Saint Mary's basketball season preview 2024-25: Biggest games, key players to watch, predictions and more

Geoff
Reigning WCC Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis will again lead Saint Mary
Reigning WCC Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis will again lead Saint Mary's this season (Image Source: IMAGN)

Saint Mary's step into the 2024-25 college basketball season looking to do better than their first-round finish in the NCAA Tournament.

The defending West Coast Conference regular season and tournament champions made it to their third straight NCAA Tournament last season. However, the fifth-seeded Gaels were booted out by No. 12-ranked Grand Canyon in the first round.

Six players from Saint Mary's 2023-24 campaign left the team due to graduation or transfer. But Randy Bennett and his staff responded by adding six cagers from the transfer portal and high school recruitment.

The Gaels look to dominate the WCC anew and equal or eclipse its highest finish — an Elite Eight appearance in 1959 — in the NCAA Tournament.


Saint Mary's men's basketball 2024-25 season preview: Biggest games, key players to watch and more

Saint Mary's biggest games in the 2024-25 season

Saint Mary's will have to deal with Gonzaga twice in the WCC regular season. (Image Source: IMAGN)
Saint Mary's will have to deal with Gonzaga twice in the WCC regular season. (Image Source: IMAGN)

Saint Mary's will play eight home and eight away games this season, as per the schedule released by the WCC. The Gaels will play arch-rivals Gonzaga, as well as San Francisco, Santa Clara, Washington State, Loyola Marymount, Oregon State, Portland and Pepperdine two times each.

The Gaels will have a home game against Pacific and an away game at San Diego to complete the 18-game intra-conference schedule for the 2024-25 season.

So far, Saint Mary's has finalized one non-conference game and that'll be against Nebraska on November 17 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Last season, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's fought three times, with the Gaels winning twice over the Bulldogs. It included the WCC Tournament finale, where the Moraga, California-based squad won, 69-60.


Key Saint Mary's players to watch out for in the 2024-25 season

Two of last year's top producers — Augustas Marciulionis and Mitchell Saxen — are back to lead Saint Mary's this coming season.

The six-foot-four Marciulionis is the reigning WCC Player of the Year and is favored to win his second-straight Player of the Year award. The 22-year-old point guard averaged 12.4 points, 5.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game and shot 43.8%, including a 34.3% clip from the 3-point line.

Meanwhile, the six-foot-ten Saxen averaged 11.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.5 apg and 1.3 bpg in 34 games this past season. The reigning WCC Defensive Player of the Year will again lead the Gaels' interior alongside seven-foot-one cagers Harry Wessels and Andrew McKeever.

The Gaels beefed up its 2024-25 roster, picking up six players from the transfer portal and the high school ranks.

Six-foot-eight forwards Paulius Murauskas (Arizona) and Ashton Hardaway (Memphis) are expected to bring muscle in the power forward spot. They are likely to help Saxen man the post or stretch to the wing when needed.

Saint Mary's acquired guards Mikey Lewis, Joshua Dent and Liam Campbell, and forward Oliver Faubert, from high school.

Lewis is a six-foot-three guard ranked No. 83 in the 2024 ESPN 100. The combo guard helped Prolific Prep to a 34-6 record and a ticket to the National High School Championship Tournament.

The New South Wales native Dent will bring his all-around wizardry to the Gaels while sweet-shooting Campbell will bring his marksmanship to Moraga.

The Canadian Faubert had a stint with Fort Erie in the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association in Canada. He averaged 12.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest.


Saint Mary's predictions for the 2024-25 season

Saint Mary's is expected to dominate the WCC even with the addition of former Pac-12 rivals — Oregon State and Washington State. The Gaels will figure in another dogfight with the Gonzaga Bulldogs for the regular season crown and possibly the conference tournament.

Saint Mary's is tabbed to go 25-6 this season and contend for the WCC regular-season and tournament titles against Gonzaga, just like the previous seasons. Win or lose the WCC Tournament, the Gaels will be in contention for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament and hopefully, they'll get past the first round this time.

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Edited by Akshay Saraswat
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