I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but the Gonzaga Men’s Basketball team is really flippin’ good this season and they’re only getting better.  If their 11-0 record in WCC play and their 25-1 record for the season hasn’t convinced you yet, maybe this last week of play will.  In the week prior to last, with a rotation whittled down to 6 main players after losing Killian Tillie to an ankle sprain, the Zags were supremely tested.  The team responded with some serious mettle in the midst of adversity—especially on the road against San Francisco on February 1st where the Bulldogs won by a narrow 4 points thanks to Corey Kispert’s heroics late in the game. Gonzaga kept Tillie on the bench for the first of last week’s games against the Loyola Marymount Lions as well.  That proved to be a good decision, as the Zags were able to travel to Moraga with a somewhat well-healed Tillie to face the Saint Mary’s Gaels.  In the first meeting of the two teams since the Gaels beat the then #1 Bulldogs 60-47 in the WCC tournament final in March 2019, Saint Mary’s took the brunt of Gonzaga’s fiery wrath.  The Zags handed the Gaels their worst loss at home since 2001 with a 90-60 victory, and let out a triumphant, bellowing bark that was heard nationwide on ESPN.

Gonzaga’s game last Thursday night, with Tillie on the bench resting his ankle, saw 5 of the 6 main players for the Zags picking Lions’ pockets, and accounting for 13 steals.  Filip Petrusev was the only starter without a steal, while Corey Kispert grabbed 5, Drew Timme added 3, Joel Ayayi stole 3 more and Ryan Woolridge and Admon Gilder pilfered 1 a-piece.  One of the few downsides on the night for the Bulldogs was the fact that the Lions were able to get 9 steals themselves and cause 12 Gonzaga turnovers.  But the Zags were able to capitalize on 17 LMU turnovers in a big way—especially on the more and more common quick pushes in transition from the defensive end to the offensive one resulting in lay ups or dunks.  Those quick pushes and sometimes easy baskets helped boost the Zags shooting numbers on the night, as the Bulldogs finished shooting 60% on a 30 for 50 effort, including a decent 7 of 20 from beyond the arc for 35%.  That was good enough for a well-earned victory at home that saw Gonzaga up by a slim 8 at halftime, but able to extend that lead considerably in the 2nd half by as much as 28 before finishing with a score of 85-67
 
Gonzaga’s bigs, especially, were rolling against LMU.  In the absence of Tillie, we saw the freshman native of Texas, Drew Timme, start the game and reassert his excellence on both ends of the court. Filip Petrusev, the other anchor down low for the team, has simply been money down low from day 1 this season and was no different on Thursday night.  Both forwards missed only 1 field goal each in the game against the Lions: Timme on an 8 for 9 effort shooting, Petrusev at 5 for 6. Timme added 8 rebounds and 2 assists to his 17 points, while Petrusev added 6 rebounds to his 21 points—getting a lot of those at the free throw line in an 11 for 15 effort.

Besides stealing the night away on defense Thursday, the backcourt for Gonzaga was outstanding on their offensive end as well.  Joel Ayayi had the only difficult week, getting just 5 points and 3 rebounds against LMU and 5 rebounds and a single 3-point basket against Saint Mary’s to open up scoring on Saturday night.  Kispert and Gilder picked up the slack against LMU, both shooting 50% from deep on mutual 3 for 6 efforts, adding 11 and 17 points respectively.

Gilder’s fellow graduate transfer from Texas on the team, Ryan Woolridge (Gilder from Texas A&M, and Woolridge from North Texas University) has been absolutely on point at point—and he was phenomenal again this week.  He was 5 for 7 shooting against both LMU and Saint Mary’s, adding 12 and 11 points respectively.  In addition to his lightning-quick drives to the hoop and acrobatic finishes at the rim, I thought one of his 7 assists for the week was particularly noteworthy.  Against LMU, after Ayayi was able to poke the ball away on D, and get it upcourt to Woolridge, Ryan crossed the ball over to avoid a defender at half court and seeing a streaking Petrusev sent a bullet pass from halfcourt perfectly between defenders, hitting Filip in stride for a monster dunk without even a dribble. 

Both of the graduate, native-Texan guards have been devastating for opponents on both ends of the court and the Lions and Gaels found that out the hard way.  The two continued their thieving ways against Saint Mary’s by getting 3 steals each, and succeeded in doing more than their parts to further stifle the Gael’s offense.  Gilder made those steals count, especially when he found Woolridge streaking down the court after making them, which was a common occurrence on Saturday.  Woolridge had, about midway through the second half against SM, a 7-0 scoring run by himself—scoring an and-1 basket after an acrobatic finish at the rim and then two lay-ups—the first off a steal by Gilder who sent an alley-oop at the Zags rim his way, and the second off a steal of his own that Woolridge was able to dribble in for an easy finish on the other end.  Though Gilder had a more subdued scoring night against the Gaels, going 3 for 6 shooting, adding 3 rebounds, 5 assists and a block to his 7 points—his one 3-pointer came off an assist from a driving Woolridge who took the defense with him toward the basket and left the ball for Gilder in the right corner in front of the Gaels’ bench, hitting the shot as time expired in the first half to put Gonzaga up by a back-breaking margin of 53-28. 

Against Saint Mary’s we saw what every true Zag fan has been waiting anxiously for in the previous 3 games:  the ever-so-welcome return of Killian Tille, aka: KT, aka: Godzilla.  KT was coming back from a nasty ankle sprain suffered the Thursday prior to the LMU game when the Zags were playing Santa Clara.  After a good week and a half without playing, Tillie went on another tear on both ends of the court Saturday.  In 25 minutes Tillie helped suffocate the Gaels’ offense with his hustle and strong position on defense, and crushed them on his own offensive end by going 7 of 10 shooting, 3 of 5 from beyond the arc, adding 2 rebounds and an assist to his 19 points.  He shared defensive responsibilities on the very dangerous Malik Fitts with his fellow veteran-Zag on the team, Corey Kispert.  Together, they helped limit Fitts to just 12 points in the contest.  Kispert continued his humble excellence on offense as well, taking only the best shots and sinking 2 for 4 from deep, 4 for 7 overall, adding 2 assists to his 10 points.

Seeing Tillie pick up where he left off with another performance over or near 20 points was a blessing for Zag Nation fans.  But it was Tillie’s absence that has allowed for another Godzilla-like candidate to further emerge out of the deep—boding very well, I think, for Gonzaga’s post-season hopes.  When Tillie was injured against Santa Clara, freshman Drew Timme more than just stepped in to fill the void.  For a good portion of the season, Timme has been getting considerable play as a sub for either Tillie or Petrusev in the front court and doing quite well off the bench.  As a starter against San Francisco on February 1st, and last Thursday against LMU, he was outstanding.  He earned player of the game honors in the very tight contest at SF, where he scored 19, added 3 blocks and shot a very cool, collected 7 for 8 from the foul line to help seal the win. 

