The Gonzaga–Saint Mary's men's basketball rivalry is an intra-West Coast Conference college basketball rivalry between the Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team of Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California and the Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Many analysts and members of the media have touted the Gaels vs. Zags as one of the best, if not the best, college basketball rivalry on the West Coast,[1][2] as both teams have been consistently two of the top three teams in the conference over the last 2 decades. Gonzaga and Saint Mary's have combined to win 26 out of the last 30 conference championship games, including each of the last 16. The two teams have met a total of 116 times dating back to 1955 and currently meet biannually as a part of WCC conference play, with the potential to play a third game in the WCC tournament and a fourth in the postseason.[3][4] As of March 2022, they have met 20 times in the WCC Tournament but have never met in any postseason tournaments beyond the end of conference play.[3] Saint Mary's has upset a number 1 ranked Zags squad twice – once in the 2019 WCC final as an unranked team and once in 2022 as #23 in Moraga.
Sport | Basketball |
---|---|
First meeting | December 17, 1955 Gonzaga 94, Saint Mary's 77 |
Latest meeting | March 12, 2024 Saint Mary's 69, Gonzaga 60 |
Next meeting | February 1, 2025 Moraga, California |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 116 |
All-time series | Gonzaga leads, 81–35 |
Largest victory | Gonzaga, 54 (2001) |
Longest win streak | Gonzaga, 17 (1999–2004) |
Current win streak | Saint Mary's, 1 (2024–present) |
Game results
editBelow is a complete list of series results, according to Sports Reference and GoZags.com.[3][4]
Gonzaga victories | Saint Mary’s victories | Tie games |
|
References
edit- ^ Deitrick, Hayden. "Why Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary's Is the West Coast's Best Rivalry in NCAA Basketball". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
- ^ Mehr, Justin (2016-07-23). "The Best Rivalry Out West: Gonzaga - St. Mary's". Mid-Major Madness. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
- ^ a b c "Matchup Finder | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
- ^ a b "Clarke leads No. 4 Gonzaga over Saint Mary's 94-46". ESPN.com. Associated Press. February 9, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
- ^ "2019-20 Gonzaga Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved 18 March 2019.