Two teams fighting for their postseason lives face off in the WCC's nightcap.
San Diego sits one game below .500 on the season. To make a postseason tournament you have to be at or above .500. With two games remaining the only way the Toreros can earn a berth in one of the four postseason tournaments is with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by way of winning the WCC Tournament.
Saint Mary's sits on the NCAA Tournament bubble. A position that is never comfortable and increasingly uncomfortable. Just today fellow bubble teams Baylor, Tennessee, Alabama and Cincinnati picked up wins. Saint Mary's is at the point that, as a program, failing to make the NCAA Tournament would be a failure. A loss tonight would not guarantee a trip to the NIT, but it would, minimally, double the amount of sweat that will soak the Gaels' clothes on Selection Sunday.
San Diego has been riding the Christopher Anderson to Johnny Dee train all season and their performance in Vegas has been no different. Those two alone should not have been enough to propel the Toreros past the high octane offense of BYU last night. They weren't. Senior forward Ken Rancifer did not want his career to end, he propelled the Toreros past the Cougars.
"This is the furthest I have ever been (in the postseason). I love it. I want to keep playing and will do whatever I can to help my team advance" Rancifer said after the game. He had 15 points on 5-9 shooting from the field.
Saint Mary's can match the back court of Anderson and Dee with their duo of Matthew Dellavedova and Stephen Holt. Beau Levesque can match Rancifer's production. Where the question is for Saint Mary's is down low, which is where it has been ever since Rob Jones' eligibility ended last March.
Mitchell Young and Brad Waldow, combined, come close to replacing Jones' production. Unfortunately for those two they will be going up against the WCC's leader in blocks Jito Kok. Kok held his own against BYU's Brandon Davies last night. Davies managed to put up 20 (Waldow and Young are nowhere near Davies level however). Despite that Kok showed his potential as a force down low. On one play Davies began his shooting motion but stopped short and passed the ball out. Jito Kok didn't get a block on the play and he wouldn't have even if Davies had shot the ball, Kok would have just taken the ball out of the air and recorded a steal.
Dellavedova and Holt vs. Anderson and Dee will be the match up that gets the attention. I'm gonna keep an eye on Kok vs. Waldow and Young. Both teams can light it up from deep with their exceptional back courts. Whichever team wins the battle in the paint will probably win this game.
8:30 PM PST (30 minutes after the finish of the previous game.)
#6 San Diego Toreros vs. #2 Saint Mary's Gaels
Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.
San Diego is 16-17 on the season, 7-9 in WCC regular season play and currently on a three game winning streak.
Saint Mary's is 26-5 on the season, 14-2 in WCC regular season play and currently on a five game winning streak.
Saint Mary's swept the season series 2-0.
TV: ESPN2.
Radio: XX 1090 AM in San Diego.
Satellite Radio: Sirius 110 and XM 193.
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