We already mentioned his 17 points and 8 rebounds against LMU, but he was able to eclipse both of those efforts off the bench against Saint Mary’s on Saturday in just 23 minutes of play.  Timme had a team-high and career-high 20 points on 7 for 8 shooting as well as a double-double with his 10 rebounds—3 of those on the offensive end where he always attacks the boards with gusto.  Though he has shown occasional difficulties from the free-throw line, Timme’s stroke there seems to be smoothing out and he was a perfect 6 for 6 in Moraga.  Not only is he the block leader for the team at the moment, he is one of 7 players (all 7 of the essentially 7-man rotation for the Zags) who is averaging in double digits scoring per game.  He and Ryan Woolridge are tied at the bottom of that list right now with 10.3 points per game. Last time I checked no team in college basketball had more than 5 players averaging in double digits. With balance like that, no wonder Gonzaga owns the #1 offense in the country.

At the top of the points per game list for the Zags, with 17.2, is Filip Petrusev—the Serbian native who also leads Gonzaga in rebounds with 7.9 per contest.  He had another stellar showing against Saint Mary’s, topping both averages and joining Timme on the double-double list with his 18 points and 11 rebounds.  Going 8 for 11 shooting and exhibiting a host of post moves, a very deft touch around the rim, as well as the ability to slam the ball home, Petrusev was outstanding once again.  He did, however, have an awkward moment that caught the attention of one of the ESPN announcers enough to play it back in slow motion.  In the play that happened about 7 minutes into the 2nd half, he was calling for the ball down low while sealing off a defender who was struggling to defend him.  He had good position it seemed, and when Gilder shot a 3 instead of passing to him in the post, he seemed to just walk away from the play in obvious frustration, ignoring the rebound and all that was happening around him. 

Keith Ybanez of The Slipper Still Fits very aptly called it a “little tantrum” and a “moment of madness”—finding it as inexcusable as I do. Petrusev has, at times this season, seemed to be a bit of a whiner.  Perhaps it’s his immaturity and/or ego getting the best of him.  It’s likely very difficult not to be egotistical when you’re as good as he is at his young age—and I’m willing to forgive his perhaps all-too-common complaints to the refs for fouls against his opponents when he should be running back on defense. But getting so frustrated with your own teammates that you walk away from a play that’s still going on is another matter altogether. Ybanez brings up the possibility that Petrusev was being held in the post (maybe he had been being held all night) and the frustration was with the ref, not Gilder.  Either way, that shit’s got to get set aside while dealing with the task at hand.  Whatever the case—let’s not do that anymore.  Zag Nation loves you and thinks you’re awesome, but you need to act like a GU Bulldog should act.  It seemed Mark Few pulled him from the game shortly thereafter and likely told him just that (probably without any of the kindness mixed in).  On a positive note, Petrusev added insult to injury by sinking a rare straight-away 3-pointer later in the game, during a series of 3 consecutive 3’s from the Zags’ Tillie, Petrusev and Kispert that stretched the lead to its widest margin of 88-54.

Just to give you a sense of how dominant the Zags were in this game:  1.  Gonzaga started the game by going 14 of 15 from the field, missing only one shot in the first 12 and a half minutes.  2.  GU shot 74% in the first half of play and finished near that mark at 67.9% on 36 makes in 53 attempts—including over 53.3% from beyond the arc on an 8 of 15 effort.  3.  GU went on a 22-2 run in the first half during which the Gaels were held without a basket for over 7 minutes, ending with the Zags up 34-12.  4.  I counted 5 and-1 baskets for the Zags, adding many 3's the hard way to their 3-point efforts from deep.  5.  The Bulldogs outrebounded the Gaels 33-23--and I won’t even complain about the 9 to 6 margin in favor of SM on the offensive boards since there’s very little chance to get offensive rebounds when you make so many shots.  6.  GU shot about 72% from the free throw line in both games this week and though that wouldn’t be reason for many teams to celebrate, it is for this team as the Bulldogs continue to improve their season average, having had 4-straight games over 70%. 

The complaint that can be made in both games concerns turnovers.  Against LMU, despite forcing 17 turnovers, the Zags gave up the ball 12 times.  In the first few minutes in Moraga, it was turnovers and sloppy play that kept the score close.  It’s surprising that a team who wins so convincingly can have 7 turnovers in the first 8 minutes of play.  Though Gonzaga caused 14 turnovers in the game, they gave the ball up 15 times.  That’s as much as I’ve got for complaints, though.  Gonzaga was simply dominant and as good as one could hope for in every other aspect of the game.  They were even better than I could hope for as I predicted they'd win by a score of 88-77--getting the Zags score pretty close but not expecting the defense to keep a very good Saint Mary's team from scoring more than 60 points. Despite the hefty loss, Saint Mary’s definitely has some dangerous folks on their squad.  Jordan Ford and Malik Fitts are very good players.  They showed moments of brilliance and were a combined 15 for 30 shooting from the field, scoring 23 and 12 points respectively.  They will have to be well accounted for when the Gaels travel up to Spokane to finish WCC play on the 29th of February.

Next on the slate in Gonzaga’s pursuit of WCC perfection is a road game against the Pepperdine Waves in Malibu.  Pepperdine gave the Zags a good run for their money during the last contest between the two teams in Spokane.  Killian Tillie scored 20 in that game and blocked Colbey Ross’s shot attempt that could have tied the game in the waning seconds—sealing a 5-point victory for Gonzaga 75-70.  Ross was very good in the game and both he and Kameron Edwards had double-doubles for the game—Edwards with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Ross with 24 points and 10 assists.  Though Tillie, Petrusev (16 points and 10 rebounds) and Ayayi (5 for 7 shooting and 2-4 from deep) played well in that game, the team struggled to come away with a narrow win at home.  This game is going to be a good gauge of how well the Zags have improved since early in January.  My guess is they’ve improved a great deal and they’re going to surf to a victory over the waves down in Malibu.  My guess: 88-63. 

P.S. I don't know if you've been paying any attention to what former Zag turned NBA-rookie Brandon Clarke has been doing with the Memphis Grizzlies and fellow NBA-rookie Ja Morant lately, but he had a career-high 27 points tonight against Portland.  Have a great weekend, and GO ZAGS!!!                   

~ Clark Karoses

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs weren’t the only team that had to muster some serious gumption to come from behind and find a way to win amid adversity last weekend.  The Gonzaga Men’s Basketball team took the show on the road to California last week—and what I’d expected and predicted to be smooth sailing in Santa Clara, and just a bit of a test in San Francisco turned into quite a test on Thursday night and a nail-biter Saturday afternoon that required Corey Kispert’s heroics late in the game to turn a considerable deficit into a win.  The only thing I got right in my predictions from the last installment of The Zag Wag was the fact that Gonzaga would win both games.
 
At halftime, the Bulldogs found themselves struggling against a team that was gaining confidence, momentum and the belief that they could knock off the now #2 team in the nation on their home floor in both of these contests.  In a the previous meeting on the 16th of January, when Gonzaga played Santa Clara in Spokane, the Bulldogs had opened up a halftime lead of 58-22.  On Thursday the 30th,  it was only a Ryan Woolridge layup with 7 seconds before the half that put the Zags up by more that a basket, 40-36 on the Broncos home court.  On Saturday, playing very short-handed against San Francisco for the first time this season, it was a Jamaree Bouyea jumper as time expired in the first half that put the Dons up by 8 points, 43-35—and had San Francisco fans in War Memorial Gym hungry for the huge upset.  SF had been up by as many as 12 points, 24-12, earlier in the half after heating up from beyond the arc. 

