Saint Mary's at Loyola Marymount 1/21/21 - College Basketball Picks & Predictions

The Saint Mary’s Gaels travel on the road to the Gersten Pavillion to take on the Loyola Marymount Lions. Saint Mary’s has dropped three in a row on their home floor following an offensive collapse against BYU and then getting mopped at home by Gonzaga, dropping to 9-5 on the year. Loyola Marymount has won four of five and is coming off a 72-69 overtime win over San Diego to improve to 7-4 on the year. 

Saint Mary’s plays one of the slowest paces in the country coming in at 353rd in KenPom adjusted tempo and are shooting just 43% from the field as a team. When you play slow AND don’t make shots, it’s tough to score the ball and that shows with the Gaels averaging 67 points per game ranking 281st in the country in scoring offense. 

Senior guard Tommy Kuhse has led the charge and taken a big step forward in his senior season averaging 14.2 points on 43.5% shooting. He also loves to share the rock dishing out a team-high 5.6 assists per game. Junior forward Matthias Tass is back and looks to be better than ever after an injury cut last season short, he’s averaging 9.9 points and pulling down 5.1 rebounds per game. 

Loyola Marymount is also a methodical offensive team coming in at 289th in pace, the Lions come in averaging 69.3 points per game ranking 239th in the country in scoring offense. As a unit, Loyola Marymount is shooting 43.5% from the field and has struggled from deep shooting 29.9% from three. 

The offense runs through senior forward Eli Scott, he’s started 83 games across his four years on campus and was an All-WCC player a season ago. This season, he leads the team in points with 15.5, rebounds with 8.5, and assists with 3.5. Paired with Scott in the front court is sophomore Dameane Douglas, he’s second on the team in both scoring and rebounding averaging 13.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

This will be a slow game with both teams coming in loving to work the shot clock and play low-scoring games. Saint Mary’s is one of the best defenses in the WCC, allowing 61.9 points per game ranking 26th in the country. Opposing teams have taken just 14.6 threes per game, the second least in college basketball, and Saint Mary’s is 52nd in KenPom adjusted defense. Loyola Marymount is 87th in scoring defense allowing 66.4 points per game.