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The No. 5 Saint Mary’s Gaels head to the second round to take on the No. 4 UConn on Sunday, March 19. The game will take place at MVP Arena in Albany, New York.
2023 NCAA Tournament, second round: No. 4 UConn vs. No. 5 Saint Mary’s
Spread: UConn -3.5
Total: 130.5
Moneyline: UConn -170, Saint Mary’s +145
Game date: Sunday, March 19
Game time: 6:10 p.m. ET
TV channel: CBS
Location: MVP Arena, Albany, NY
Saint Mary’s proved the doubters wrong with a decisive win over VCU, pulling ahead in the final minutes of the game to avoid any chance at an upset. The Gaels were led by Alex Ducas and Mitchell Saxen with 17 points each. Their defense was the star of the show, though, as they held VCU to just 36.7% from the field and out-rebounded the Rams by a margin of 11.
UConn was down two at halftime to Rick Pitino’s Iona, but came surging back with a huge run to knock out the upstart No. 13 seed XX-XX. The Huskies remain No. 4 in KenPom despite their December swoon, and are still the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in all of college basketball at 39.2% of bricks recovered.