Saturday, October 18
Tucson, AZ
2:00 PM
Saint Mary's College of California
at
Arizona
Paulius Murauskas returns to his former home court in Tucson after a stellar 2024-25 with the Gaels
Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
MBB | Preseason Exhibition in Tucson Allows First Glimpse at 2025-26 Gaels
10/15/2025 12:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MORAGA, Calif. — While the 2025-26 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball opens up on November 3, Gaels fans will get a sneak peak at this year's Saint Mary's Men's Basketball team on Saturday, October 18, as the Gaels will head to Tucson to take on preseason 13th ranked Arizona. The Gaels also appeared in the preseason AP poll, receiving a pair of votes. Both the Gaels and Wildcats have proven to be top teams in the western region, and should prove to be an excellent preseason matchup for one another.
THE DETAILS
RV Saint Mary's Gaels at No. 13 Arizona Wildcats
Saturday, October 18 at 2 PM
McKale Center – Tucson, Ariz.
WATCH | LIVE STATS
MEET THE NEW GAELS
Saint Mary's brought in a pair of transfers and three true freshmen to replace the three graduates and two transfers that departed from the program following the historic 2024-25 campaign. On the transfer portal side, the Gaels brought in a pair of WCC interconference transfers in Tony Duckett and Jazz Gardner. Duckett makes his way to Moraga from San Diego, where he was a WCC All-Freshman team honoree last year. The Carlsbad, California native started 22 of his 29 appearances for the Toreros, finishing second on the team in scoring (10.4 PPG) and second on the team in assists (1.9 APG). Now a sophomore in Moraga, Duckett set the single game freshman scoring record at San Diego, dropping 31 in a matchup with LMU, and averaged 19 PPG in his first WCC Tournament action. After appearing in 20 games off the bench as a freshman at Nevada, Gardner shifted into a starting center role at Pacific last year, appearing in all 33 contests, and starting 27. The Pasadena native shot a team-high 60% from the field for the year, including a stellar 7-7 shooting performance from the field in an upset win over Washington State.
The trio of freshmen this year will be Dillan Shaw, Mantas Juzenas and Trent MacLean. A 6-7 four star wing out of Northridge in Southern California, Shaw prepped at Heritage Christian High School, and was the 94th ranked player in the high school class of 2025, making him the highest signed recruit to play for Saint Mary's. Juzenas hails from Kaunas, Lithuania, the same hometown as Paulius Murauskas. The 6-6 wing vaulted himself into the spotlight after averaging 11.7 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per contest, while burying 16 threes at a 40% clip at the FIBA U20 Eurobasket Tournament, helping Lithuania to a second place finish at the tournament, and earning a spot on the All-Tournament team. The son of UCLA all-time leading scorer and nine year NBA veteran Don MacLean, Trent also comes to Moraga from Southern California, originally hailing from Thousand Oaks. The 6-8 stretch four had a storied three year career at Thousand Oaks High School before transferring to SoCal Academy as a senior. He finished out his prep career as the 141st ranked player in the HS Class of 2025, earning a four star distinction.
