MORAGA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels (7-1) will look to shake off their first loss of the season against a new foe in the form of UTSA (3-3), a team that they have never seen in competition before. That will be followed with a tilt in Salt Lake City against Utah (6-1), as the Gaels look to exact revenge on a Utes squad that defeated them a season ago in Moraga.
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels vs UTSA Roadrunners
Tuesday, December 3 at 7 PM
UCU Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
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Saint Mary's Gaels at Utah Utes
Saturday, December 7 at 4 PM (PST)
Jon M. Huntsman Center – Salt Lake City, Utah
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APPROACHING THE HISTORY BOOKS
A trio of Gaels are approaching etching their names in the Saint Mary's top-10 in the program history books in the early goings of the 2024-25 season. Starting things off, big man Harry Wessels is just three made field goals away from 100 for his career. While that is not a record, the 100 made field goals will qualify him to be listed in the record books for field goal percentage. Currently, with his 97 made field goals, Wessels sits at 62.2% for his career, which would rank him second in program history behind the great Jock Landale, however, if he makes each of his next three field goals, he would climb to 62.9%, jumping Landale, who shot 62.5% for his Gael career. To guarantee a spot in the top-10, Wessels would need to make just three of his next 24 field goal attempts, something he likely will do in much quicker time. Fellow post Mitchell Saxen needs just six rebounds to crack the top-10 in program history. When Saxen reaches that milestone, he will join Jock Landane, Brad Waldow, Diamon Simpson and Omar Samhan as the only Gaels to rank in the top-10 in both rebounds and blocked shots. Saxen is also two games shy of 131 played, which would rank him in the top-10. Last, but certainly not least, Augustas Marciulionis is 10 assists shy of 350, to crack the top-10 and 11 steals shy of 119 for a spot in the top-10.
ABOUT THE ROADRUNNERS
UTSA has opened their season with a 3-3 record, as they look for their first winning season since 2020-21. After being guided by Steve Henson for the last eight seasons, the Roadrunners made a coaching change for the 2023-24 campaign, bringing in Austin Claunch, who is coming off of four straight winning seasons at Nicholls State, including Southland Regular Season Title in 2021 and 2022. While a 1-3 start under the Claunch era brought some concern to Roadrunner fans, UTSA has now won back-to-back games against Merrimack and Houston Christian to move back to 0.500 heading into this matchup. Like many teams with a first year head coach, UTSA's starting five is built 100% from the transfer portal, and has been led by Florida State transfer point guard Primo Spears. Spears, in fact, is in his fourth school in four years, but has been a double-digit scorer at Duquesne, Georgetown and Florida State, and is now enjoying his best offensive season at UTSA, averaging 24 points per contest. The Roadrunners might be one of the most accurately named teams in the country, ranking in the top-25 by averaging nearly 19 fast break points per game. With a fast paced game comes turnover troubles as well, however, as they are giving the ball away 18 times per contest. This will be the first ever meeting between the Gaels and Roadrunners.
ABOUT THE UTES
Saint Mary's fourth power four opponent this season, Utah, who has gotten off to a 6-1 start, and is unbeaten at home on the young season. Head Coach Craig Smith has a chance for the best start in his time in Salt Lake City with a win over the Gaels on Saturday. Coach Smith has seen win total improvements in each of his first three seasons at the helm of the Utes program, and will now hope to lead them to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016. The Utes have two returning starters from last year's 22 win squad, who happen to be this year's team's top two scorers. Sharpshooter Gabe Madsen leads the Utes scoring 23 points per game, while big man Lawson Lovering returned to the team last week, and averaged 14 points per contest at the Mountain to Sea Showcase, shooting 75% from the field. At the head of the snake is point guard Miro Little, who is dishing out six assists per game for team that leads the country in that statistical category. All in all, this has amounted to the Utes scoring 90 points per game. A season ago, the Gaels and Utes squared off in Moraga, with the Utes stealing one in front of the Gaels hometown crowd, 78-71. Madsen scored 17 points in that one, with Lovering adding 9. All-time, this will be the 20th meeting between the Utes and Gaels, with Saint Mary's only winning three times in their previous 19 matchups. The Gaels only win in Salt Lake came in 1958.
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