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A rare poor night on offense dooms Saint Mary's to its first loss
Maybe it was the eight-day layoff for final exams. Maybe it was the quality of the opposing defense. Maybe it was just an unusually poor shooting night.
Whatever the reason, 12th-ranked Saint Mary’s was a shadow of itself Thursday night during a surprising 65-51 home loss at the hands of quality mid-major Texas Arlington.
A Saint Mary’s team that entered play leading the nation in points per possession didn’t crack 50 points until less than a minute remained in the game. The previously unbeaten Gaels shot 32.7 percent from the field and committed 16 turnovers, costly mistakes on a night when even open shots weren’t falling.
Texas Arlington’s aggressive zone confounded Saint Mary’s the way few opposing defenses have in recent years.
Jock Landale led the Gaels to an impressive 6-0 start by averaging a team-best 19.7 points and 9.0 rebounds, but the 6-foot-11 junior floundered Thursday when double teamed in the post. He sank just 3 of 10 shots, rushed layups he normally makes and committed five turnovers trying to kick to open shooters.
Even when Landale did manage to feed a shooter, Saint Mary’s sank only 29.2 percent of its 3-pointers. Guards Emmett Naar and James Rahon seldom found any gaps in the zone off the dribble, nor were passing lanes available for them to feed the high post.
Texas Arlington led by 13 at halftime and by as many as 20 midway through the second half en route to one of its biggest wins in program history. Saint Mary’s trimmed the deficit to 11 on a Kyle Clark layup with nine minutes to go, but the Gaels could never string together enough baskets to get any closer.
While this was Texas Arlington’s first ever victory against a Top 25 opponent, a marquee road win from the Mavericks (8-3) was not without precedent. Not only did the Sun Belt Conference favorites upset Ohio State, Memphis and UTEP last season, they already owned a 72-61 victory over Texas this season.
More stunning than the outcome was the fact that Texas Arlington led by double figures the entire second half in Moraga. This is a Saint Mary’s team that already owns road wins against Dayton and Stanford and that lost only once in its own gym all of last season.
While it’s no longer possible for both Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga to enter their Jan. 14 matchup with undefeated records, the Gaels are still in fine shape as non-conference play winds down.
All they have to do is make sure Thursday night’s loss is remembered as a blip in an otherwise strong season rather than the start of a downward trend.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
