Preseason All-conference Team: Defending West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year Mitchell Saxen goes for the basket. He is one of two Gaels to get the nod. / Photo by Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
Men’s Basketball Preview: Fifteen Games on National TV. Reserved Seats Sold Out for the Season. Plus Preseason Poll Results.
ESPN, CBS Sports Network, and others to carry Gaels broadcasts. For the second year in a row, reserved seats are sold out. And here are the two players picked as Preseason All-Conference.
With Saint Mary’s Men’s Basketball season beginning in just a couple weeks, here are a few things to know about the Gaels on the court. For starters, 15 of the Men's Basketball games—including 12 of their West Coast Conference matchups—will be nationally televised this season. Eight of the Gaels games will be on the ESPN family of networks and four will be found on CBS Sports Network, while the Acrisure Classic in Palm Springs will be broadcast on TruTV and Max, and the Gaels match-up against Nebraska will be on the Big Ten Network.
The Gaels first televised game will be on November 17 against Nebraska at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota. Tip-off is set for 10 a.m. Pacific. Next up will be the Acrisure Classic on Thanksgiving weekend, with the Gaels opening up the tournament on November 28 against USC at 6 p.m., before taking on either Arizona State or New Mexico on the evening of November 29.
The Gaels will have 12 WCC matchups on national TV. The ESPN family of networks will feature eight games: at home vs. LMU (ESPN2, January 7 at 8 p.m.), at Santa Clara (ESPNU, January 29 at 6 p.m.), vs. Gonzaga (ESPN, February 1 at 8 p.m.), at San Francisco (ESPN2, February 6 at 6 p.m.), at Oregon State (ESPN2/ESPNU, February 8 at 7 p.m.), vs. Santa Clara (ESPN2, February 11 at 8 p.m.), vs. Washington State (ESPN2/ESPNU, February 15 at 7 p.m.), and at Gonzaga (ESPN/ESPN2, February 22 at 5 or 7 p.m.).
CBSSN will televise four games for the Gaels: at home vs. San Francisco (January 23 at 6 p.m.), at Washington State (January 25 at 5 p.m.), at LMU (February 27 at 8 p.m.), and vs. Oregon State (March 1 at 7 p.m.).
ESPN+ will carry all home non-conference matchups, the Gaels’ December 7 road matchup vs. Utah, and all unlisted WCC matchups. The December 14 contest vs. Boise State in Idaho Falls does not have a television designation yet; however, last year's matchup between the same two schools at the same arena was broadcast on FS1.
Reserved Seats in the UCU Pavilion Sold Out for Second Consecutive Season
For the second consecutive year—and second time ever—Saint Mary's Men's Basketball reserved seats are 100% sold out for the 2024-25 season. Missed out on reserved seats? Fear not: General admission season tickets and single game tickets are still available but are selling fast.
Single game general admission tickets are an excellent way to catch the Gaels in action for any of their 17 home games—except for the February 1 matchup with Gonzaga. The only way to get general admission tickets to the Gonzaga-Saint Mary's clash is to purchase general admission season tickets.
SMC Athletics notes that another great way to catch the Gaels is through group experiences—which are also going fast. The group experience allows teams in the sixth grade or younger to take the court during the national anthem with the Gaels and play an intrasquad game during halftime.
Gaels Picked to Finish Second in WCC Preseason Poll. Mitchell Saxen and Augustus Marciulion Named Preseason All-Conference.
The Gaels come into this season as the defending West Coast Conference Regular Season and Tournament Champions. As announced by the WCC, the preseason poll of Men's Basketball Head Coaches picks Saint Mary's to finish in second place this season—behind last season’s runner-up Gonzaga. Last season, the Gaels bested the Zags in two out of three contests.
This is the third consecutive year that the Gaels have been picked as one of the top two teams in the WCC preseason poll. The Gaels also had two players named to the Preseason All-Conference Team: defending WCC Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis and defending WCC Defensive Player of the Year Mitchell Saxen. Saint Mary's is one of three teams—along with Gonzaga and Santa Clara—to have multiple student-athletes on the Preseason All-WCC Team.
Augustas Marciulionis led the Gaels with 181 assists and 49 steals last season, while finishing as the team's second leading scorer at 12.4 points per contest. His 2.70 assist to turnover ratio ranked second in the conference, and paced the Gaels, who ranked 17th in the nation in that category. In the WCC Tournament, Marciulionis averaged 13 points and 7 assists per game, shooting 55% from the field, and playing the entire 40 minutes in the Gaels championship clinching victory over Gonzaga.
Mitchell Saxen was one of the most ferocious rebounders in the country, ranking 13th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per contest. Saxen also led the WCC with 43 blocked shots and was the Gaels’ third leading scorer, averaging 11.8 points per game to go along with a team best 7.6 rebounds per contest. Saxen was a key reason as to how the Gaels were able to rank top-10 in the nation in field goal percentage defense, scoring margin, and scoring defense, while leading the country in rebounding margin. Saxen closed out the 2023–24 campaign with back-to-back double-doubles against Gonzaga in the WCC Title Game and against Grand Canyon in the NCAA Tournament.
Story updated October 18, 2024, at 5 p.m. Pacific.
