MORAGA — One of Saint Mary’s top players is heading to the East Coast.
Aidan Mahaney, the Gaels’ leading scorer this past season, has committed to UConn, the East Bay native told ESPN on Monday.
The 6-foot-3 guard joins a team that this month became the first to win back-to-back national championships since Florida did so in 2007.
“I chose UConn to be pushed, to be a part of something bigger than myself, to compete for a national championship and to become a pro,” Mahaney told ESPN.
Aidan Mahaney shoots against Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference championship game in March. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
Mahaney’s exit is one of many that has gutted Saint Mary’s roster this offseason. Last week, big man Joshua Jefferson transferred to Iowa State and highly-touted high school guard Zion Sensley of Archbishop Riordan de-committed from the program.
Mahaney was arguably the most productive player on the floor for Saint Mary’s since he graduated from nearby Campolindo High in 2022.
As a freshman, he averaged 13.2 points per game and shot 40% from behind the arc en route to an all-West Coast Conference first-team selection.
In his sophomore season, Mahaney averaged 13.9 points while leading the Gaels to the to their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Saint Mary’s, a No. 5 seed, fell to No. 12 Grand Canyon in the first round last month.
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Mahaney got to see exactly how his new team operated last season when the Gaels played UConn in the second round of the NCAAs. Saint Mary’s lost to the Huskies 70-55 — a game in which Mahaney scored a team-high nine points.
“The coaching staff doesn’t rebuild at UConn, they reload,” Mahaney told ESPN. “There is no tiptoeing around the fact that the program is going for it all again, and I am ready to be a part of that journey towards continued greatness. One game at a time, obviously, but the goals at UConn are set the moment you walk into the facilities. National champs.”