‘Always going to be a bar fight.’ No. 17 Gonzaga expecting familiar battle with No. 21 Saint Mary’s in WCC title game

LAS VEGAS – After more than two decades, there aren’t many adjectives or descriptions that haven’t been used when characterizing the nature of basketball games between Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.

What can fans expect when the longtime rivals meet for the 14th time, and third straight year, in the West Coast Conference title game?

“It’s always a war,” Gonzaga guard Nolan Hickman said. “We know that going in. It’s never going to be lackadaisical or nothing. It’s always going to be a bar fight, what coach (Mark Few) likes to say.”

War. Bar fight. Forty-minute skirmish. Pick your term.

The 17th-ranked and second-seeded Bulldogs (25-6) will face the 21st-ranked and top-seeded Gaels (25-7) for the third time this season on Tuesday night at the Orleans Arena (6 p.m., ESPN).

Gonzaga is making its 27th straight appearance in the WCC title game after cruising in the second half of an 89-77 semifinal win over third-seeded San Francisco. Saint Mary’s booked its spot a few hours earlier after beating fourth-seeded Santa Clara, 79-65.

Tuesday’s meeting will be a rubber match between the league’s top two seeds after they split games in the regular season.

Saint Mary’s won a lower-scoring game, 64-62 on Feb. 3 in Spokane that was played more at a pace the Gaels prefer. Gonzaga turned up the tempo during a March 2 rematch in Moraga, capitalizing on a slew of Saint Mary’s turnovers to win 70-57 in a game the Bulldogs led by as many as 19 points.

“Credit to Gonzaga, they’re a good squad but I don’t think they won the game,” said Gaels senior Alex Ducas, who drilled six 3-pointers in the semifinal win on Monday. “I think we lost the game last time at home. We’ve got so many areas in that game I think we can improve on and I think we are getting better at that. … If anything, we hope they win this game right now (against USF) and we can’t wait to see them next.”

Gonzaga was able to keep Ducas in check when the teams met two weeks ago, but the fifth-year wing has been the WCC’s hottest 3-point shooter over the last month-plus, making at least three 3’s in each of his last eight games and in 11 of his last 12. Ducas is 44 of 76 (57%) from behind the arc during that stretch.

Ducas made three 3-pointers in the regular-season finale against Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs held the Gaels to 37% from the field and scored 13 points off 13 Saint Mary’s turnovers.

“I think Gonzaga played well. Gonzaga’s a good team, they’re really good,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “… Really in that game against Gonzaga there was a seven-minute stretch where we turned the ball over and that was the separation of the game. The rest of it was a very even game.

“We’re going to have to play better than we did last time. I think we had one player that played like at a B level. You’re not beating Gonzaga if you do that. You better have four or five guys that are at a B level or above to beat them.”

Gonzaga hasn’t lost since it dropped the Feb. 3 game to Saint Mary’s and the Bulldogs are averaging 89.2 points over a nine-game winning streak.

It may not be realistic to expect GU’s point total climbing into the high 80’s on Tuesday night, though. The Bulldogs have been held under 80 points in each of their last five meetings, and seven of the last eight, with the Gaels.

“Saint Mary’s and Randy, they’re good and this is going to be a totally different game,” Few said. “It’ll be a much more low-possession game. Last time we played them we were able to get some turnovers and get out and run. Got the tempo to our liking. One in Spokane was a little bit lower, but I think we led that one for awhile, just didn’t finish it off.

“They’re a great team, he’s an awesome coach and I know this, it’ll be extremely, extremely physical. It’s always a very, very, very physical game.”