THEY'RE BACK
The Gaels return a strong core of 10 student-athletes that were on last season's 29-win squad. Headlining the group are 2025 WCC Award Winners Paulius Murauskas and Mikey Lewis. Murauskas was named last year's WCC Newcomer of the Year, the sixth ever Gael to win this award and first since Joe Rahon won it in 2016. In his first year in Moraga after transferring from Arizona, Murauskas led the WCC with 13 double-doubles (24th in the Nation) and was the first Gael since Jock Landale to record double digit double-doubles in a season. Lewis was named the conference's Sixth Man of the Year, joining Tommy Kuhse as the only other Gael to win that award in program history. As a true freshman, Lewis scored 287 points, the seventh most all-time for a true freshman to score under Coach Bennett's tutelage. Harry Wessels is the grizzled vet of the group of returners, as the Gaels only fourth year senior. The 7-1 Aussie had a breakout campaign coming off the bench in 2024-25, seeing new career-highs in scoring, rebounding, shot blocking and total minutes played, and became a Gael legend after recording the game winning block against Gonzaga in Moraga. Fellow Aussies Josh Dent and Rory Hawke also return. Dent appeared in 24 games as a reserve point guard as a true freshman, while Hawke looks to get back to action after missing most of 2023-24 and all of 2024-25 with an injury. 7-2 center Andrew McKeever debuted last season, and was twice named the WCC Freshman of the Week, occupying a role in which he stepped up multiple times when Wessels or Mitchell Saxen got into foul trouble. Year three in the program for McKeever could see his largest contributions yet. Rounding out the group, Liam Campbell and Oliver Faubert will likely see their first action after both redshirting a year ago, while Cade Bennett and Kevin Gad both are back for their fourth years in the program as redshirt juniors.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
After a Sweet 16 run in 2025, Arizona has found themselves ranked 13th in the preseason AP Top-25. In a stacked Big 12 conference that features six teams ranked in the preseason top-25, the Wildcats will be tested game in and game out, so an early test against the Gaels is exactly the kind of exhibition Coach Tommy Lloyd wanted. Coach Lloyd enters year five at the helm, and year two in the Big 12, with his Cats knowing nothing but winning postseason basketball, making the NCAA Tournament in each of his first four seasons. Known for their fast paced, high scoring offense, Arizona will have to find a way to replace the production of last year's leading scorer Caleb Love. Last year's second leading scorer, Jaden Bradley, is the most likely candidate to take on this role, however, with the #2 rated recruiting class in the country, featuring five stars Brayden Burries and Koa Peat, scoring could come from any number of these talented Arizona student-athletes. In countable competition, the Gaels and Wildcats have squared off seven times, including twice three times in the Bennett era. The Gaels are just 2-5 all-time vs Arizona, and 1-3 at the McKale Center.
Interested in season tickets? Click here to request yours for 2025-26! Single game tickets will become available once the WCC Schedule has been released!
#GaelsRise
THE DETAILS
RV Saint Mary's Gaels at No. 13 Arizona Wildcats
Saturday, October 18 at 2 PM
McKale Center – Tucson, Ariz.
WATCH | LIVE STATS
MEET THE NEW GAELS
Saint Mary's brought in a pair of transfers and three true freshmen to replace the three graduates and two transfers that departed from the program following the historic 2024-25 campaign. On the transfer portal side, the Gaels brought in a pair of WCC interconference transfers in Tony Duckett and Jazz Gardner. Duckett makes his way to Moraga from San Diego, where he was a WCC All-Freshman team honoree last year. The Carlsbad, California native started 22 of his 29 appearances for the Toreros, finishing second on the team in scoring (10.4 PPG) and second on the team in assists (1.9 APG). Now a sophomore in Moraga, Duckett set the single game freshman scoring record at San Diego, dropping 31 in a matchup with LMU, and averaged 19 PPG in his first WCC Tournament action. After appearing in 20 games off the bench as a freshman at Nevada, Gardner shifted into a starting center role at Pacific last year, appearing in all 33 contests, and starting 27. The Pasadena native shot a team-high 60% from the field for the year, including a stellar 7-7 shooting performance from the field in an upset win over Washington State.
The trio of freshmen this year will be Dillan Shaw, Mantas Juzenas and Trent MacLean. A 6-7 four star wing out of Northridge in Southern California, Shaw prepped at Heritage Christian High School, and was the 94th ranked player in the high school class of 2025, making him the highest signed recruit to play for Saint Mary's. Juzenas hails from Kaunas, Lithuania, the same hometown as Paulius Murauskas. The 6-6 wing vaulted himself into the spotlight after averaging 11.7 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per contest, while burying 16 threes at a 40% clip at the FIBA U20 Eurobasket Tournament, helping Lithuania to a second place finish at the tournament, and earning a spot on the All-Tournament team. The son of UCLA all-time leading scorer and nine year NBA veteran Don MacLean, Trent also comes to Moraga from Southern California, originally hailing from Thousand Oaks. The 6-8 stretch four had a storied three year career at Thousand Oaks High School before transferring to SoCal Academy as a senior. He finished out his prep career as the 141st ranked player in the HS Class of 2025, earning a four star distinction.
