. This contains all of your information on both Saint Mary's basketball programs, coach and player profiles, as well as Saint Mary's, administration, and fan information.
 
#GaelsRise — 2021-22 tickets and ticket packages are on sale now! To purchase tickets, click HERE. If you have questions, contact the ticket office by email smctickets@stmarys-ca.edu or call 925-631-4689…Saint Mary's Basketball…#TogetherAgain