Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s key matchup: High-scoring guard Jordan Ford steers Gaels’ offense

We like to mix it up when it comes to key matchup rematches, but that’s hard to do with Saint Mary’s. Junior guard Jordan Ford is that good, and that important to the Gaels.

Ford leads the West Coast Conference in scoring by the slimmest of margins entering Saturday’s regular-season finale. The 6-foot-1, 175-pounder has scored 305 points, followed by GU’s Rui Hachimura (303) and BYU’s Yoeli Childs (302).

Ford averages 21.3 points, but how he does it is more impressive. He shoots a fraction less than 50 percent, leads the WCC at 43 percent on 3-pointers and hits 79 percent at the free-throw line.

He’ll be highly motivated against the Zags, who limited Ford to eight points on Feb. 9. His only other single-digit outing this season was nine points versus Harvard. He’s played 40 minutes in six WCC games and all 45 in an overtime contest against Pepperdine.

Ford probably will have to deal with the same defenders, starter Josh Perkins and reserve guard Geno Crandall, and bigs Rui Hachimura or Brandon Clarke if the Zags elect to switch on screens.