Saint Mary's best season ever came to an early end on Friday at the hand of the Boilermakers of Purdue. The extremely efficient and smart Gaels team that ran over almost everybody they played, until the injury of Stephen Holt on February 15th, did not make the trip to Omaha for this game. The same players were there, obviously, but they didn't look like the Gaels. The first half was particularly strange as the Gaels, who shoot 45.7% on the year, made only 31% of their shots including a terrible one of fifteen from three. That one three came two and a half minutes in giving the Gaels their first points and Matthew Dellavedova his only points of the half.
The Boilermakers dominated this game from the beginning and did not trail until the last minute of the second half. Jorden Page hit a three with 45 seconds left to give the Gaels their first lead at 69-68, Matthew Dellavedova picked up his 8th assist on the play. His assist total along with another Rob Jones double-double were the only reason I was able to tell this was in fact the same Saint Mary's team I'd watched all season.
On the next play after taking the lead a driving Terone Johnson traveled which resulted in the Gaels' getting the ball underneath the Boilermakers' basket. On the in-bounds play senior Clint Steindl ended his career about the worst way possible. Steindl ran along the baseline as he looked to pass the ball in. That is a travel and just like that the Boilermakers got the ball back, down one point, with 32 seconds left. They then reclaimed the lead after two Lewis Johnson free throws.
Jorden Page hurled up a three with 10 seconds left. He had just hit a three to give the Gaels the lead earlier in the last minute, so he was probably feeling it. However, down only one point with the shot clock off is the worst possible time to airball a three.
The Gaels looked completely discombobulated for the entire game. I will never stop hating on Randy Bennett's out of conference scheduling and it's because of games like this. When the only tough environments your team plays in are at BYU and at Gonzaga, with their only big games coming against those teams, there is no way to gain big game experience. That sort of scheduling has led to running up great looking win totals, top 25 rankings, and national exposure for the Gaels from November to February. The past two years it has also resulted in first round exits in the NIT and NCAA tournaments. Until the Gaels become a team that is battle tested I don't see their late season results improving.
This was the last game for seniors Rob Jones, Clint Steindl and Kenton Walker II. Jones and Steindl figure to have a future in basketball. If he wants to, Jones has the skills to play in Europe. Steindl has played for the Australian national team. Walker averages under 10 minutes a game so a professional future for him would be in a very low level overseas league.
The Gaels finish the season at 27-6. The Boilermakers improved to 22-12 with the win and advanced to play 2 seed Kansas on Sunday.
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