Gonzaga’s Mario Saint-Supery fills up stat sheet in starting debut
An in-depth glance at Mario Saint-Supery’s stat line showed a close race between his field goals made (five), steals (six) and assists (seven).
The freshman point guard from Spain made his debut in Gonzaga’s starting lineup Monday and the numbers certainly added up.
The 6-foot-3 point guard hit all three of his 3-point attempts and piled up a season-high 16 points to go with season bests in steals and assists as the Zags crushed Southern Utah 122-50 at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Saint-Supery is just 19 years old, but he boasts considerable international experience in one of Europe’s best leagues as well as suiting up for Spain’s national team. His confidence is obvious on the court.
“He played at a really high level (in Spain),” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “The ACB is arguably the best outside of the EuroLeague out there. He’s played against some good guys, older guys.
“I think he was well-schooled defensively, he’s still a little wild just like he is on offense, but he’s figuring it out.”
Few opted to start Saint-Supery in place of Braeden Smith, who was coming off a nine-assist performance in Friday’s road win against Arizona State. Tyon Grant-Foster also started ahead of Emmanuel Innocenti.
“Again, there’s not a whole lot of separation with this crew, maybe with exception of the two bigs (Graham Ike and Braden Huff),” Few said. “I just felt like we needed to mix it up a little bit. It wasn’t based on anything other than that, just giving some other guys a chance.”
Saint-Supery missed his first shot against the Thunderbirds before filling up the stat sheet. His first basket was a 3-pointer that hiked Gonzaga’s lead to 9-0.
He had a steal, two assists and a 3-ball in the closing 2:18 of the half as the Zags took a 59-27 lead into the locker room.
He collected five steals in the opening half and another just over three minutes into the second half. His six steals matched his season total in 77-plus minutes through the first four games.
“I didn’t know I have that many steals,” Saint-Supery said. “But it’s not just me, it’s teamwork because all the team touches it and the ball ends up in my hands.
“I think we were very active and it was good.”
Saint-Supery said the biggest adjustment from playing professionally in Spain to U.S. college basketball has been on the defensive end of the court.
“It’s defense and the way basketball is played here because it’s handsy,” Saint-Supery said. “Everyone is trying to steal the ball all the time. I’m trying not to tun the ball over and give some good passes to my teammates and generate as much as I can.”
Saint-Supery’s big night pushed his scoring average to 9.8 points and 4.0 assists per game. He leads the team with 12 steals. It’s a small sample size with just five games, but he’s made 7 of 11 3-pointers, a 63.6% clip that’s easily the highest among rotation players. He’s also 12 of 15 at the foul line (80%).
His next start, provided he stays in the first unit, will be in Gonzaga’s biggest game yet: versus No. 11 Alabama next Monday at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas.