:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72087078/1474212321.0.jpg "2023 March Madness bracket: Who is Saint Mary's playing in second round of NCAA Tournament")
The No. 5 Saint Mary's Gaels edged out the No. 12 VCU Rams in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Mitchell Saxen led the Gaels to a 63-51 victory and will look to build on that in the second round.
2023 March Madness bracket
The Gaels will face the winner of Friday's matchup between the No. 4 UConn Huskies and No. 13 Iona Gaels. They'll face off on Sunday at ARENA. Tip-off time will be announced later Friday night.
Saint Mary's has played Connecticut once and and Iona three times, and has lost all four matchups. In 2006, a 14th-ranked UConn squad beat them 89-73 in a December non-conference matchup. The two Gaels squads faced off in three December matchups in 1978, 1979, and 1989.
The Rams have faced the Huskies twice with 33 years between the games. Most recently, UConn won 73-60 in November 2021. Prior to that, UConn beat VCU in the quarterfinals of the 1988 NIT. The Huskies went on to win that tournament. VCU has faced Iona five times and holds a 3-2 record in the series. Their last meeting came in December 2018 with VCU blowing out Iona by a final score of 88-59.