The Gonzaga Bulldogs played in their 28th-straight West Coast Conference final on Tuesday, facing their rivals Saint Mary’s. The Gaels had swept the Bulldogs in the regular season, beating them twice. However, this time, in Las Vegas, with the lights as bright as they have been all season, the Zags prevailed and won the WCC championship.
Gonzaga Inexplicably Prevails Over Saint Mary’s
To say the Gonzaga Bulldogs did not play their best basketball would be an understatement. For a team that averages almost 87 points per game, scoring 58 is usually not going to result in a victory. The same is true for rebounding, as Mark Few’s team collected more than 10 less boards on average and were beaten on the glass by 15. Yet they still won.
Gonzaga is the only Division I team in the last 25 seasons to:
score under 60 pts
shoot under 10.0% from three on 15+ attempts
get outrebounded by 15 or more…and yet still win the game.
Division I teams had been 0-121 over the last 25 seasons when putting up those numbers. pic.twitter.com/FHJbSi3VV9
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) March 12, 2025
Gonzaga’s Braden Huff was the only player in the game to make a three-point shot. The rest of the Zags were 0-11 from long range, while Saint Mary’s was a ghastly 0-16 as a team.
Graham Ike was named the MVP of the tournament overall. Although he had just 11 and 7 boards against Saint Mary’s, he had achieved a 27-10 double-double in the previous game, a semifinal victory over the San Francisco Dons.
Despite playing in a WCC that is multiple weight classes below some of the best conferences in college basketball, Few’s 20 conference titles is still incredibly impressive. The consistency his program his shown in a league that continues to get stronger and stronger still deserves to be celebrated. After advancing to the final on Monday, Few said that this year’s run “has been harder than ever.”
Mark Few has now won 20 conference tournaments, 5 more than any other head coach all-time (Krzyzewski 15, Calipari 15). https://t.co/PEa14UupxY
— Go Zags! (@gogonzaga23) March 12, 2025
Gonzaga now enters March Madness with their streak of consecutive Sweet 16s looking at more of a risk than ever. How much of the blights of a rocky season can be erased by a run to the WCC championship?
Saint Mary’s Had An Uncharacteristic Meltdown That Will Dampen Tournament Optimism
Second-leading scorer Paulius Murauskas played just 14 minutes due to foul trouble. Murauskas was limited for this reason but was also highly ineffective when he was on the floor, shooting 0-7 from the floor and finishing with 0 points.
The onus to pick up the slack was placed squarely on the shoulders of Augustus Marciulionis and Mitchell Saxen. The senior point guard Marciulionis had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists, but also 4 turnovers. Saxen was a force on the interior all night, with 20 points, 7 boards, and a pair of blocks, but he also contributed 4 turnovers of his own.
A certain sloppiness crept into Saint Mary’s game and led to 18 total turnovers, 10 of which were steals by the opposition. Backup big Harry Wessels had 5 turnovers off the bench. Gonzaga is a team that thrives in transition, with players like Khalif Battle attacking downhill with great physicality and speed. The transfer Battle had 5 of Gonzaga’s 10 steals and finished with 14 points.
Saint Mary’s remains an intriguing team heading into March Madness, as they typically are. Their tremendously slow pace give them highly impressive defensive and rebounding statistics. Their compliment of Euro League skill from players like Murauskas and Marciulionis makes them a threat to anyone. However, as evidenced by their latest loss, the eye test is not always as pretty as the analytics say.
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