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Saint Mary’s (CA) and Texas A&M square off in opening round of NCAA Tournament

Texas A&M Aggies (21-11, 11-8 SEC) vs. Saint Mary’s Gaels (27-5, 16-3 WCC)

Oklahoma City; Thursday, 7:35 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Gaels -3.5; over/under is 147.5

BOTTOM LINE: No. 22 Saint Mary’s (CA) and Texas A&M meet in the NCAA Tournament first round.

The Gaels’ record in WCC games is 16-3, and their record is 11-2 in non-conference play. Saint Mary’s (CA) leads the WCC in rebounding, averaging 37.1 boards. Andrew McKeever leads the Gaels with 9.1 rebounds.

The Aggies are 11-8 against SEC opponents. Texas A&M averages 18.1 assists per game to lead the SEC, paced by Jacari Lane with 3.2.

Saint Mary’s (CA) makes 46.2% of its shots from the field this season, which is 2.0 percentage points higher than Texas A&M has allowed to its opponents (44.2%). Texas A&M has shot at a 45.8% clip from the field this season, 5.3 percentage points higher than the 40.5% shooting opponents of Saint Mary’s (CA) have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: Paulius Murauskas is averaging 18.8 points and 7.7 rebounds for the Gaels. Mikey Lewis is averaging 16.5 points over the past 10 games.

Rashaun Agee is scoring 14.7 points per game and averaging 8.9 rebounds for the Aggies. Rylan Griffen is averaging 11.8 points and 3.2 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Gaels: 8-2, averaging 77.3 points, 38.6 rebounds, 15.7 assists, 5.8 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.7 points per game.

Aggies: 4-6, averaging 78.3 points, 32.7 rebounds, 14.2 assists, 6.5 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 83.6 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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