Chance to play for coveted WCC title awaits No. 21 Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara
Saint Mary's has won or shared the past four West Coast Conference regular-season championships.
Much harder to claim has been the WCC tournament title.
The second-seeded Gaels will begin pursuit of just their third crown in 14 tournaments since 2013 when they battle third-seeded Santa Clara in Monday night's semifinals at Las Vegas.
The Broncos (25-7) advanced with Sunday's 76-68 victory over sixth-seeded Pacific.
While No. 21-ranked Saint Mary's (27-4) is solidly in the NCAA Tournament field, Santa Clara would take a huge step toward securing an appearance with a win over the Gaels. The Broncos haven't been part of March Madness since 1996, when the legendary Steve Nash was a senior superstar.
Santa Clara's last WCC tournament crown came in 1993, Nash's freshman season.
But 30 years after the program's most recent NCAA Tournament appearance, coach Herb Sendek has put together his best all-around squad in his 10 seasons at the school. It also marks Santa Clara's fifth straight 20-win season.
Yet the Broncos refuse to look ahead at the lofty target.
"Just one game at a time," forward Elijah Mahi said after Sunday's victory. "Everyone feels good because we work hard to get there. It's one game at a time."
Gaels coach Randy Bennett said there shouldn't be any doubt that the Broncos belong in the March Madness field.
"They're good. They're talented. They're big," Bennett said of Santa Clara on the WCC Insider show. "I think three teams (Gonzaga is the other) in our league definitely have a good resume, and they're one of them. They're right there.
"They can score on you. They're different this year. Their defense is picking up full court, and they try to wear you out and they're married to it. ... This is the best team Herb's had."
Saint Mary's recent WCC tournament titles came in 2019 and 2024. Overall, the Gaels have won the tournament five times since the season-ending event began in 1987.
They enter Monday's game with an eight-game winning streak that includes a stellar 70-59 home victory Saturday over then-ninth-ranked Gonzaga in the regular-season finale.
Three days earlier, Saint Mary's routed visiting Santa Clara 86-67 to split the regular-season series. The Broncos notched a 62-54 home win on Jan. 17.
"We had Santa Clara and Gonzaga at home in incredible atmospheres, both of them, probably the best I've seen in 25 years in our program," Bennett said. "... It was kind of a storybook deal, and our guys were able to stay focused and just compartmentalize and get it done."
Mikey Lewis was sensational with 21 points against Santa Clara on Feb. 25 and established career highs of 31 points and seven 3-pointers in the takedown of the Zags.
The Broncos are looking forward to getting another shot at the Gaels.
"It's definitely exciting," Santa Clara forward Allen Graves said. "We didn't handle business last time, but this time we will be ready. We're doing the proper stuff we need with rest, recover and film, and we'll be ready for (Monday)."
Sendek has been unable to get past the fact that the Gaels outrebounded his club 51-21 in the second meeting.
"Year over year, Saint Mary's is one of the most elite rebounding teams in the country," Sendek said. "From our standpoint, that can't happen again. It wasn't just a function of rebounding. We were put in rotations that facilitated their rebounding. It wasn't as if our guys weren't trying to block out. ... Things are never as good or as bad as they seem."
On Sunday night, Graves scored 19 points for Santa Clara in the wire-to-wire victory over Pacific.
Also on Monday night, top-seeded Gonzaga will face fourth-seeded Oregon State in the other WCC semifinal.