One thing I’ve learned in my years as a Gonzaga fan is to have great confidence in the fact that Mark Few and his assistants on the coaching staff are going to make the best adjustments to cure any ills or woes at the halftime break—and that they will make everything better in the final half of play.  The coaching staff did just that in both contests and the players came out with a vengeance after the break.  Gonzaga notched two more WCC wins despite the fact that their star post, defender and sharp-shooter, Killian Tillie, went down with what looked like a nasty ankle sprain halfway through the first half of play on Thursday and missed the whole game in San Francisco. 

Some Zags players stepped up in a big way in these contests to help make up for the loss of Tillie, playing long minutes and hitting baskets at critical times.  Let’s start with Filip Petrusev, who had a career-high scoring night in Santa Clara.  Before and after Tillie’s injury, Petrusev was absolutely brilliant at Santa Clara, receiving a number of lobs into the paint from Gonzaga guards and dunking them with flair to help him gain an amazingly efficient 14 for 18 shooting from the field.   He was just one rebound short of a double-double, with a team-leading 9 rebounds, and added 3 steals to compliment his 31 points.  It is the rebounding numbers that stand out in the contest as something the Zags truly took control over.  Five Gonzaga players had over 5 rebounds in the game, and the Zags dominated the boards both offensively (10-5) and defensively (33-27), gaining 43 total rebounds compared to 32 for the Broncos.

At San Francisco, without our beloved Tillie, Petrusev did much the same—this time managing a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds on 8 for 14 shooting (you don’t get on the 20-man Wooden Award short-list for nothing).  Accustom to being the team-leader in scoring and rebounding, anchoring the defense in the paint, and playing at or near 30 minutes, domination is nothing new to Petrusev.  But it was his fellow big-man down low, Drew Timme whose clutch performance down the stretch and solid excellence throughout earned him player of the game in San Francisco.  While not as dominant on the boards as usual, Timme came up with a career-high 19 points on Saturday afternoon in 30 minutes of play, with a 6 for 11 effort shooting from the field, an impressive 7 for 8 from the foul line, while adding 4 rebounds and 3 assists.  After coming up with 2 blocks against Santa Clara and 5 blocks against Pacific the previous Saturday, Timme added another 3 against SF, including a key block with 23 seconds left as Jordan Ratinho went up for a layup to try to make it a single-basket game.   
                     
Though his career-high scoring game against SF was definitely an excellent one for Timme, the game against Santa Clara wasn’t half bad either.  In 20 minutes of play, Timme went 5 for 8 from the field, notching 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 11 points.  One of the things that characterized these two games, besides some less than inspired defense by Gonzaga in both first halves, was struggle from the Gonzaga guards to find or to hit good shots, both allowing and requiring the big men to feast down low.  Against San Francisco, Timme and Petrusev had the first 12 points of the game as the guards struggled against a hounding Dons defense that was disrupting the offense and forcing too many turnovers.    

Mark Few called Killian Tillie his “problem solver” for good reason.  His ability to shoot from anywhere on the court, especially from deep, allows him to drag defense away from other players, opening up so much for everyone else on the court (you don’t get on the Karl Malone Award 10-man short list for nothing).  Without Tillie, both the Broncos and the Dons found Gonzaga’s defensive pressure and help often lacking and at times, hit mildly contested 3’s or slashed to the basket with ease.  On the other end the Dons strove to choke Gonzaga’s offense with stifling, overplaying defense on the perimeter—a brand of defense that would have been much more problematic with Tillie’s versatility on the court.  Though Petrusev and Timme are outstanding in their own right, Tillie adds so much to the Gonzaga line-up on both ends and it will be integral to the Zags success in the post-season that Tillie is healthy.    

Against Santa Clara, we saw Corey Kispert and the Zags go ice cold shooting.  Kispert was 2 for 12 from the field and 1 for 5 from deep, though he added 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks to his 9 points.  Joel Ayayi, who adds a brilliant element whenever he plays, was a tepid 3 for 7 from the field, and 0 for 2 from deep—adding 8 rebounds, 5 assists and a block to his 7 points.  Ryan Woolridge and Admon Gilder were the only guards who scored in double figures against SC, though both stayed below 50% shooting—and together could only knock down 1 3-pointer in 5 attempts.  Woolridge was able to come away with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals for a very decent night, while Gilder added 11 points and 6 rebounds.  The Zags finished just 3 of 16 from beyond the arc for an uncharacteristically poor 18.8% from deep.  In fact, Gonzaga didn’t make an attempt from deep in the whole second half of that game at Santa Clara, or in the 1st half of the following game against San Francisco—that’s a downright frigid cold spell. 

Luckily the big men were on point in both games and Gonzaga’s free-throw shooting wasn’t half bad either (72.7% against SC).  If you take a look at the offensive play-by-play feed for Gonzaga in the second half of the game against Santa Clara, there’s not much variation.  Hit the post is the major theme, or get it to him on the fast break.  It reads something like:  lay-up, lay-up, dunk, free-throw, free-throw, lay-up, lay-up, dunk, dunk, lay-up, free-throw, etc.  That strategy ended up working very well as the Zags pulled away with a 15-point victory 87-72.  No need to razzle-dazzle with the long ball, just lay it in, stuff it in the hoop or hit from the charity stripe—letting the big guys get a lion’s share of the grub, and the guards pick up some scraps.

Though the guards struggled through the second half of the SC game and the first half of the SF game, they more than redeemed themselves in the second half against the Dons.  While the Zags only had 5 attempts from beyond the arc on Saturday, the only one they missed came in the first half.  Both Kispert and Ayayi went a perfect 2 for 2 from deep for the game, helping the players lift themselves out of the hole they found themselves in at halftime.  Held scoreless in the first half, Kispert went 4 of 5 from the field shooting for the game, adding 3 rebounds and a steal to his 11 points (you don’t get on the Erving Award 10-man short list for nothing).  Ayayi, while only shooting 2 of 6 from the field, was just a rebound short of another double-double, adding 4 offensive rebounds and 5 defensive boards to his 12 points.  Gilder (3-3), Kispert (1-1) and Ayayi (6-6) were all perfect from the charity stripe to help boost the Zags free throw shooting numbers over 78% in the contest.  Gilder, master of the reverse lay-up and so dangerous everywhere on both ends the court, went 4 for 9 shooting from the field, had 5 rebounds and added a steal to go along with his 11 points.

Shooting 4 for 4 from beyond the arc in the second half may have been a huge boost for the Zags to pull themselves out of the hole they found themselves in, but it was getting the 3 the hard way that really won one of the most challenging contests so far for the Bulldogs.  Fouls on both sides dominated play throughout in this unusually long game and every starter on the Zags roster had 4 fouls by the end except for Ayayi who had 3.  Two Dons’ big men fouled out of the game and it was largely the ability of Gonzaga to get to the line that allowed them to prevail—especially because they often hit the basket on the way to the line as well as the additional free-throw.  Just 14 seconds into the game, off the opening tip, Petrusev caught a pass from Timme down low, drew a foul on the way up and sunk the lay in.  He is getting tougher and so much more willful down on the block lately.  Petrusev added another bucket and foul shortly thereafter in the 1st, as did Admon Gilder a bit further along toward the half.  Drew Timme added two and-1 conversions in the second half in a crucial stretch between 14 minutes and 9 minutes left that saw the lead change a number of times as the Dons battled to quell the Bulldogs’ surge.  

