My Two Cents: Saint Mary's 'Plays Like Wisconsin,' Straight From Someone Who Knows
PORTLAND, Ore. — Indiana and Saint Mary's have two common opponents this season, Wisconsin and Notre Dame. The results were the same, with both teams beating Notre Dame and losing to Wisconsin.
The Hoosiers did that twice, losing both toe-to-toe battles with the Badgers. They were wars, and Indiana came up on the short end both times.
Saint Mary's is 25-7 this season and has a win over No. 1-ranked Gonzaga, plus two losses, to be fair. But they have a veteran team — all five starters return — and they play hard. They are physical and very tough defensively, averaging only 61.2 points all season, ranked No. 13 in the country.
''They are a veteran group, and they've played a long time together,'' said Wisconsin guard Brad Davison, who led the Badgers to a 61-55 win over Saint Mary's on Nov. 24 in the championship game of the Maui Jim Maui Classic in Las Vegas. "They were a very difficult challenge for us, because they come at you so hard.
"They come off of ball screens really hard and they are very good at getting to their spots. They're methodical too, and they want you to play at their pace. We do that too, of course, and they were very good at.
Davison said ''they also play defense like we do.'' They bump cutters hard, they push post players off the blocks and they plow through screens hard. Saint Mary's beat Wisconsin in overtime to open the 2019-20 season with the same game plan.
So, they play like Wisconsin?
"Yeah, that's fair. They play like Wisconsin,'' Davison said. "They will absolutely fight you and battle with you on every single possession. We scored, what, 61 points to win that game in Las Vegas, and they made us earn every one of them.
"We've played a lot of really good teams this year — including Indiana twice — and I'd put Saint Mary's on that list, too. I remember walking away from that game and winning that tournament, thinking that we beat a really good team to do it.''
Saint Mary's has been ranked in the Associated Press top-25 poll for the past five weeks, getting as high as No. 17 and ranked at No. 18 heading into the tournament after dropping one spot following a loss to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference final.
Wisconsin guard Brad Davison (34) goes up for a basket while Saint Mary's center Matthias Tass. (USA TODAY Sports0
Four guys — 6-foot-10 center Matthias Tass, 6-7 guard/forward Alex Ducas, 6-2 guard Logan Johnson and 6-8 forward Kyle Bowen — have started all 32 games for the Gaels. The current fifth starter, 6-2 guard Tommy Kushe, has played all 40 minutes in five of their last six games.
"They're identity is very similar to ours, in that they will try drop coverage a lot but also run you off the three-point line,'' Davison said. "They are going to force tough twos from you, and as much as Indiana likes to play inside-out, I can imagine that it's going to be very physical down there, and they'll want to slow down the pace. I'm sure they're not going to want Xavier Johnson going downhill all the time.
"We were playing our third game in three days against them, and so were they, so that slow, methodical pace was probably good for both of us.''
Davison said that Tass, who's 6-10 and strong, is ''a really good player and tough on the blocks. He said that battle with Indiana star Trayce Jackson-Davis will be one to watch for sure, but he also said that Tass ''isn't anything that Trayce hasn't seen all year in the Big Ten. Trayce is way quicker, and can use his speed against him.''
Davison also thinks that Indiana senior forward Race Thompson could have a big game inside for the Hoosiers. "I kind of remember their fours (power forwards) being more of stretch-four guys. I don't know if they can handle Race very well on the blocks, but those guards will dig down there a lot, too.''
Davison thinks Indiana also has a huge advantage in having a game under their belt after being Wyoming 66-58 in the First Four on Tuesday. Butterflies and nerves are real in an NCAA game, he said. The Hoosiers might be able to handle that a little better.
"Indiana has already had a game, and I do think that will help them a lot,'' Davison said. "They'll be a little more settled.
"And they've got Trayce really rolling, too. I watched them a lot in the Big Ten Tournament and he was great, and I thought he was great on Tuesday night, too. I'm sure he'll have a good game against Saint Mary's, but he's also going to get plenty of attention from them and they will be pushing him off the blocks for sure. They'll be very physical with him, but I think sometimes Trayce likes that.''
Davison said he and fiance, former IU women's basketball legend Tyra Buss, ''absolutely will be rooting for Indiana on Thursday. The Badgers don't play until Friday. "Look, I know we all fight and battle all year long in the Big Ten, but when the NCAA tournament rolls around, I root for all of the Big Ten teams. It's good for our league when we get wins.
"We got the most teams in with nine, and I take a lot of pride in that because it shows how tough our league is. I definitely want to see Indiana win, and I know Purdue is playing up in Milwaukee with us, and I hope they win, too.
Davison did have one reminder for Indiana fans, though. He's warning you to not take Saint Mary's lightly just because they play in a small conference out west.
"They played as hard as anybody we played all year, and that includes a lot of our Big Ten brothers,'' Davison said. "They've got a lot of experienced guys, and they won't care that it's Indiana. They didn't care that we were Wisconsin. They were sure they could beat us.
"You can play on that being a really tough game where every possession will matter. They are legitimately good. They're ranked now, and they've earned that. It should be a great game and I'm looking forward to see how it turns out.''
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