Gonzaga falls short to Saint Mary's in 2024 WCC Tournament: 'We still have everything in front of us'
Mark Few couldn't quite pinpoint the turning point for his Gonzaga Bulldogs in their 69-60 loss to the Saint Mary's Gaels in the 2024 West Coast Conference Tournament championship game on Tuesday.
Perhaps it was a clutch 3-pointer from Aidan Mahaney that made it a 63-57 game in the final minutes after Gonzaga had fought valiantly to overcome an 11-point deficit. Or maybe it was a midrange jumper from Mahaney over an outstretched Graham Ike moments later that made it a 7-point game. Both plays summed up a Saint Mary's team that made winning plays down the stretch on both ends of the floor to clinch the program's first conference tournament championship since 2019.
A slow start out of the gate didn't help Gonzaga's cause, either. Four turnovers in the opening minutes set the tone early, as the Gaels' swarming defense and physicality shocked the Zags from the opening tip.
"We just should have come a little bit more prepared for that," said Anton Watson of the Gaels' physicality. "The whole game it was just battle and I think we knew it was going to be."
Gonzaga got beat on the boards worse than it had all season long, as the Gaels owned a 39-22 advantage on the glass, including 12 offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points. Mitchell Saxen had his way inside with 19 points and 15 rebounds on top of drawing eight fouls, a handful of which came at the expense of Ike.
Here are three takeaways from Gonzaga's loss.
A TALE OF TWO GAMES
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Randy Bennett and his staff made all the right adjustments from the last time the Zags and Gaels met in Moraga, California, just over a week ago. In that 70-57 final from March 2, Ike was dominant down low with 24 points while the backcourt dictated the flow and pace throughout, as Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman combined for 17 assists and zero turnovers. In one of the most impressive nights offensively by a Gaels opponent all season long, Gonzaga was 25-of-49 on 2-pointers — the second-most makes inside the arc Saint Mary's had allowed all year — and had an 8.5% turnover rate, the lowest by a Saint Mary's opponent.
Fast forward to Tuesday, none of what the Bulldogs were able to do in Moraga played a factor in the WCC Championship game. Ike struggled with foul trouble and spent large chunks of the first and second half on the bench. When he was on the floor, the Gaels were ready with double-teams from different angles.
"I felt like they were just bringing another body quickly," Ike said. "Maybe I should've seen it a little earlier, found ways to get guys open looks or you know one more on the backside, but you know, watch the film and we'll learn from it."
Gonzaga managed to finish 22-of-43 inside the 3-point line, though key misses down the stretch hindered any comeback attempt. Three straight missed opportunities at the rim in the final minute was the wind leaving the Zags' sails for good, as they missed nine of their final 13 field goals after briefly taking a 52-51 lead at the 7:40 mark.
The cold stretches late in the second half seemingly negated the fact that the Bulldogs took care of the ball much better than they did in the first half. The Gaels managed just four points off seven forced turnovers, though each mistake from Gonzaga was magnified given Saint Mary's slow pace.
GAELS COME THROUGH IN CRUNCH TIME
The Gaels withstood every punch from the Zags when it mattered most. Just as the momentum began to shift following an 11-2 scoring run that was sparked by an amped-up defensive effort from Gonzaga that made it 44-42 with 12:59 to play, Saint Mary's snapped its two-minute long scoring drought with a brief 7-2 scoring spurt. Any ball screen with Mahaney or Augustus Marciulionis was met with an instant trap from the Bulldogs. While it proved to be effective initially, Saxen and Mason Forbes began taking advantage of the open space in the middle of the floor with dump-off passes to each other in the post for easy scores at the rim.
Six straight points from Watson put the Zags out in front for the first time with 7:40 left in regulation. Again, the Gaels responded down the stretch with their physicality. After Forbes slammed home a dunk to make it 55-52, the 6-foot-9 redshirt senior came up with a loose ball rebound on the ensuing possession and found Mahaney on the perimeter for a crushing 3-pointer to extend the lead with just under five minutes in regulation.
Mahaney's clutch jumper a few possessions later made it 61-54, followed by a layup from Marciulionis that came after a missed 3-pointer from Watson. Saint Mary's was overwhelming down the stretch as it outscored Gonzaga 18-8 after the Bulldogs' brief lead earlier in the second half.
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford
The Gaels clinched an automatic bid into the 2024 NCAA Tournament when they hoisted the WCC championship trophy, but the Zags will still be dancing based on their body of work throughout the regular season. It just comes down to when they'll hear their name called by the Selection Committee on Selection Sunday.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi moved Gonzaga to the 6-seed line in the West Region following Monday's win over USF. There was a potential scenario that a first and second-round matchup in the Spokane Arena was in the cards if the Bulldogs had beaten the Gaels, though that reality is likely out the window at this point. Still, a single-digit seed is an improved outlook from where the team sat a few weeks ago.
"We still have everything in front of us," Few said. "The guys have done a great job of putting us in position to play in the greatest show on earth. For a few months there we probably weren't in a position to drop a game [in the WCC Tournament] but they fought like crazy and did an unbelievable job."
Gonzaga heads into Selection Sunday ranked 17th in the NET with a 3-6 record in Quad 1 games, 4-1 in Quad 2 and a perfect 17-0 in the other two quadrants. Bart Torvik's metrics grade the Bulldogs as a 5-seed based on their resume, though no team in the NET era has been seeded that high with seven Quad 1 and 2 wins combined.
