# 2017–18 Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team represented Saint Mary's College of California during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by head coach Randy Bennett in his 17th season at Saint Mary's. The Gaels played their home games at the McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, California as members of the West Coast Conference. They finished the season 30–6, 16–2 in West Coast Conference play to finish in second place. As the No. 2 seed in the WCC tournament, they defeated Pepperdine in the quarterfinals before losing to BYU in the semifinals. They were one of the last four teams not selected for the NCAA tournament and as a result earned a No. 1 seed in the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Southeastern Louisiana in the first round and Washington in the second round before losing to Utah in the quarterfinals.

## Previous season

The Gaels finished the 2016–17 season 29–5, 16–2 in WCC play to finish in second place. In the WCC tournament, they defeated Portland and BYU before losing to Gonzaga in the championship game. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 7 seed in the West region, they beat VCU in the first round before losing to No. 2-seeded Arizona in the second round.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Stefan Gonzalez | 2 | G | 6'2" | 195 | Sophomore | Pocatello, ID | Transferred to UC Davis |
| Dane Pineau | 22 | F | 6'9" | 225 | Senior | Melbourne, Australia | Graduated |
| Joe Rahon | 25 | G | 6'2" | 195 | RS Senior | San Diego, CA | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous school |
| Cullen Neal | 44 | G | 6'5" | 195 | RS Senior | Albuquerque, NM | Transferred from Ole Miss. Will eligible to play since Neal graduated from Mississippi. |
| Malik Fitts | | F | 6'8" | 237 | Sophomore | Rancho Cucamonga, CA | Transferred from South Florida. Under NCAA transfer rules, Fitts will have to sit out for the 2017–18 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |

