Saint Mary’s lost several key players, but expectations are still high with Marciulionis returning

Life in the West Coast Conference was quite different since the last time Saint Mary’s stepped on a basketball court.

The Gaels experienced a bit of a talent drain, headlined by the departure of Aidan Mahaney, last year’s leading scorer and a Campolindo High graduate, to Connecticut. That alone would’ve shocked the system. Then, two weeks prior to WCC media day, Gonzaga bailed for the new-look Pac-12, a decision that will leave the conference’s top-dog status up for grabs when the Zags officially join their new conference in 2026.

For head coach Randy Bennett, it’s the new normal — a normal he’s already grown accustomed to.

“This offseason wasn’t that much different,” Bennett said. “It’s just kind of the way it is now.”

The landscape of collegiate sports may continue to change, but Saint Mary’s collective mission remains the same: Fight for a conference title and make it to the dance.

Bennett enters his 24th year as the Gaels’ head coach fresh off another standard season of excellence, one in which Saint Mary’s won the regular-season title and beat Gonzaga in the conference championship before being stunned by Grand Canyon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Gaels have won at least 26 games in each of the last three seasons — four seasons if COVID-shortened 2020-21 is excluded — but replicating that success will hinge on the team’s ability to replace three foundational pieces.

Mahaney, who led the team with 13.9 points per game and was a two-time first-team All-WCC selection, will play for Dan Hurley at UConn, which will try to become the first program to three-peat since UCLA.

Alex Ducas graduated following five seasons in Moraga and currently plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Joshua Jefferson transferred to Iowa State after averaging career highs across the board and earning an All-WCC honorable mention.

Despite the loss of Ducas, Mahaney and Jefferson, Bennett has no reservations regarding the returning core’s ability to compete.

“The nine guys returning are really solid guys,” Bennett said. “They know our program. They’ve laid the foundation for our program. Some of those guys have been to three NCAA tournaments, so we’re building on a really strong foundation with those guys.”

Headlining those returners is Augustas Marciulionis, the son of NBA Hall of Famer and former Golden State Warrior Sarunas Marciulionis. Following two seasons as a bench player, Marciulionis averaged 12.4 points, 5.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds last year en route to winning WCC Player of the Year.

Center Mitchell Saxen returns to the rotation as well, fresh off being named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year. Saxen led the conference with 43 total blocks to go along with 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per night, the anchor of a defense that finished last season with the 15th-best defensive rating in the country, per Ken Pomeroy. Redshirt senior forward Luke Barrett, who averaged a career-high 17.1 minutes and 5.5 points as a reserve last season, stands to move into a starting role as well.

“When people ask me why we have a chance to be a good team, I say it’s because we have three seniors who have been with our program for four, five years,” Bennett said. “We have old returners, which you always have to have to be good. If you don’t have that, that’s when I think you’re in trouble. But we have it.”

If Marciulionis was the one who made The Leap last season, Bennett envisions sophomore guard Jordan Ross making The Leap this season.

Ross, a four-star point guard out of Compass Prep in Arizona, was the only true freshman to see the court for Saint Mary’s last season, but his first season of college ball amounted to 166 total minutes.

Bennett believes Ross is a “much better scorer” than when he first walked on campus. In Bennett’s estimation, Ross was more of a pass-first point guard as a freshman, but the 6-foot-3 guard prioritized getting buckets during spring and summer. Bennett went so far as to say that Ross’ jump from Year 1 to Year 2 is nearly identical to the jump Marciulionis made from Year 2 to Year 3.

“I know Jordan Ross has made the jump,” Bennett said. “We’ve seen it in a couple scrimmages, but he’s going to have to do it in games. He’s going to have to do it every night.”

Along with the returning core, Bennett brought in a pair of transfer forwards in Paulius Murauskas from Arizona and Ashton Hardaway, the son of Penny Hardaway, from Memphis.

Murauskas, a sophomore, played three years in Lithuania’s top basketball league before joining the Wildcats. The 6-8, 235-pound forward played just 115 total minutes as a true freshman for Arizona, but showcased his ability to stretch the floor by knocking down 14 of 27 3-pointers. Bennett admitted that Saint Mary’s didn’t truly know “what he was going to be” until Murauskas got on campus, but he plans to start the transfer at power forward while potentially adding some minutes at small forward.

“He’s hungry,” Bennett said. “He wants to prove that he’s not that guy who should be sitting on the bench all the time on a good team — and he won’t.”