March Madness: Previewing Saturday’s Round of 32 Matchups
St. Mary's (7) vs. Arizona (2)
Arizona put 100 points on North Dakota in the first round during a convincing win. Saint Mary's beat Virginia Commonwealth by eight points, but ultimately had a good showing in the first round.
The Gaels from Saint Mary's play at an insanely slow pace -- in fact it's the second-slowest pace of all 351 schools in the country. Their gameplan is easy to decipher as they play slow, work the ball, and shoot a lot of three-pointers. The challenge for opponents is that they shoot the ball very well. Saint Mary's has an effective field goal percentage of 57.9%, the fourth-best clip in the nation.
Arizona has been playing well, coming off of a Pac-12 tourney title. Now that they are fully healthy, with Allonzo Trier fully in the mix, the Wildcats are one of the best teams in the country, and we give them a 60% chance to advance past the first weekend.
Below are three players to keep an eye on from each team.
| Player | Team | PPG | RPG | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allonzo Trier | Arizona | 17.3 | 5.0 | .566 |
| Lauri Markkanen | Arizona | 15.6 | 7.1 | .586 |
| Rawle Alkins | Arizona | 11.0 | 5.1 | .526 |
| Jock Landale | St. Mary's | 16.8 | 9.3 | .615 |
| Calvin Hermanson | St. Mary's | 13.0 | 2.9 | .637 |
| Emmett Naar | St. Mary's | 9.7 | 4.3 | .548 |
Here is a quick breakdown of the team stats comparison.
| Team | nERD | O Rtg | eFG% | Reb% | TO% | D Rtg | Opp. eFG% | Opp. TO% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2 Arizona | 15.38 | 113.3 | .537 | 55.1 | 15.0 | 97.2 | .471 | 15.6 |
| #7 St. Mary's | 14.9 | 118.3 | .579 | 57.5 | 15.1 | 92.9 | .452 | 13.9 |
