MORAGA, Calif. — For the fourth straight season, Saint Mary's (28-5) will head to the "Big Dance", and the first partner on their dance card will be the Vanderbilt Commodores (20-12) out of the SEC. With a solid balance of veteran leadership and youthful talent, the Gaels look primed and ready to make some noise at this year's NCAA Tournament. It all starts Friday afternoon in Cleveland.
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels vs Vanderbilt Commodores
Friday, March 21 at 12:15 PM PST
Rocket Arena – Cleveland, Ohio
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CONTINUING TO REWRITE HISTORY
The back-to-back-to-back WCC regular season champs for the first time in program history, Saint Mary's Men's Basketball now makes their fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, also a first in program history. Adding to this impressive run of consecutive NCAA Tournament trips, the Gaels have been a single digit seed in each of these past four tournaments. They are one of only 17 schools to receive a single digit seed in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments, and are one of only five schools to do so while not coming out of a Power 5 (now Power 4) conference, the others being Gonzaga, Creighton, Marquette, and UConn. If the Gaels can win both of their contests in Cleveland, they would not only find themselves bound for the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history, but also would reach the 30 win mark for just the second time in program history.
ABOUT THE COMMODORES
Vanderbilt is making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2017, now under the first year direction of Head Coach Mark Byington. Now in his 12th year as a collegiate head coach (seven years at Georgia Southern, four years at James Madison, one at Vanderbilt), Coach Byington will be making his second straight trip to the Big Dance, after taking the Dukes of JMU to the round of 32 last year. With a 20-12 record in his first season at the helm of this Vanderbilt program, Coach Byington is one win shy of tying Eddie Vogler's 21 wins for most wins in a first season as a head coach for the Commodores. Vanderbilt somewhat limps into this NCAA Tournament, coming in with three straight losses including dropping their first matchup in the SEC tournament to Texas 79-72. With signature wins over Texas A&M, Tennessee and Kentucky, this team has shown that they can go toe to toe and knock off some of the best teams in the country. North Texas transfer Jason Edwards is the offensive standout for Vanderbilt, averaging 17 points per game, seven more than the next closest Commodore. The 6-1 junior out of Atlanta has proven to be a three level scorer, taking a little under half of his shots from three point range, while also being able to finish at the rim and draw fouls, shooting at team-high 172 free throws, and knocking down 143 of them (83.1%). Defensively, the Commodores play steals on every possession, averaging 9.0 per game, good for 19th in the country, helping them to their +3.7 turnover margin per game, good for 18th. Despite the over 2000 mile distance between Moraga and Nashville, these two teams have met up four times in program history, including in the 2022-23 season as part of the Paycom Wooden Legacy in Anaheim. In that matchup, the Gaels picked up their first ever win over the Commodores in four tries, defeating them 75-65. Augustas Marciulionis, Luke Barrett, Mitchell Saxen and Harry Wessels all appeared in that game, with Saxen going for 19 points on 9-15 shooting to lead the Gaels to victory.
LOOKING AHEAD
Playing in the game before Saint Mary's and Vanderbilt in Cleveland will be second seeded Alabama (25-8) and 15th seeded Robert Morris (26-8). Alabama is headed for their fifth straight NCAA Tournament, all under Head Coach Nate Oates, including a trip to the Final Four last year. Point guard Mark Sears is averaging nearly 19 points per contest to go along with a team-best 4.9 assists per game. Robert Morris is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015, a statement that is softened when considering that they won the NEC in 2020 and were headed to the tournament before it was canceled by the global pandemic. Led by the Horizon League Coach of the Year, Andrew O'Toole, and the dynamic scoring duo of Kam Woods and Alvaro Folgueiras, the Colonials hope that they are this year's cinderella story of the Big Dance.
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