ALBANY, N.Y. — Saint Mary's men's basketball begins its 2023 run in the NCAA Tournament as a five seed for the second-straight season, heading out east to open up the first round. The Gaels will get a rematch of an NCAA Tournament game from 2017, as they take on VCU on Friday afternoon inside MVP Arena in Albany, New York. The game will be televised on TBS and is the first of four games taking place in Albany on Friday.
 
THE DETAILS
No. 5 Saint Mary's Gaels (26-7) vs. No. 12 VCU Rams (27-7)
Friday, March 17 at 11:00 am PT
MVP Arena – Albany, N.Y.
TV: TBS (Spero Dedes, Deb Antonelli, AJ Ross)
Radio: Westwood One (Scott Graham, PJ Carlesimo)
Audio: The Varsity Network (Alex Jensen)
Watch | Listen | Live Stats
 
LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's last played on March 7 in the 2023 WCC Tournament championship game where they fell to Gonzaga 77-51. That game saw Gonzaga control things from the first few minutes onward, as the Gaels never led despite holding the Bulldogs scoreless for the first three minutes. The night prior, SMC took down BYU in its final game as members of the West Coast Conference, beating the Cougars 76-69 in the semifinals. The ending of the season has been a bit light in terms of game action, with the Gaels only playing three games over a 20-day stretch leading up to the first round game against VCU.
 
AWARD SEASON
Following the WCC Tournament, awards continue to roll in for the Gaels. It all centers around the guards for the Gaels, as Logan Johnson and Aidan Mahaney were both named finalists for major awards. Johnson was named a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, given to the best mid-major player in the country, while Mahaney earned a spot as a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award, given to the best freshman in the country. It didn't stop there for the two, as Mahaney was named All-District for both the NABC and USBWA, while Johnson found himself on the All-District list for the USBWA.
 
Randy Bennett also earned a couple of big Coach of the Year awards, both announced on March 14. The NABC and USBWA selected coach Bennett as the Coach of the Year for District IX, which encompasses a majority of the West Coast. This is the second year in a row for Bennett to score the award from the NABC, and the first time he's landed the honor from the USBWA. Not only is Bennett a District IX Coach of the Year, but he is also on the late season watch list for the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year. Just 15 coaches nationally make the list, and Bennett is on it for the first time in his career.
 
DANCING HISTORY
Saint Mary's is in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in as many seasons, just the second time in program history they've done so (2012-13). Including the canceled 2020 NCAA Tournament, this is the 13^th appearance for Saint Mary's, and their tenth with coach Bennett at the helm. It also extends a streak of 16-consecutive postseason appearances (either NCAA or NIT) for the Gaels, the fourth-longest streak in the country behind Kansas, Michigan State, and Gonzaga. The furthest Saint Mary's has gotten in the NCAA Tournament under the current format is the Sweet 16, which came in 2010 after wins over Richmond and Villanova.
 
RECENT TRIPS
Last season, the Gaels were a five seed for the first time in program history, and blew out Indiana 82-53 in the first round. It was the largest NCAA Tournament win for the Gaels, and the worst NCAA Tournament loss for Indiana in both schools' history. SMC dropped its second round contest to fourth-seeded UCLA two days later by a score of 72-56. The last time the Gaels went east for the NCAA Tournament was 2019, when they flew to Hartford, Connecticut as a No. 11 seed and lost to Villanova in the first round. In their only other previous matchup against VCU, the two teams met in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, and the Gaels scored the most point they ever have in an NCAA Tournament game, beating the Rams 85-77.
 
ABOUT VCU
Few teams are entering the NCAA Tournament with more momentum than the Rams. They own one of the six-longest active winning streaks in the NCAA at nine games, and just won the Atlantic 10 conference championship game on Sunday to punch their ticket to the tournament. This marks the 19^th appearance in the dance for the Rams, and their 13^th trip since 2013.
 
VCU should present a challenging matchup for the Gaels, as they play a similar style of defensive basketball. They are aggressive defensively, playing a high-energy, man-to-man defense that creates a lot of turnovers. They rank inside the top-20 in the NCAA in turnovers forced per game, and they are 17^th in the country according to KenPom in defensive efficiency, just a few slots below where the Gaels rank.
 
Adrian Baldwin will be a key for the Gaels to shutdown, which many teams were unable to do over the course of the season. Baldwin was named the A10 Player of the Year and its Defensive Player of the Year, the first player in VCU history to land both in the same season. He leads the Rams in most major categories, including points per game (12.7), assists (170), and steals (65). They also have a trio of players who landed on the All-A10 Third Team in Brandon Johns Jr. and Jalen Deloach.
 
IF THE GAELS WIN…
…they would play in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday against the winner of No. 4 UConn and No. 13 Iona. UConn has been one of the better teams in college basketball this season, spending most of it ranked inside the top-10. Iona would present a fun matchup between the only two NCAA DI programs with the Gaels as their mascot. Saint Mary's has never reached the second round in consecutive seasons.