Top-seeded Saint Mary’s is well-rested entering its first contest of the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas.
That comes with the territory when you play in a conference that chooses to protect the regular-season champion.
The No. 21-ranked Gaels (27-4) will look to shake off the rust from going eight days without a game when they face upstart Pepperdine in the semifinals of the WCC tourney on Monday.
The ninth-seeded Waves (13-21) certainly don’t have the same issue. This will be their fourth game in four days after beating Portland on Friday, Oregon State on Saturday and Santa Clara on Sunday.
Pepperdine had lost five straight games and eight of nine entering the tournament.
“We say find a way or find an excuse. We definitely found a way today,” Pepperdine forward Stefan Todorovic said after Sunday’s 78-76 win. “We’re here to stay. That’s what’s happening. … We’re still playing.”
Meanwhile, Saint Mary’s last played on March 1 when it recorded a 74-64 home win over Oregon State.
After the victory, Gaels coach Randy Bennett detailed his view of how you handle such a long break.
“You’ve got to kind of stay in idle right now. You can’t check out. It’s not spring break. It’s not vacation,” Bennett said. “You can’t shut it down and then two days before the tournament, (say), ‘Hey, you’ve got to get ready to play.’ You’ve got to try to keep getting better without wearing ’em out.”
During the time off, Bennett was named WCC Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive season, point guard Augustas Marciulionis was named WCC Player of the Year for the second straight year and center Mitchell Saxen earned WCC Defensive Player of the year for the second consecutive campaign.
With Saint Mary’s firmly in the NCAA Tournament mix, Marciulionis, Saxen and fellow senior Luke Barrett will become the first Gaels to play in the NCAA tourney in four straight seasons.
“What they have done has never been done,” Bennett said. “That says it all right there.”
Pepperdine trailed by 13 points just 8 1/2 minutes into the game before rallying to post a stunning victory over fourth-seeded Santa Clara.
Moe Odum contributed 19 points and 13 assists to continue his strong tournament play. Odum has a double-double in each game, scored 31 points in the win over Portland and is averaging 20.3 points and 11.3 assists.
Pepperdine is famous for its scenic campus in Malibu, Calif., that sits high above the Pacific Ocean.
Odum is glad he hasn’t enjoyed the view in a while and also has no interest in any sightseeing in Las Vegas.
“We’re not worried about anything else but this tournament,” Odum said. “We’re not here to explore Vegas. We’re here to win basketball games.”
One big question for Monday is how much Pepperdine will have left in the tank against Saint Mary’s.
Another question is more concerning to Waves coach Ed Schilling: How can the Waves match up against a team that whipped them by 24 and 30 points in the two regular-season meetings.
“You need energy against Saint Mary’s but you need a whole lot of other stuff vs. Saint Mary’s,” Schilling said. “They’ve got experience and they’ve got a whole lot of talented players. But you look at our guys and they don’t look tired.
“We practice day after day. Let’s play day after day. We just want to be the best version of Pepperdine. Is that good enough to beat Saint Mary’s? I don’t know. Nobody thought we were good enough to beat Santa Clara.”
Second-seeded Gonzaga will meet third-seeded San Francisco in the second semifinal on Monday. The two semifinal winners will play for the WCC championship on Tuesday.
–Field Level Media
