LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Streaks, streaks and more streaks. No. 2-seed Gonzaga and top-seed Saint Mary's bring extensive and impressive streaks into Tuesday night's WCC Tournament final at the Orleans Arena.

For example, it's the fourth straight year in which the Zags and Gaels have met with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

Gonzaga (24-8, NET: 8) and Saint Mary's (28-4, NET: 20) are assured of spots in the field of 68 that will be announced Sunday, but there's still a lot at stake Tuesday evening. The Gaels bring an eight-game winning streak into the matchup, having disposed of Pepperdine 74-59 in a semifinal Monday night, Saint Mary's ninth straight win over the Waves.

Since the Gaels prevailed 74-67 over Gonzaga in Spokane on Feb. 22 to clinch the WCC regular-season title, the Zags have won three in a row, the past two over San Francisco. Gonzaga held off the Dons 85-76 in Monday's second semifinal as the Zags extended their streak over USF to 33 games.

Saint Mary's has won the past three meetings with Gonzaga, including a 69-60 decision in the tournament final last year. That's the Gaels' longest streak over the Zags since a six-gamer from 1987 to 1990.

 "I feel like we've played this iteration of Gonzaga a lot," Saint Mary's center Mitchell Saxen said following the Gaels' win Monday, "and it just gets down to how tough can you be doing your job every time? How tough can you be on D? How tough can you be on the boards? First and foremost, you've got to take care of the ball."

SMC forward Paulius Murauskas said that when the Gaels face the Zags, "it's always a physical game and they play at such a fast pace and they have great leaders. We have to stop (Ryan) Nembhard and (Graham) Ike's pick-and-roll all game long."

 Ike, a senior forward/center, had 27 points against the Dons on Monday; he ranks third in the WCC in points per game at 17.3. Nembhard, a senior point guard, had eight assists Monday, upping his WCC-season-record total to 319. He leads the nation in assists per game at 10.

Meanwhile, Saint Mary's continues to thrive with its bedrock principles of defense and rebounding. SMC ranks fifth in the country in fewest points allowed per game (60.8) and is first in rebounding margin (plus-10.6 per game). The Gaels owned a 45-22 edge on the boards Monday night.

"We've got to be able to address how aggressive they are on the glass," Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said about the Gaels. "Keep finding ways to score against that stingy defense and see if we can create some turnovers and get out and run. That's when we've had the most success against 'em."     

Gonzaga's nearly three-decade run of success can be highlighted with this astounding streak: It now has reached the conference-tournament final in 28 straight seasons. And here's a streak that captures how dominant the Zags and Gaels have been for almost two decades: Since the WCC Tournament moved to Vegas in 2009, only two teams have won the title, Gonzaga (12 times) and Saint Mary's (four).

Few said the Gaels "have got a great culture. They know who they are and they play to that. … They're very purposeful and very good at what they do, which is very different than how we play – and we're really good at what we do."

This season marks Few's 26th as the Zags' head coach. Randy Bennett is finishing his 24th season in charge of the SMC program.

"I think the interesting thing is you've got two head coaches that have stayed a really, really long time," Few said. "I think both teams have always done it the right way."

Amid all these streaks, the Gaels would love to have a streak of winning the WCC tournament title. If they beat Gonzaga on Tuesday, it would mark the first time the Gaels have won back-to-back tournament championships (the WCC tournament began in 1987).

"It would mean everything to keep elevating this program, putting a finishing touch on it," Saxen said. He then referenced his fellow seniors, forward Luke Barrett and point guard Augustas Marciulionis.

"Obviously, we want to keep playing in March Madness and go on a run there," Saxen said, "but to do it here again is really a statement about me, Augustas' and Luke's careers, this whole team, how much buy-in we have in this day and age of the transfer portal.

"Everybody just cares about this team so, so much and it makes it easy to go out there and play your heart out for your brothers every night. Yeah, we want to put this finishing touch on our WCC careers."

Barrett's defense: Murauskas (15 points, 10 rebounds), Marciulionis (15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists), Barrett (13 points, 8 rebounds) and Saxen (9 points, 8 rebounds) all had solid lines against Pepperdine, but perhaps the most significant numbers were these: 3-for-14 and 1-for-7.

Pepperdine's Stefan Todorovic missed 11 of his 14 field-goal attempts, including 6 of his 7 from beyond the arc. He's the second-leading scorer in the WCC at 18.3 points per game and he had 19, 34 and 19 in the Waves' three WCC Tournament wins before Monday.

Barrett was the main defender on Todorovic, who finished with 10 points.

"Luke had a lot to do with Todorovic not getting a lot of open 3s," Bennett said. "Being able to do a good job on Todorovic was one of the big keys to the game."