The last and-1 conversion came after Taavi Jurkatamm made two free throws at 1:59 left to put SF up 76-75.  Corey Kispert got the pass at the top of the arc and drove, muscling a bit of space to go up for the hoop and getting fouled hard, he managed to kiss in the lay-up off the glass for a triumphant score.  Kispert had 5 points in the last 2 minutes in San Francisco, including the fade-away dagger with 35 seconds left that put the red wax on the victory letter that Gilder and Timme stamped by hitting three out of 4 free throws in the waning seconds to notch the Zags final points and send the players off to a gutsy 83-79 victory. 
   
I have a few lingering difficulties to bring up.  I mentioned offensive rebounding in the last installment.  Rebounding was good against Santa Clara again on both ends, though shooting wasn’t stellar.  Shooting against San Francisco looked pretty good number wise.  The Zags were 27 for 50 from the field (54%), 4 for 5 from deep (80%) and stellar at the free throw line with 78.1% on 25 for 32 attempts (that’s 2 games of +70% FT shooting).  Overall the Bulldogs edged the Dons on the boards 38 to 32 in total rebounds, but on the offensive glass, SF was able to track down 12 offensive rebounds, while Gonzaga only came up with 7.  The Dons’ lower shooting percentages could account for some of those as they had more misses to try to track down the board for, but I think the Zags could improve in that category. 

The truly worrisome statistic in the game, and perhaps the biggest reason Gonzaga found themselves nearly notching another loss, was in the area of turnovers.  San Francisco limited themselves to a stellar 7 turnovers (anything under 10 in a game is quite good, I think).  Gonzaga doubled that number and-1 with 15—every starter having at lest 2 and 3 players adding 3 turnovers on the night.  Not so good there, especially in the first half. 

Whatever we can say here, positive or negative, Gonzaga showed some guts and resolve in these road wins in California without one of their most valuable players, and learned some great lessons about perseverance despite adversity along the way.  Luckily our team travels with some cushion, and Gonzaga fans made some noise and added some energy in San Francisco especially.  They saw Gonzaga rise to the challenge with essentially a 6-man roster for 70 of the 80 minutes of play.  Mark Few, talking after the game said:  “They had us reeling there early” and asked about how he felt about the game and the way his players responded, said:  “I’m proud of them.  We’re low on numbers, low on bodies, low on everything, and we had foul trouble.  So it was a very, very good win.”

Gonzaga has a heck of a schedule approaching.  Though LMU coming to Spokane on Thursday may not sound so intimidating (the Zags beat them 87-62 on their court in January), its back to California after that to face the only team we haven’t seen in WCC play yet, the always intimidating Saint Mary’s Gaels—in the absolutely hostile (even truculent) gym in Moraga, on Saturday the 8th on ESPN.  My guess, and everyone else’s that I’ve read so far, is to look for Tillie to play for sure in the game against the Gaels and more than likely not to play against the Lions in Spokane.  It doesn’t get much easier from there as the Zags take another plane south to face Pepperdine the following Saturday the 15th (we only had a 5 point victory against the Tigers in Spokane), then facing San Francisco again 5 days later in the Kennel before traveling to BYU in a much anticipated contest on the 22nd in Provo that will hopefully pit superstars Yoeli Childs and Killian Tillie against one another in a dramatic battle.  Exciting times ahead as Gonzaga does its best to keep both their record-setting conference win streak of 36 games, their home winning streak of 35 games, and their road winning streak of 16 games alive. 

My prediction for this week (though if you saw my prediction last week you’ll probable want to take this with a grain of salt) is that Gonzaga shows up strong at home against LMU and bests the Lions 95-65.  On the road against Saint Mary’s the Zags win by 11, 88-77.  Best wishes to all and GO ZAGS!!!                 

​~ Clark Karoses

This week I’m going to brag unapologetically.  In The Zag Wag 12—Buckets I said if Filip Petrusev plays in the game against Pacific, the Bulldogs will win by a score of 91-58.  The score last Saturday night:  92-59.  Not too shabby.  Better than me nearly predicting the score, however, was the Gonzaga Men’s Basketball team scoring that score—and defending Pacific well enough to keep them under 60 points.  It was an even balance of excellence on both ends of the court for the Zags Saturday.  You just cannot complain about a game where your team goes 33 for 58 shooting from the field (56.9%), shoots 9 of 18 from beyond the arc (50%) has only 7 turnovers (while forcing 15), gets 10 blocks, outrebounds, outhustles, outdefends and scores 92 on the #1 defensive team in the WCC.  There were a few issues that could use some shoring up for the now 21-1 (7-0 in WCC) Bulldogs, but problems were few and far between on a very fun night in the Kennel.  Not too shabby, indeed.

Jahlil Tripp led Pacific in points, rebounds, and assists for the game.  He put up 21 points on 8 of 15 shooting, had 5 rebounds and added 4 assists on the night before fouling out late in the game.  Tripp, who leads the Tigers in average points, rebounds and steals, is an impressive player in all respects and is relied on heavily to carry the team in many ways on both ends of the court.  While allowing a player to get 21 points doesn’t sound like successful defense, Gonzaga did a great job of keeping Tripp from getting too many decent looks at the hoop and forced him to turn the ball over 6 times.  Defensive pressure was particularly effective in the second half, where the elite level, 6’5” guard from Brooklyn scored only 6 points.

Killian Tillie drew the defensive assignment against Tripp to begin the game for the Zags and showed great versatility for a player his size guarding a quick wing.  Tillie handed Tripp-duty off at times to Corey Kispert and Admon Gilder, but it was the coordinated defensive effort of the whole team that kept Tripp and the rest of the Pacific Offense in check.  Besides holding another WCC team under 60 points, the Zags forced 15 turnovers, blocked 10 shots , had 9 steals, and held the Tigers to 35.5% shooting overall and 29.4% from deep.

Killian Tillie was an absolute monster in this game, and he is looking more and more menacing to WCC foes with each contest.  Like some sort of postmodern Godzilla, harnessing the electricity of the crowd in the Kennel, he was wreaking havoc wherever he stepped on Saturday and loving every minute of it.  He’s had 20 or more points in 4 of the 7 games Gonzaga has played in the WCC conference so far in January, including 22 points in both of the last 2.

The week of rest between the BYU game and the game against Pacific seems to have done the French forward very well indeed.  His legs may be getting near 100% again, his shooting stroke seems to have all its smooth grace, his defensive step and leap look quicker and higher than earlier in the season—and it all shown in his stats.  Unstoppable in the first half, Tillie was 7 for 8 shooting from the field and a perfect 3 for 3 from deep on his way to 17 points—2 of those coming with just over 2 minutes before halftime when Tillie drove through the middle of the key and slammed home a thunderous dunk to put the Zags up 43-28.  Overall, in his 29 minutes of play, Tillie went 9 of 11 from the field (82%), 4 for 5 from beyond the arc (80%), pulled down 8 rebounds, and added 2 steals to his 22 points.

