What does Gonzaga's loss to Saint Mary's mean for the Bulldogs' NCAA Tournament hopes? Dan Dickau breaks it down in his postgame analysis.
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00:00 Dan Dick out here, Gonzaga Nation.
00:02 Well, a disappointing loss for Gonzaga for sure, 64-62 at the hands of St. Mary's.
00:08 The Gales come into McCarthy Athletic Center.
00:10 I don't wanna say steal one because St. Mary's is a really good basketball team.
00:14 But St. Mary's started 0 of 9 from the field.
00:16 Gonzaga was playing at their pace.
00:19 They were doing a tremendous job on the glass,
00:21 which held through throughout most of the game.
00:23 But at the end, Gonzaga could not get offensive firepower and
00:29 production down the stretch in the second half.
00:31 Gonzaga 33% from the field in the second half.
00:35 They did finish strong, positive 6 on the glass, but
00:39 St. Mary's made all the big plays down the stretch.
00:42 Mitchell Saxon, when he picked up his fourth foul,
00:45 Randy Bennett of St. Mary's left him in.
00:47 And that gamble paid off dearly cuz he made a couple big buckets,
00:51 had a couple big stops.
00:53 And on the flip side for Gonzaga, when Graham Ekay picked up his fourth,
00:57 he went out of the game.
00:59 Brayden Huff not quite able to slow down some of the opportunities that
01:04 St. Mary's kind of focused in on in regards to mismatches against him.
01:09 But there was one big play down the stretch, quite frankly, that Gonzaga and
01:13 their fans and the coaching staff and Ross are gonna look at and
01:17 wish it turned out a little bit different.
01:19 Aiden Mahaney loses the ball going down the middle of the lane towards the end of
01:23 the game, he recovers it, but he kicked it as well as stepped on the end line.
01:30 Somehow saved it, got back onto the floor.
01:33 The ball ends up in Augustus Marcellonis' hands,
01:35 straight away knocks down a three as the shot clock expires.
01:39 But due to rules,
01:40 you cannot overturn the foot being stepped out of bounds at that point of the game.
01:46 So that was a interesting turn of events that pushed it to six.
01:51 Anton Watson hits a three to cut it to three, but
01:54 at the end of the day, Gonzaga just didn't make shots.
01:57 St. Mary's made the plays down the stretch when they needed and
02:02 it's gonna be interesting, Gonzaga, when they get ready to play Portland,
02:07 how they respond on Wednesday because it really sets up a huge road game
02:12 at Kentucky in Rupp Arena next Saturday.
02:16 So lots of good, but obviously lots of frustration here
02:20 at the McCarthy Athletic Center for the Gonzaga faithful.