ALBANY, N.Y. — Saint Mary's men's basketball entered the 2023 NCAA Tournament as a five seed, the second season in a row the Gaels have been on the five line. All week long, they heard that the most popular 5 vs. 12 upset was their matchup against VCU, as the Rams are a heavy defensive team like SMC. It certainly played out like two teams who are strong on the defensive side, but the Gaels got enough offense in the second half to power their way past VCU by a final of 63-51. Saint Mary's will play in the second round on Sunday.
 
STANDSTILL
The way the game began, it looked like neither team was really in their groove on the offensive side. Saint Mary's struggled to make shots, opening the game just 1-9 from the floor, but VCU couldn't capitalize and build the lead up beyond a few points. The total numbers in the first half were not pretty for the Gaels, who shot just 36% from the floor in the first half and were a dismal 1-11 from beyond the arc. They had multiple stretches of scoreless droughts, but they rebounded well, finishing the first half plus-ten on the boards. Even while the shooting percentage was low, the Gaels led 29-28 at the break thanks to a 6-0 run over the final two minutes.
 
THE HELP THEY NEEDED
Saint Mary's never had a run longer than five points in the second half, but they were able to use enough of those runs to build a larger lead in the second half. The numbers were much improved across the board, with the Gaels shooting 47% in the second half. With 12:50 left in the game, Kyle Bowen found a layup from left of the baseline and was fouled in the process, and after his three-point play, the Gaels led by seven. They pushed it double-digits for the first time with 8:53 left when Alex Ducas hit a layup inside, and after eight made free throws in the final eight minutes, the Gaels had all they needed.
 
UP HIGH, DOWN LOW
The X-factor on Thursday afternoon was Mitchell Saxen, who played one of his best games of the season. He scored 17 points, including 10 in the first half, while shooting an impressive 8-11 from the floor. Over his prior five games, Saxen had averaged just 9.2 points per game. VCU had no answer for him in the paint, struggling to contain the Gaels big man as he had multiple wide-open dunks. The Gaels also got a performance they needed from Ducas, who tied Saxen for a Gaels-best 17 points. Ducas also was a force on the board, with eight rebounds. His threat from beyond the arc turned into several layup opportunities, and trips to the line, where he was 6-7.
 
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
Logan Johnson recorded his first collegiate double-double, finishing the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds…Augustas Marciulionis played 22 minutes off the bench and responded well, with 13 points, including 6-8 from the charity stripe…SMC held VCU to just six made baskets in the second half, and their 51 total points is their fewest in a game this year…VCU forces over 16 turnovers per game, but the Gaels had just 12 to pair with 13 assists…Saint Mary's is now 3-0 all-time on St. Patrick's Day in the NCAA Tournament…this is the first win in the eastern time zone for the Gaels since winning at Dayton on November 19, 2016…this is the first time in program history that Saint Mary's moves onto the second round of the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons.
 
QUOTABLES
"The heart of the deal is we both really take a lot of pride in our defense. I thought it would be a gritty, tough game to score, and it was for us. Didn't shoot it well first half. Second half Saxen, did a great job inside. This guy next to me, Alex, was good the whole way. That's kind of where we had the edge. I thought we'd beat them inside. Both teams have good guards. It was a gritty game, and we just kind of outlasted them a little bit and got a little separation and were able to hang on." – head coach, Randy Bennett
 
"The way they covered their pick-and-rolls a little bit was showing hard with their bigs. We knew, if I roll hard and made myself available, we could get good post position inside. We hadn't been playing the best against that type of coverage. Gonzaga did it really well against us. So we knew coming in we had to be really assertive there and make a concerted effort to get it inside, which we did." – Mitchell Saxen
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's moves onto the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they will play the winner of No. 13 Iona and No. 4 UConn. That game immediately followed Saint Mary's and VCU. Only once in program history has the Gaels won in the second round, which came back in 2010, leading to the program's only trip to the Sweet 16. Tip-off time and broadcast coverage of the game will be announced later on Friday night.