Killian Tillie and Drew Timme were the MC’s at a two-hour block party on the Bulldog’s defensive end.  Tillie added 4 blocks to his already impressive stats.  Despite a slender night offensively, Timme one-uped Tillie and added 5 blocked shots to his 3 rebounds and 4 points.  The freshman from Texas is becoming an impressive, integral part of this team. 

Gonzaga’s guards got in on the defensive fun as well, as Kispert added a block and a steal to his stats line.  Pick-pockets Joel Ayayi and Admon Gilder had 2 and 3 steals respectively, and both had at least one break-away basket from the defensive to the offensive end of the court as a result of one of their steals.  After getting a hand in a Pacific passing lane, Gilder swiped the ball forward, drove to the hoop ahead of any defense and elevated for another dunk (like last week, but 2-handed).  Off a similar leap into the passing lane on defense, Ayayi poked the ball away and drove to the other end ahead of everyone for a more subdued lay-in.  As the Bulldogs’ defense and anticipation improves, these break-aways seem to be getting more and more common.

Probably the best thing the Zags fans, players and coaching staff saw on Saturday night was Filip Petrusev taking the court despite having done down a week before in the game against BYU with a painful ankle sprain.   Again, the week between games was just what the doctor ordered for both the team and the Serbian forward who leads Gonzaga in points, rebounds and blocks per game (16.1, 7.6, 1.1).  He logged 20 minutes on Saturday, including a phenomenal 12-point first half that saw him scoring many of the baskets for the team in the opening minutes of play.  The ankle didn’t seem a bother Petrusev as he gathered 15 points and showed some relentless strength down low on both ends of the court.

Corey Kispert topped Petrusev’s point total by 1, getting 16 and 5 rebounds on the night.  He was outstanding as always, utilizing both his right and left hands in a very ambidextrous display of shooting skill off drives to the basket.  He had one 3 his usual way shooting from deep, but added a 3-point play “the hard way” after gathering one of his 3 offensive rebounds and going up strong for the bucket and the foul in the middle of 3 Pacific defenders.  Ayayi and Gilder continued their high-efficiency work on the offensive end as well, with Ayayi shooting 4 of 6 from the field, gathering 3 rebounds and adding 4 assists to his 10 points.  Gilder went 3 of 6 from the field and added 2 assists and 5 rebounds to his 10 points.  Even in these lean times roster-wise for Gonzaga, what a gift it is to have guys like Gilder and Timme off the bench. 

Ryan Woolridge was another of six Bulldogs (all the starters plus Gilder) to finish in double figures for Gonzaga.  He had another outstanding performance at point guard, shooting 4 for 9 from the field, 3 for 7 from deep, and added 2 rebounds and 3 assists to his 11 points.  The highlight of the night for me (though Tillie’s dunk was awesome) came just a minute into the 2nd half when Woolridge sent the ball on a spider thread, through two defenders collapsing on the passing lane, toward a streaking Petrusev.  Woolridge sent it perfectly into Petrusev’s hands, setting up a sweet, two-handed flush for the Serbian.

It’s hard to find fault in a night like the one Gonzaga had on Saturday, but I’m gonna try.  The Bulldogs have been getting bested on the offensive glass by a few teams lately, including Santa Clara (16 to 14) and Pacific (16 to 11).  Against BYU the previous Saturday, the Zags nearly eliminated the Cougars’ ability to get a put-back or a second shot attempt by allowing BYU only 1 offensive board, while gathering 9 on their own offensive end.  That is an outstanding performance by Gonzaga’s defense at blocking out offensive players and crashing the glass on their own end!  Of course, allowing 1 as opposed to the 16 in the other contests is a big difference. 

One thing to keep in mind that should temper any criticism of the offensive rebounding stats for Gonzaga is that in both of the recent games where Gonzaga was beaten on the offensive glass stats, the Bulldogs shot very well as a team.  Against Santa Clara the Zags scored 104 points on 51.5% shooting.  Against Pacific, that percentage was a bit higher at 56.9%.  A team shooting that well doesn’t get that many opportunities to rebound the ball off a miss on their own end, while a team shooting a low percentage (Santa Clara shot 30.4% and Pacific shot 35.5%) has a lot more misses that could lead to potential offensive boards—and sometimes, even if the defense blocks out well, the ball just happens to go in the right/wrong direction off the rim.  So that could explain a bit of why Gonzaga was beaten in that area, though 16 is still a fairly high number.  The overall rebounding numbers against the Tigers, though in favor of the Zags, were close at 37 to 35.  Perhaps offensive rebounding and rebounding in general could be something to work on.

The same old complaint is going to reemerge here—and maybe you’re getting as tired of hearing it as I am of bringing it up.  After enjoying two great performances from the free-throw line at home against Santa Clara and BYU, offering hope that free-throw shooting percentages in future games could continue to be at or above 75%, Gonzaga had a poor performance last Saturday in a game that saw a lot of Zags get to the free-throw line.  The Bulldogs were 17 of 29 for another worrisome 58.6% from the free-throw line.  Compare that to the Zags best effort this season against Santa Clara where the team shot 87.5% on a 28 of 32 effort.  Leaving those 5-10 points off the Gonzaga end of the scoreboard, though it wasn’t problematic last Saturday, could be catastrophic in weeks to come.
Kispert continues to be very reliable from “the charity stripe” (for him that nickname applies).  He had another perfect effort last Saturday, going 7 for 7.  Tillie didn’t get a chance to shoot any, but his fellow MC in the block party, Timme, went a cringe-worthy 0 for 4 shooting free throws.  Petrusev gets a waive on his 3 for 9 effort because I could definitely see a stiff/sore ankle giving a player troubles at the line since so much of the flat-footed free throw shot comes up from the ankles.  Poor free-throw shooting was perhaps the only serious blemish on an otherwise near-perfect night, and Gonzaga will no doubt see improvement in that area in weeks to come. 

Concerning the week to come:  Mark Few continues to give a vast majority of minutes to a slim rotation of the 7 players we’ve mentioned (lets call them the Fab 7).  He has been giving a few more minutes to two players further down the bench who may have the potential to help this team in more problematic contests in the future.  I’m thinking in particular of the two Freshman who hail from a similar region of the earth:  Martynas Arlauskas (the 6’6” and very-athletic Lithuanian freshman wing) and Pavel Zakharov (the 6’11” freshman forward from St. Petersburg, Russia).  Both have seen limited minutes this year, most coming in situations where the game is well beyond decided in the Zags favor.  It’s going to become increasingly important to have extra guys further down the bench who can fill in should injury rear its ugly head again or foul trouble take one or more of the Fab 7 out of the game—especially against any bigger, stronger teams the Zags might face in March.  It would be great, I think, to see more of both freshman in the coming games just to get them better worked into the speed of play, though I’m going to defer any decision to the excellent judgement of my vote for coach of the year, Mark Few.