### 2017 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Kristers Zoriks #46 PG | Dobele, Latvia | New Hampton School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Sep 20, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 78 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: nr Rivals: nr ESPN: nr ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "ESPN". ESPN.com. "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Oct 25, 2017* 8:00 pm | | Fresno State North Bay Fire relief | W 85–76 | | McKeon Pavilion Moraga, CA |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 11, 2017* 5:00 pm | No. 22 | Saint Francis (PA) | W 85–68 | 1–0 | McKeon Pavilion (3,276) Moraga, CA |
| Nov 13, 2017* 7:00 pm, CHN | No. 21 | New Mexico State | W 92–74 | 2–0 | McKeon Pavilion (2,811) Moraga, CA |
| Nov 15, 2017* 7:00 pm | No. 21 | Cal State Fullerton | W 76–57 | 3–0 | McKeon Pavilion (2,769) Moraga, CA |
| Nov 19, 2017* 5:00 pm, Stadium | No. 21 | at San Jose State | W 79–61 | 4–0 | Event Center Arena (2,377) San Jose, CA |
| Nov 23, 2017* 1:00 pm, ESPNews | No. 21 | vs. Harvard Wooden Legacy quarterfinals | W 89–71 | 5–0 | Titan Gym (2,131) Fullerton, CA |
| Nov 24, 2017* 10:30 am, ESPNews | No. 21 | vs. Washington State Wooden Legacy semifinals | L 79–84 | 5–1 | Titan Gym (2,513) Fullerton, CA |
| Nov 26, 2017* 2:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 21 | vs. Georgia Wooden Legacy 3rd place game | L 81–83 $^{OT}$ | 5–2 | Titan Gym (1,733) Fullerton, CA |
| Dec 2, 2017* 8:00 pm, P12N | | at California | W 74–63 | 6–2 | Haas Pavilion (7,831) Berkeley, CA |
| Dec 5, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Sacramento State Wooden Legacy unbracketed game | W 70–54 | 7–2 | McKeon Pavilion (2,588) Moraga, CA |
| Dec 9, 2017* 5:00 pm | | Seattle | W 97–73 | 8–2 | McKeon Pavilion (3,324) Moraga, CA |
| Dec 16, 2017* 5:00 pm | | UC Irvine | W 73–66 | 9–2 | McKeon Pavilion (2,809) Moraga, CA |
| Dec 19, 2017* 7:00 pm, NBCSBA | | Dayton | W 69–54 | 10–2 | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| Dec 22, 2017* 7:00 pm, CHN | | UNC Asheville | W 95–69 | 11–2 | McKeon Pavilion (3,221) Moraga, CA |
| WCC regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2017 8:00 pm, NBCSBA | | Loyola Marymount | W 87–59 | 12–2 (1–0) | McKeon Pavilion (3,062) Moraga, CA |
| Dec 30, 2017 1:00 pm, ESPNU | | at BYU | W 74–64 $^{OT}$ | 13–2 (2–0) | Marriott Center (16,212) Provo, UT |
| Jan 4, 2018 7:00 pm | | Pacific | W 74–56 | 14–2 (3–0) | McKeon Pavilion (2,752) Moraga, CA |
| Jan 6, 2018 8:00 pm, NBCSBA | | San Diego | W 70–63 | 15–2 (4–0) | McKeon Pavilion (3,317) Moraga, CA |
| Jan 11, 2018 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Santa Clara | W 81–57 | 16–2 (5–0) | Leavey Center (2,871) Santa Clara, CA |
| Jan 13, 2018 5:00 pm, NBCSBA+ | | at Pepperdine | W 91–67 | 17–2 (6–0) | Firestone Fieldhouse (1,574) Malibu, CA |
| Jan 18, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 13 Gonzaga Rivalry | W 74–71 | 18–2 (7–0) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| Jan 20, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Pacific | W 72–69 | 19–2 (8–0) | Alex G. Spanos Center (3,306) Stockton, CA |
| Jan 25, 2018 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 16 | BYU | W 75–62 | 20–2 (9–0) | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| Jan 27, 2018 8:00 pm, NBCSCA | No. 16 | Portland | W 72–55 | 21–2 (10–0) | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| Feb 1, 2018 8:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 13 | San Francisco | W 79–43 | 22–2 (11–0) | McKeon Pavilion (3,258) Moraga, CA |
| Feb 3, 2018 7:00 pm, NBCSCA | No. 13 | at San Diego | W 65–62 | 23–2 (12–0) | Jenny Craig Pavilion (3,152) San Diego, CA |
| Feb 8, 2018 7:00 pm | No. 11 | at Loyola Marymount | W 83–62 | 24–2 (13–0) | Gersten Pavilion (1,258) Los Angeles, CA |
| Feb 10, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 11 | No. 12 Gonzaga Rivalry | L 65–78 | 24–3 (13–1) | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| Feb 15, 2018 8:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 15 | at San Francisco | L 63–70 | 24–4 (13–2) | War Memorial Gymnasium (2,679) San Francisco, CA |
| Feb 17, 2018 7:00 pm, NBCSBA | No. 15 | at Portland | W 73–61 | 25–4 (14–2) | Chiles Center (4,547) Portland, OR |
| Feb 22, 2018 7:00 pm | No. 22 | Pepperdine | W 75–61 | 26–4 (15–2) | McKeon Pavilion (3,167) Moraga, CA |
| Feb 24, 2018 3:00 pm, NBCSCA | No. 22 | Santa Clara | W 67–40 | 27–4 (16–2) | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| WCC tournament ||||||
| Mar 3, 2018 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | (2) No. 22 | vs. (10) Pepperdine Quarterfinals | W 69–66 | 28–4 | Orleans Arena (7,279) Las Vegas, NV |
| Mar 5, 2018 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | (2) No. 20 | vs. (3) BYU Semifinals | L 72–85 | 28–5 | Orleans Arena (8,296) Las Vegas, NV |
| NIT ||||||
| Mar 13, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPNU | (1) No. 25 | (8) Southeastern Louisiana First Round – Saint Mary's Bracket | W 89–45 | 29–5 | McKeon Pavilion (1,249) Moraga, CA |
| Mar 19, 2018* 8:00 pm, ESPNU | (1) No. 25 | (5) Washington Second Round – Saint Mary's Bracket | W 85–81 | 30–5 | McKeon Pavilion (2,274) Moraga, CA |
| Mar 21, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN | (1) No. 25 | (2) Utah Quarterfinals – Saint Mary's Bracket | L 58–67 $^{OT}$ | 30–6 | McKeon Pavilion (2,309) Moraga, CA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. ||||||
Source

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | 22 | 22 | 21 | 21 | RV | — | — | — | — | — | RV | 16 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 25 | Not released |
| Coaches | 22 | 22 | 22* | 21 | RV | RV | RV | RV | — | RV | RV | 18 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 23 | RV |
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings