GAME NOTES: The Saint Mary's Gaels begin play in their eighth straight postseason tournament on Wednesday when they host the Vanderbilt Commodores in the first round of the 2015 NIT at McKeon Pavilion.

Saint Mary's is the four seed in the Colorado State Region, while the Commodores are the fifth seed. The winner of this game will advance to face the winner of Wednesday night's matchup between top-seeded Colorado State and eighth-seeded South Dakota State.

Since running off nine straight wins from Dec. 22 to Jan. 17, the Gaels have neither won nor lost more than a game at a time in finishing the regular season at 21-8. It disappointed in the West Coast Conference Tournament, falling to Portland in quarterfinal-round action.

Vanderbilt, meanwhile, will be making its 12th appearance in the NIT and its first since 2006. The Commodores may have lost in the second round of the SEC Tournament, but they are 19-13 on the season and enter Wednesday's tilt having won five of their last six games and eight of their last 11 overall.

The Commodores captured the 1990 NIT crown and finished as runner-up in 1994.

Vanderbilt has also won each of its previous two meetings with Saint Mary's.

Brad Waldow (19.3 ppg, 9.0 rpg) leads Saint Mary's and is one of just two players in the country to average at least 19 points and nine rebounds per game. Kerry Carter (12.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and Aaron Bright (10.7 ppg, 3.8 apg) have been solid contributors as well for the Gaels, who put up 69.2 ppg in hitting 46.0 percent of their field goal attempts, which includes a 37.9 percent showing from 3-point range. Defensively, SMC allows 63.6 ppg, and it also owns an impressive +6.9 rebounding margin.

Carter and Waldow are the only players to start each of the team's 30 games this season, and they are the top two players in their conference in minutes per game.

Damian Jones leads Vandy with 14.4 ppg and also paces the squad in rebounding with 6.5 rpg. Riley LaChance is the only other Commodore in double-digit scoring at 12.5 ppg. With 143 assists, Wade Baldwin IV became the Commodores' freshman single-season assist leader, surpassing Atiba Prater (1997-2000), who had 103 in his first year. Vanderbilt is netting 69.7 ppg on 47.1 percent shooting, and is allowing opponents to score 63.5 ppg on 40.6 percent shooting.

Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 928 consecutive games, a streak which began at the inception of the 3-point line in 1986-87. The Commodores rank second only to UNLV for the longest streak in Division I basketball. Vanderbilt, UNLV and Princeton are the only three schools in college basketball to have made at least one 3-pointer in every game played since the 3-point line was implemented.

Saint Mary's will be looking for some redemption after the way it ended its season. The Gaels will start five seniors in this one, whereas Vandy goes with three freshman in the lineup. Experience and the home crowd should win out.