St. Mary’s, Gonzaga meet in WCC

No. 2 seed Saint Mary’s (21-11, 12-5) vs. No. 1 seed Gonzaga (30-2, 17-0)

West Coast Conference Tourney , Orleans Arena, Las Vegas; Tuesday, 8 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Saint Mary’s is set to take on Gonzaga in the of the WCC tournament. Gonzaga won both of the regular season matchups earlier this season. The teams last faced each other on March 2, when the Bulldogs shot 52.8 percent from the field while holding Saint Mary’s’s shooters to just 40.4 percent en route to a 69-55 victory.

BIG MEN ON CAMPUS: Gonzaga’s Rui Hachimura has averaged 20.4 points and 6.6 rebounds while Brandon Clarke has put up 16.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.1 blocks. For the Gaels, Jordan Ford has averaged 21.4 points while Malik Fitts has put up 15.5 points and 7.7 rebounds.

JUMPING FOR JORDAN: Ford has connected on 43.3 percent of the 157 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 13 of 23 over his last five games. He’s also converted 79.3 percent of his free throws this season.

PASSING FOR POINTS: The Bulldogs have recently created buckets via assists more often than the Gaels. Gonzaga has 49 assists on 98 field goals (50 percent) over its past three outings while Saint Mary’s has assists on 23 of 73 field goals (31.5 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The Gonzaga offense has recorded a turnover on only 14.5 percent of its possessions, which is the ninth-lowest rate in the country. The Saint Mary’s defense has forced opposing teams to turn the ball over on just 16.5 percent of all possessions (ranked 312th among Division I teams).