If you're a fan of either program, or any program in the WCC you know how big this game is. For everybody else it just got a little bigger. Saint Mary's sits at #18 in the coaches poll and Gonzaga moved back in at #25. Considering this is ESPN's prime time match up (6pm Pacific-9pm Eastern) people in the know were aware of how big a game this would be. This is the fourth straight meeting between the schools in the conference title game, with Gonzaga winning the 1st and 3rd. More impressive than those four straight is this number, 15 straight. Gonzaga has set an NCAA record with 15 consecutive conference title game appearances. That's right, the streak that fell when Saint Mary's won the regular season outright hasn't been going on as long as this one.
Both of these squads are locks for the NCAA tournament, so the auto bid isn't much of a factor in this game. However, a WCC Championship, higher NCAA seed, bragging rights, ownership of the season series etc are all on the line. Obviously, both teams want to win this game. Saint Mary's would like to claim ownership of both the regular season and tournament titles. The Gaels would also like to make up for their last big time nationally televised game, their flop against Murray State in the bracket busters event. Gonzaga would like to claim some sort of WCC title as they have done each year since 1997-98 as well as beat the team that stole their regular season championship.
The biggest question for this game is the status of Stephen Holt, the Gaels best defender and star sophomore. Holt sprained his knee in their loss to Loyola Marymount back on February 15th. He's missed every game since then and with the autobid a non-factor in this game letting him rest will be a smart move as he would have another week and a half before the Gaels would play next. Holt and head coach Randy Bennett have said that he will be a game time decision and won't play unless he is at 100%. Holt dressed and participated in warmups during the Gaels semifinal game against San Francisco on Saturday. The Gaels trailed for the majority of that game (a loss then would have been far more detrimental to the Gaels NCAA hopes than one tonight) and Holt never got off the bench so it does seem that he won't play even at 99.9%.
There was a big question for Gonzaga, how would freshman leader and two-time twitter trending topic Kevin Pangos' offensive performance be. Pangos is nearly unstoppable at home, shooting 50% from behind the arc. In road or neutral site games heading into Satuday's matchup with Brigham Young the stellar guard was shooting only 27% from 3. He answered that question by dropping 30 points (in 33 minutes) on the Cougars and made 5 of 9 attempts from deep, that's 56%, better than his home percentage. With Pangos feeling at home in Vegas the offensive battle between the Gaels Cousy Award finalist Matthew Dellavedova and Kevin Pangos will be quite entertaining.
When the Zags played Brigham Young on Saturday it was the two teams 4th meeting in less than a year. This will be Gonzaga and Saint Mary's 12th meeting in 4 years. It's getting familiar atop the WCC. Hopefully that familiarity results in a close game, unlike the typical beat downs these two squads give each other on an alternating basis.
TV: 6pm Pacific, ESPN
Also streaming online at espn3.com
Radio: Oldies 101.1 FM in the Inland Northwest (also online at oldies1011.com)
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