Kroner's Corner Season 2: Business Taken Care of on Wednesday, More Work to Do Saturday

Photo by: SMC Athletics / Piper Westrom

Kroner's Corner Season 2: Business Taken Care of on Wednesday, More Work to Do Saturday

2/27/2026 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Saturday night's matchup between No. 9 Gonzaga and Saint Mary's figures to be the final one in UCU Pavilion for the foreseeable future as the Zags are moving to the reconstituted Pac-12 next season.

And if it indeed is the last Zags-Gaels meeting in Moraga, well, it's fitting that the West Coast's best rivalry over the past two decades has such compelling storylines heading into Saturday evening:

** Gonzaga (28-2, 16-1) has clinched at least a share of the WCC regular-season championship and will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament in Las Vegas next month. SMC (26-4, 15-2), though, would become co-champion of the regular season with a victory – and that would give the Gaels at least a share of the title for the fourth consecutive year.
** The teams have split their past 12 meetings, including the Zags' 73-65 victory in Spokane on Jan. 31.
** Each team brings a winning streak into Saturday, a six-gamer for Gonzaga, a seven-gamer for SMC.
** The Gaels will look to extend their school-record home winning streak to 26 games.

"As a Gael, you live for these games," SMC center Harry Wessels said after the Gaels dismantled Santa Clara 86-67 on Wednesday night. "Yeah, it's gonna be a good one."

The atmosphere in UCU Pavilion should be – to use an overused word – electric, and SMC head coach Randy Bennett said his players got something of a preview of what to expect with how raucous the building was Wednesday evening.

"I think people are saying, 'Oh, wait until you see Gonzaga on Saturday.' It will be hard (for the atmosphere) to be better than it was tonight," Bennett said. "There was a lot on that game, a lot …  and you could feel it. You could feel it in that gym tonight."

The stakes were high in the SCU-SMC game. The winner assured itself of finishing no worse than tied for second in the WCC. Probably equally important: The winner greatly would enhance its resume for an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.

The Gaels' victory bumped their NET ranking from 26 on Wednesday to 22 on Thursday. That's a significant jump at this point in the season. The Broncos' NET ranking stayed at 41.

SMC lost 62-54 at the Leavey Center on Jan. 17, but the Gaels turned the tables and then some Wednesday night. Three SMC players had double-doubles: Paulius Murauskas (16 points, 11 rebounds), Dillan Shaw (11 points, 14 rebounds) and Wessels (10 points, 10 boards).

Three other Gaels were within hailing distance of a double-double: Mikey Lewis (21 points, 7 assists), Josh Dent (14 points, 8 assists) and Andrew McKeever (6 points, 9 rebounds).

The most preposterous stat of the night – and maybe of the season -- was that Saint Mary's owned a 51-21 advantage on the glass.

"It's just who we want to be as a team," Wessels said. "We have an identity the last few years of being really good on the boards and it doesn't mean anything unless you do it every night."

As of Thursday morning, the Gaels ranked fifth in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-11.5 per game. SMC was outrebounded 39-34 in its loss to the Zags in Spokane.

"We need to be aggressive" against the Gaels, Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said after his team routed Portland 89-48 on Wednesday night. "I thought we did a great job in here the last time (against SMC) being really aggressive and tough, especially on the glass, and that's what you have to do against Saint Mary's."

Another storyline for Saturday is it's Senior Night and Wessels is the Gaels' lone senior. That double-double against the Broncos was the first of the Aussie's college career.

He provided the signature moment Wednesday with a little more than five minutes remaining. Wessels blocked Christian Hammond's shot in the lane, corralled the loose ball near the 3-point arc and took it about 65 feet for a breakaway dunk.

Afterward, Wessels and Bennett had some fun with Wessels' excellent – though not elegant – effort.
"The dribbling looked pretty ordinary, didn't it?" Wessels deadpanned.
Bennett said that as Wessels made his way to the bucket, "I was hoping this isn't going to be an injury."

As for Senior Night, Wessels said, "I haven't really thought about it too much. It'll mean a lot more if we can get it done on that night. …
"I've had some really cool memories in this building, but (we're) looking to get one more."
Bennett appreciates the improvement and perseverance Wessels has displayed throughout his time in Moraga. He didn't become a starter until this season, and he still spent much of November and December this season coming off the bench.

"I think he's got a chance to play at the highest level," Bennett said. "When it wasn't going so well and he wasn't starting, he had a great attitude.
"That's what you've got to do in life. You've just got to keep plugging away, keep working. One step at a time. That's what he's been good at."

Wessels has an opportunity to be on a fourth WCC regular-season-title team. "I'd be pretty all right with that," he said.

And though some fans focus mainly on conference-tournament titles and success in the NCAA Tournament, Bennett stressed the significance of a regular-season conference championship.

"We've won a few of 'em in a row now and so that's the standard," Bennett said. "To me, it means more than winning the conference tournament.
"The conference tournament is more important in that it guarantees you (an NCAA Tournament bid). Yeah, if you win the (regular-season) conference championship and then go to the NCAA Tournament, it'd be a heck of a year.
"It's hard to win the league, really hard."

Steve Kroner has covered Bay Area sports for more than four decades, mainly at KPIX-TV (Channel 5) and the San Francisco Chronicle. He is in his second season working as an analyst alongside Brian Brownfield on SMC men's basketball telecasts on ESPN+.