The option of giving minutes to anyone besides the Fab 7 recently has come only once a game is either firmly in control, or is at least leaning so well in the Bulldogs favor that the coaching staff can afford to play around a bit.  And Mark Few seems to like things to be very firmly in control before he plays around.  This was the case especially in two WCC games recently—the game against Santa Clara, where the Bulldogs prevailed 104-54, and the game at San Diego,, where the Zags won 94-50.  In those two games both freshman saw about 8 minutes of action in each game.  Against Pacific, as the score hovered around 25-30 points in the Zags favor, Arlauskas and Zakharov saw 6 and 4 minutes respectively. 

Neither player has been explosive by any means (neither scored more than 4 in any of the 3 games mentioned), but having options beyond the 7, I think, is going to bode well for Gonzaga.  Considering the fact that the only teams Gonzaga hasn’t played in the WCC so far are San Francisco and Saint Mary’s, and that some of the games have been lopsided in the Zags favor, more opportunities could arise for these two very capable and talented freshman to progress and contribute as Gonzaga begins its run back through some of the WCC teams it has already faced. 

The team leaves Spokane this week for 2 road games in what could prove to be a very hostile California.  The first game will be against Santa Clara on Thursday night.  We faced the Broncos already in Spokane recently for a 104-54 win, and even on the road I think the Zags will take care of business in good order there.  Look for Arlauskas and Zakharov to get minutes after the Fab 7 reassert dominance quickly.  I say the Zags will not only lock down on defense and hold the Broncos under 50, but will also break the century mark again 101-49.

On Saturday night, San Francisco presents, perhaps, one of the more formidable challenges in the WCC.  Both games against the Dons were difficult last year (especially the one in SF)—and San Francisco has shown some serious star power of late.  Saint Mary’s has been SFU’s nemesis this season, and the Gaels have beat SFU twice in low scoring games where neither team reached 70 points.  San Francisco had a wonderful win on the same night the Zags played Pacific, beating BYU 83-82 (despite TJ Haws’ 20 points and Yoeli Childs’ 19 for BYU)—coming from 7 down at halftime to flip the script and best the Cougars.  Khalil Shabazz (coolest name in the WCC?) had 32 points in the contest and Jamaree Bouyea (coolest name in the WCC?) had 23.  Obviously they have some guys who can put up numbers against good competition.  I think San Francisco is going to give Gonzaga one of its tougher challenges on Saturday, keeping the Gonzaga lead within single digits for the first 10 or 15 minutes.  By half, though, Gonzaga is going to stretch the lead and begin to pull away.  The Bulldogs will gather more strength and wisdom from the coaching staff at halftime and prevail big in a hostile environment, 97-76.
​
Rest in Peace Kobe Bryant, along with your daughter and all the others who perished in the tragic helicopter accident last weekend.  If you haven’t already, watch or re-watch the short film that won him an Oscar some years back called, “Dear Basketball.”  It offers some spiritual solace in troubled times, I think, and is beautiful in all respects—inspiring us, as Kobe always did, to put our hearts and hard work into whatever our spirit reaches toward.  
 
~ Clark Karoses         

I hate to brag, but I did fairly well at predicting the outcome of the Gonzaga Men’s Basketball game against BYU last Saturday night.  In the Zag Wag’s last installment, I said if BYU’s Yoeli Childs wasn’t playing, Gonzaga would win by a score of 95-71.  Childs didn’t play and the outcome was 92-69.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself. . . but before I go patting myself on the back too enthusiastically, I should mention that I predicted last Thursday night’s game against Santa Clara as well.  I ventured 88-77 in favor of the Zags.  The Bulldogs went ahead and made a joke of my assumed 11-point margin, prevailing by 50 points in the contest:  104-54.  Though I wasn’t in the ballpark there, I’m the last to complain about a 50 point win—nor about Gonzaga improving their record to 6 and 0 in conference play, 20 and 1 on the season and breaking the WCC record for consecutive regular season wins with 33.

When I see point totals like 104 and 92 in college basketball, defense usually isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.  The Zags were definitely getting buckets last week, but they’ve been putting hard work in on both ends of the court lately.  Consider:  Gonzaga had 22 steals last week—11 in each game.  Guards Ryan Woolridge, Admon Gilder and Joel Ayayi had 3 steals each in the game against Santa Clara—a game that saw the Bulldogs block 7 shots as well—Killian Tillie and Drew Timme getting 2 blocks each.  Ayayi had another 4 steals against BYU as well.

Gonzaga outrebounded both opponents by a combined total of 90 to 51.  Though most rebounds happen on the defensive end, it was the offensive rebounding numbers that showed improvement from the first game to the next.  One of the few statistics in which Santa Clara came out in front of Gonzaga was on the offensive glass, where the Broncos edged out the Bulldogs 16-14.  Perhaps in an effort to shore up one of the areas of the game where they had trouble against Santa Clara, Gonzaga pulled down 9 offensive rebounds on Saturday, but allowed BYU only one offensive rebound on the Zags’ defensive end.

Those numbers tell you something, but good defense isn’t always the easiest thing to quantify.  My high school coach used to say (repeatedly):  “The best play you can make in basketball is to take a charge, and they don’t even keep track of those.”  He was also the football coach, so I think the thing he really liked about that defensive highlight was the collision that taking a charge involves—since the defensive player must often accept a blow delivered with the full force and inertia of the offensive player’s body without flinching in the least (as they’re being knocked down).  The Zags had at least one of those Saturday when Drew Timme stood up straight just outside the restrictive circle under the basket and unflinchingly took the brunt of a driving Cougar attempting to get a lay-up—going down to the floor, forcing a turnover, negating the offensive possession for BYU, and giving the ball back to the Zags.

Perhaps an even better play in basketball (because it involves the coordinated effort of all 5 defensive players) is to get a shot-clock violation.  Shot-clock violations only happen when the defensive pressure is so intense and consistent that the other team is either unwilling to take a poor shot in the time allotted to do so, or are just plain unable to get a shot that hits the rim off in time.  Again, the Zags had at least one of those on Thursday against Santa Clara early on in the game, adding inspiration to a defensive effort throughout the half that limited the Broncos to just 22 points. 

More often than steals, blocks, shot-clock violations and charges taken though, defensive effort is simply working your tail off to stop the opponent from doing what they so desperately want to do (score), and being very aware of what as many of the 9 other players on the court are doing.  It’s the coordinated cutting off of the opposition’s efforts at every impasse.  Last week you saw Gonzaga players in synch and absolutely flying around at times in both contests.  And it ended up creating numerous fast break and transition opportunities on the offensive end—including a high-flying fast break dunk against BYU by Admon Gilder (off a steal by Joel Ayayi), and a fast break lay-in by Joel Ayayi against SCU (off a steal by Admon Gilder).

In the end, the best quantifier of the defensive effort for a team—definitely the most important one—is the final score.   And limiting Santa Clara to just 54 points on Thursday, and BYU to 69 on Saturday was a great achievement.  BYU had scored more than 90 in both of its previous games, and 84 against Saint Mary’s before that.  Santa Clara scored 84 in a win against Pacific on the same Saturday the Zags beat BYU—and any time you hold a team under 60 in Division 1 basketball, it was doubtless a great effort.  Some Cougars fans are going to argue that Yoeli Childs’s absence in the game would have changed the outcome a good deal—especially in terms of offensive production.  There’s no doubt about that—but it doesn’t take away, I think, from the defensive achievement.  We look forward to the game on February 22nd in Provo that sees BYU at their full strength and in their own building.  Childs, with teammates TJ Haws (who had 17 points against the Zags and showed off some very nifty passing skills), and Jake Toolson (who came away with 16 points), will be a challenge that can help this defense grow even more.