THEY'RE BACK
The Gaels return a strong core of 10 student-athletes that were on last season's 29-win squad. Headlining the group are 2025 WCC Award Winners Paulius Murauskas and Mikey Lewis. Murauskas was named last year's WCC Newcomer of the Year, the sixth ever Gael to win this award and first since Joe Rahon won it in 2016. In his first year in Moraga after transferring from Arizona, Murauskas led the WCC with 13 double-doubles (24th in the Nation) and was the first Gael since Jock Landale to record double digit double-doubles in a season. Lewis was named the conference's Sixth Man of the Year, joining Tommy Kuhse as the only other Gael to win that award in program history. As a true freshman, Lewis scored 287 points, the seventh most all-time for a true freshman to score under Coach Bennett's tutelage. Harry Wessels is the grizzled vet of the group of returners, as the Gaels only fourth year senior. The 7-1 Aussie had a breakout campaign coming off the bench in 2024-25, seeing new career-highs in scoring, rebounding, shot blocking and total minutes played, and became a Gael legend after recording the game winning block against Gonzaga in Moraga. Fellow Aussies Josh Dent and Rory Hawke also return. Dent appeared in 24 games as a reserve point guard as a true freshman, while Hawke looks to get back to action after missing most of 2023-24 and all of 2024-25 with an injury. 7-2 center Andrew McKeever debuted last season, and was twice named the WCC Freshman of the Week, occupying a role in which he stepped up multiple times when Wessels or Mitchell Saxen got into foul trouble. Year three in the program for McKeever could see his largest contributions yet. Rounding out the group, Liam Campbell and Oliver Faubert will likely see their first action after both redshirting a year ago, while Cade Bennett and Kevin Gad both are back for their fourth years in the program as redshirt juniors.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
After a Sweet 16 run in 2025, Arizona has found themselves ranked 13th in the preseason AP Top-25. In a stacked Big 12 conference that features six teams ranked in the preseason top-25, the Wildcats will be tested game in and game out, so an early test against the Gaels is exactly the kind of exhibition Coach Tommy Lloyd wanted. Coach Lloyd enters year five at the helm, and year two in the Big 12, with his Cats knowing nothing but winning postseason basketball, making the NCAA Tournament in each of his first four seasons. Known for their fast paced, high scoring offense, Arizona will have to find a way to replace the production of last year's leading scorer Caleb Love. Last year's second leading scorer, Jaden Bradley, is the most likely candidate to take on this role, however, with the #2 rated recruiting class in the country, featuring five stars Brayden Burries and Koa Peat, scoring could come from any number of these talented Arizona student-athletes. In countable competition, the Gaels and Wildcats have squared off seven times, including twice three times in the Bennett era. The Gaels are just 2-5 all-time vs Arizona, and 1-3 at the McKale Center.
Interested in season tickets? Click here to request yours for 2025-26! Single game tickets will become available once the WCC Schedule has been released!
#GaelsRise
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballF/C
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG/F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's BasketballG/F
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's BasketballMBB | SMC vs. Vanderbilt NCAA First Round Postgame Interview
Saturday, March 22
MBB | SMC vs. Gonzaga 2025 WCC Finals Postgame Interview
Wednesday, March 12
MBB | SMC vs. Gonzaga WCC Finals Game Highlights
Tuesday, March 11
MBB | SMC vs. Pepperdine WCC Tournament Postgame Interview
Monday, March 10
