PORTLAND, Ore. — For the first time since 2019, Saint Mary's Men's Basketball embarks on the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. The fifth-seeded Gaels know they will be facing the 12^th-seeded Indiana Hoosiers, after they won their First Four game against Wyoming on Tuesday night. This is just the second time these teams have met in their respective histories.
 
THE DETAILS
No. 5 Saint Mary's Gaels (25-7) vs. No. 12 Indiana Hoosiers (21-13)
Thursday, March 17 at 4:20 pm PT
Moda Center – Portland, Ore.
TV: TBS (Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, Andy Katz)
Radio: Westwood One (Ryan Radtke, Dan Dickau)
Watch | Listen | Live Stats
 
LAST TIME OUT
The then-17^th-ranked Gaels battled hard with No. 1 Gonzaga in the 2022 WCC Championship game, where Gonzaga ultimately emerged with an 82-69 win. Saint Mary's held their own up until the ending of the game, when Gonzaga caught fire and turned a two-point game into a 13-point win. Saint Mary's has played just two games since the end of the regular season (February 26), with both of those games coming at the WCC Tournament. Saint Mary's beat Santa Clara 75-72 to get to the title game for the first time since 2020.
 
SECOND HALF SWAP
The energy early in the second half was all in favor of SMC, as the Gaels came out of the gates firing all cylinders. What was a 10-point game became a six-point game when the Gaels got the first two buckets of the half from Matthias Tass and Logan Johnson, and then eventually a six-point game became a three-point game after a Tommy Kuhse three and then a Logan Johnson layup to make it 48-45 with 11:43 remaining. The game shrunk even further down to a two-point deficit after teams traded layups with 7:28 remaining, with tension building in the arena. However, over the last nine minutes of the game, Gonzaga did not miss a shot, going 9-9 from the floor to close out the game with a 13-point win.
 
RETURN TO THE DANCE
2022 is the first trip to the NCAA Tournament for the Gaels since 2019, though they were a near-lock for the tournament in 2020 before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This marks the 11^th time in program history that Saint Mary's will advance to the NCAA Tournament, and the eighth time with Randy Bennett as head coach. Saint Mary's has seen postseason play (NCAA or NIT) for 14-consecutive seasons, the second-longest streak in the WCC.
 
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
With the Gaels earning a No. 5 seed, this is the best seed that any Saint Mary's team has ever achieved. The previous best was a No. 7 seed, which had happened twice in Gaels history, and most recently in 2017. As a single-digit seed in the tournament, the Gaels are 1-3, with that lone win coming against No. 10 VCU in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The furthest Saint Mary's has ever advanced in the NCAA Tournament under the current 68-team format is the Sweet 16, which the Gaels made in 2010.
 
ABOUT INDIANA
The Hoosiers scored a 66-58 win over Wyoming on Tuesday night in the First Four matchup to determine the opponent for the Gaels. This creates a rough travel schedule for Indiana, who will have to travel from Dayton, Ohio to Portland with less than 43 hours until tip-off on Thursday afternoon. Trayce Jackson-Davis was the leading man on Tuesday, scoring 29 points on 10-16 from the floor, including 9-11 from the free throw line. The Hoosiers also had a sizeable advantage on points in the paint (46-26) while making just two three-pointers.
 
Indiana ranked atop the Big Ten in defensive efficiency and led the conference in block rate as well. Opponents haven't fared well from 2-point or 3-point range against the stifling Hoosiers' defense. On the offensive end of the court, Indiana knows how to take care of the ball and gets to the line with ease. They rank in the top five in the Big Ten in turnover rate and free-throw creation.
 
Despite the positive numbers for Indiana, they went just 9-11 in a very talented Big Ten. They needed to pull off some impressive wins to reach the semifinal of the Big Ten Tournament, however, including wins over Michigan and #16/15 Illinois before losing to #24/23 Iowa, the eventual champions. They also had ranked wins in conference play against then-#13 Ohio State and #4 Purdue.
 
IF THE GAELS WIN…
…they would play in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday against the winner of No. 4 UCLA and No. 13 Akron. The Bruins pose an intriguing matchup in the round of 32, as UCLA went to the Final Four last year after beginning their tournament run in the First Four. They nearly pulled off the incredible upset of No. 1 Gonzaga in that Final Four game, where they lost 93-90 in overtime thanks to a Jaylen Suggs half-court buzzer-beater. Saint Mary's has just two previous appearances in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, including their most recent appearance in 2017.