Gonzaga continues to impress on both ends even though there isn’t much rest being had for any of the Bulldog players.  What we’ve seen develop through these first 21 games for Gonzaga is a very tight rotation.  Since it was announced earlier last week that Anton Watson would be out for the season as a result of continuing shoulder problems and scheduled surgery, Mark Few is giving a vast majority of minutes to just 7 players.  A 7-player rotation is great in terms of developing a cohesive group on both ends of the court.  It’s troublesome, though, when any of that 7 gets into foul trouble—and especially troublesome when any injury problems make that into a rotation of just 6.  Five minutes into the second half against BYU, with the Zags up by a slim 7 points, that very situation came about when Filip Petrusev, the high scorer on the team and a key piece of the Gonzaga offense down low, rolled his ankle and went down in excruciating pain.  Luckily there wasn’t much foul trouble at the time.  The very skilled and able-bodied Drew Timme filled in, and Corey Kispert logged some minutes in the roll of forward instead of shooting guard without missing a beat in his offensive production for the night—and the Bulldogs ended up extending their lead rather than suffering as a result.

Killian Tillie, who seems to be almost fully mended from his own early-season knee surgery, ended up leading all Zags in scoring and rebounding with his double-double against BYU—gathering 22 points and 10 rebounds and shooting 7 for 13 from the field.  Kispert had even better shooting percentages against the Cougars, going 7 of 12 from the field and 4 of 7 from beyond the arc to gather 19 points.  Against Santa Clara it was two other starters and a 6th man off the bench leading the offensive production.  Petrusev earned 18 points on Thursday night and added 7 rebounds.  Coming off the bench, Admon Gilder had the same 18 points on a 4 of 6 effort from the field, 2 of 4 from deep and a perfect 8 of 8 (!) from the free throw line.

It was Joel Ayayi who led the Bulldogs in scoring against the Broncos, and filled up the stat sheet in both of last week’s contests.  Against the Broncos, he shot 8 of 13 from the field, 2 of 5 from beyond the arc, and added 6 rebounds and 3 steals to his 19 points.  He did something similar stat-wise against BYU with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.  While Drew Timme didn’t earn his more and more common double-double on the evening against BYU, he went a perfect 3 of 3 from the field for 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.  Against the Broncos he added 15 points and 11 rebounds to his 2 blocks.  What gems these young Gonzaga players are becoming!

One very welcome change we saw last week was both opponents shooting a good deal worse from the free-throw line than the Bulldogs, who were surprisingly good—even stellar.  Against SCU, GU had, I believe, their best mark yet this season with an 87.5% mark on a 28 for 32 attempts effort, highlighted by perfection from Kispert (5 for 5) and Gilder (8 for 8) and a respectable 6 for 8 from Petrusev.  Against BYU the Zags had a slightly less impressive 75% mark on a 19 for 25 effort.  It’s great to see that statistic moving in the right direction for the Bulldogs after a somewhat worrisome effort from the charity stripe throughout the season so far that saw games with Gonzaga shooting below 60 and even 50%.  Last week bumped the season’s free throw percentage up a bit to 67.6%, a number we all hope continues to rise as the players strokes from the line are looking smoother and more relaxed.  Both Santa Clara and BYU suffered woes last week in this area, going for 47.4% on Thursday and 50% on Saturday.  Taking free throws in the very intimidating and sometimes downright hostile McCarthy Athletic Center in Spokane can’t be easy.                

After last week’s convincing performances, it may seem wrong to many Gonzaga fans that the team was bumped out of the top slot in the AP Top 25 by Baylor in a very close vote.  Baylor had 33 1st place votes and 1591 total points compared to 31 first place votes for Gonzaga and 1588 points.  Baylor’s victories over Iowa State and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 were more impressive in the panels’ eyes than Gonzaga’s blowout wins in the WCC.  It’s a bummer that you can win by 50 and nearly 25 and still slip a spot in the rankings for sure, but it’s a voting matter that no one should attach a great deal of importance to.  There’s always the possibility that the Zags will regain the top slot if Baylor slips up against West Virginia or any of their other conference foes.

Pacific in next on Gonzaga’s slate in the WCC on Saturday night.  Besides Jahlil Trip, who is averaging 15.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per contest, Pacific is what Steve Cameron of The Spokane Review calls a “hoops by committee” team “as no less than 12 players are averaging at least 14.4 minutes per game.”  In other words, The Tigers do exactly the opposite of the Zags’ slim rotation.  Pacific has quite a fat rotation of players.  Perhaps their best victory of late was a quadruple overtime (I’d never even heard of a quadruple overtime) thriller against Saint Mary’s in which they prevailed 107-99.  Jahlil Trip gathered 39 points and 11 rebounds in that game.  The Tigers just lost on Thursday to BYU, 74-60—in a game that saw Yoeli Childs return to action.  He and teammate Jake Toolson did a majority of the scoring for BYU, combining for 54 points.  I have no doubt everyone on Gonzaga is going to be pumped up for another home contest on Saturday—and all seriousness is going to be brought to facing these Tigers.  Hopefully Filip Petrusev will be healed up enough to join the starters.  If not, this might be closer than the games last week.  I’m gonna say Gonzaga wins 83-61 if Petrusev doesn’t play.  If he does play, I say the Zags breaks 90 again 91-58.  Have a great weekend, and GO ZAGS!

​~ Clark Karoses

After a somewhat shaky first week of WCC play, with stretches that saw the Bulldogs playing catch-up against Portland and Pepperdine, the #1-ranked Gonzaga Men’s Basketball team took a trip to California and had a much less anxious showing this last week on Thursday evening against San Diego and Saturday afternoon against Loyola Marymount.  Though the margins of victory much higher than the ones against Portland and Pepperdine, the overall result was the same as the week before.  The Zags notched two more wins to make them 4 and 0 in conference play so far, and 18 and 1 overall this season.

Last week’s games against the San Diego Torreros and the LMU Lions weren’t without some difficulties—including continued and worrisome shoulder trouble for freshman Anton Watson as well as a frigid spell from deep early on against Loyola that saw Admon Gilder as the only Zag able to connect twice from beyond the arc in the whole first half of play.  Little else was going wrong though, and Gonzaga walked off the court at half in both contests with a comfortable lead:  38-22 against LMU and a whopping 53-16 against San Diego.  Finshing with scores of 87-62 and 94-50 respectively, the Zags left little doubt that their #1 ranking is well-deserved. 

