NCAAB

March Madness: Previewing Saturday’s Round of 32 Matchups

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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.

PlayerTeamPPGRPGeFG%
Allonzo TrierArizona17.35.0.566
Lauri MarkkanenArizona15.67.1.586
Rawle AlkinsArizona11.05.1.526
Jock LandaleSt. Mary's16.89.3.615
Calvin HermansonSt. Mary's13.02.9.637
Emmett NaarSt. Mary's9.74.3.548


Here is a quick breakdown of the team stats comparison.

TeamnERDO RtgeFG%Reb%TO%D RtgOpp. eFG%Opp. TO%
#2 Arizona15.38113.3.53755.115.097.2.47115.6
#7 St. Mary's14.9118.3.57957.515.192.9.45213.9