Saint Mary’s men’s basketball team competes in 1st round of NCAA Tourney

The Saint Mary’s Gaels are shooting 39.8 percent from beyond the arc and 74.7 percent from the free throw line.

There was no such drama Sunday.

Hermanson dialed up a 3-pointer and threw down a dunk to put the Gaels back up by double digits, giving them a 73-63 lead with 4:34 left. I can’t see much between the two teams so as usual, I’m happy to take the points. “It’s the best time of the year, and we’re excited to be a part of it”.

Will St. Mary’s cover the spread as a small favorite tonight against VCU in the opening-round of the tournament tonight at 7:20PM ET?

North Dakota notoriously plays at a torrid pace, but Saint Mary’s plays at the second-slowest tempo in college basketball.

Four players are averaging at least 8.1 points per game for St Mary’s, they are: Jock Landale (16.8), Hermanson (13.0), Emmett Naar (9.5) and Joe Rahon (8.10) per game. “As a little kid, this was your dream. It’s not how we play, and none of the teams in our league really play that style either”.

Seventh-seeded St. Mary’s (28-4) won its last four games to finish 16-2 in West Coast Conference play this season.

“Last year I felt good until the last moment. So I kind of just knew that, hopefully, they were going to start missing and we were going to start making them”. “I thought it would be hard for them to make a run on us with him in there”. Saint Mary’s had 13 assists on 25 field goals.

Lewis was the player who took over when the Rams needed it most, and he scored 30 against in the 85-77 loss to Saint Mary’s in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday night.

No. 10 seed VCU (26-8), meanwhile, used a late-season nine-game winning streak to finish 14-4 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. They beat Mountain West champ Nevada. They won at Stanford. He’ll then get the opportunity to play in a title game against Kansas, where his play against fellow frosh Josh Jackson will elevate him ahead of Fultz on draft boards. “But they needed a game and we needed a game”, he said.

“We did a really good job of handling their pressure. That’s how fine a line it is”. “We just need to keep knocking on the door and win that first game”. “It worked out for us”.

The return of freshman De’Riante Jenkins from a broken foot may be a silver lining for VCU, as the 6-5 Jenkins was recruited as shooter who could stretch the floor. This will be the first meeting of the two schools.

“Randy Bennett is one of the best coaches in the country”, Montgomery said.

“You haven’t been able to compare anybody to Jason Kidd, but I think you can with Lonzo”.

Bennett isn’t anxious anyone on his roster will merely be happy to be there.

“The game plan was to be aggressive, but we wasted too many fouls”, Wade said.