Debate about that #1 ranking in college basketball, however, has been abundant in the last few days since Baylor (who beat #3 Kansas in Kansas 67-55 on Saturday and disposed of #22 Texas Tech 57-52 earlier last week) emerged as the definitive #2, leapfrogging the now woe-stricken Duke (who just lost away at Clemson).  Don’t get me wrong.  I know these numbers don’t matter, but I think there is good and bad about Gonzaga having the top ranking.  On the one hand the #1 could inspire complacency, egotism, lack of effort and the underestimating of opponents in players because they’ve been recognized as superior.  More likely, though, the Zags could use the goal of keeping that #1 ranking as inspiration for further excellence, improvement, attention to detail and hard work.  The vote in the two significant polls was very close earlier this week.  The Coaches Poll had Gonzaga ahead of Baylor, 775 points to 764 points—Gonzaga with 16 first place votes and Baylor with 10.  The AP poll had Baylor getting one more first place vote than Gonzaga 31-30, but Gonzaga edging them in the total point margin 1574 to 1567.
 
Baylor has a good argument for being #1, and perhaps they deserve it.  The only piece of evidence I might use to refute that is that Gonzaga beat the only team to beat Baylor this season, Washington.  Of course, the Zags lost to Michigan by a much larger margin than Baylor has lost.  It’s a dilemma, and I’m glad it’s up to others to decide who gets what number. The only real solution if each of the top teams continues to win convincingly, will be to see them play to settle the matter—but that won’t happen, if it ever does, until March.  I was lucky enough to see that Gonzaga/ Baylor game happen last year in March at the Vivint Center in Salt Lake City, and Baylor’s returning players and fans are sure to remember Gonzaga—especially the name Clarke, as in Brandon Clarke, who played two feet above everyone the whole night and finished with 36 points and 5 blocks.  I digress—back to the games last week in California. . .  

Gonzaga absolutely owned the glass in both contests.  The Bulldogs had a dominant 47 total rebounds to San Diego’s 27, and 41 to LMU’s 23.  And all the usual suspects wreaked their usual scoring havoc on the opposing defenses.  Filip Petrusev scored 16 against LMU (half of those at the free throw line on 8 of 11 attempts) and added 7 rebounds as well. He had 17 points against San Diego on 7 of 10 shooting from the field, along with 5 boards.  With consistent performances like and exceeding these in almost every outing this season, Gonzaga’s vastly improved big-man from Serbia has earned a well-deserved slot on the JR Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list.

Corey Kispert picked only his best opportunities on the road trip and hit roughly half of his shot attempts in both games, gathering 10 points against San Diego on 3 of 6 shooting from the field and 2 of 4 from beyond the arc.  Against LMU he found a bit more fire, going 6 of 10 from the field, 2 of 4 from deep and finishing with 15 points.
The team points leader in both of the Bulldogs first two WCC games (adding 22 against Portland and 20 against Pepperdine), Killian Tillie, had a much more subdued scoring outing this last week.  The French, sharpshooting forward had 8 points against LMU and 6 in the game against San Diego where he led the team with 10 rebounds.  His best games always seem to come when the pressure is on and/or competition is fierce and I think we’ll see him return to prime form in the two very challenging upcoming games this week.

On Saturday afternoon at LMU, Gonzaga had a freshman not only lead the team in rebounds, but also earn the first double-double in his young, promising career.  It’s time to talk about Timme!  The freshman native of Texas, Drew Timme, has been and is going to continue be a force and a key component for the team this season—especially considering Anton Watson’s shoulder troubles.  As the likely heir-apparent to a starting slot on the low block next season (since both Tillie and Petrusev will almost certainly find places to play professionally), he has found his way into some significant minutes through tenacious play on both ends of the court as well as a super-slick set of post moves—including an excellent and accurate jump-hook.  The passion he plays with has earned him a fair number of quick and, perhaps, ill-advised fouls in many contests so far.  That passion and fight have also resulted in some very efficient, high-percentage scoring down low as Timme is excellent at crashing the glass—especially at finding offensive rebounds and put-backs whenever Zag shooters miss.

In his 20 minutes against LMU, Timme went 4 of 5 from the field, gathering 10 points, 11 rebounds (3 of them offensive), and 2 blocks.  Against San Diego he showed off some passing skill as well, with 4 assists in 19 minutes of play along with 8 points and 7 rebounds (4 of them offensive).  Timme, Petrusev and Tillie all pass extremely well for forwards, often assisting from down low or at the high post—getting the ball to the other forward across the block, to a guard streaking to the basket, or to a shooter setting up for a good look from in or outside the arc—a fact that will continue to bode well for the team for the remainder of the season should any foe try to double down.  While Timme doesn’t have the same green light to shoot from deep that Tillie does, or quite the polished finesse Petrusev has learned with a couple of years in the program, Timme is an absolute gem to have off the bench to substitute for either or the starters down low.  He seems to be getting a lot of attention and specific instruction from Coach Few each time he comes off the floor.  He is, without a doubt, bound to improve at an exponential rate under the tutelage of Gonzaga’s coaching staff and the WCC’s school of hard knocks.

Another interesting player success story this season comes from Tillie’s fellow Frenchman on the team, Joel Ayayi.  Last year Ayayi’s minutes and contribution to the team were minimal, and I believe everybody except perhaps Ayayi himself, some members of the team and the coaching staff, and those who paid attention to his outstanding play for the French team in the 2019 U-19 international tournament, have been surprised by his stellar rise this season into a multi-talented guard who fills up statistics sheets in every category. 

Admon Gilder, the graduate transfer from Texas A&M had the starting spot over Ayayi for many of the early games this season.  After being hobbled and suffering some down-time due to knee trouble, Gilder bowed out to Ayayi as starter.  Though he’s shown some minor inconsistency, Ayayi has flourished in the starting role.  He showed why he earned the starting roll on Thursday night against San Diego by leading all scorers with 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting, going 3 of 5 from beyond the arc and a perfect 3 of 3 at the charity stripe—adding 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.  It’s not just that so many announcers get endless amusement out of loudly exclaiming his last name—the kid can straight-up play basketball.  But to that point about inconsistency:  against LMU Ayayi, accruing too many early fouls, struggled to earn 5 points and went 0 for 5 from deep.  Days like that are already few and far between and will very likely become fewer and farther.   

Fortunately Admon Gilder showed consistency in both contests off the bench and performed particularly well in the LMU game where Ayayi struggled, going 4 of 8 from the field and 2 of 4 from deep for 12 points.  In fewer minutes he had the same 12 points against San Diego, getting a good helping of those at the foul line where he went 5 of 6.  Though Gilder might be the better defender and the smarter veteran player, Ayayi continues to both impress and improve on both ends of the court and has the potential to add the kind of go-to, confident element that a guy like Zach Norvell Jr. brought to the team in years past.

Along with his role as shooting guard, Ayayi is also the best substitute for the other grad transfer from North Texas University, point guard Ryan Woolridge.  As one of the best defenders on the team, however, Woolridge rarely sees any time on the bench—and he is proving to be a more and more dangerous weapon on the offensive end as well.  Though he has had a few days on top of the scoring board for the team (especially in games against teams from Texas) he used these last two games to do a little bit of everything well by distributing the ball with precision, rebounding, scoring and locking down on defense.  Against LMU he had 13 points on 5 for 8 shooting, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.  On 4 for 9 shooting against San Diego, he earned 8 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.  He gets well-deserved praise nearly every outing, and Woolridge has made the transition for the Zags from Josh Perkins at point last season (the all-time assists record holder for the team) to the graduate transfer from North Texas at point this season, a very painless one.

In summary, things went well last week for Gonzaga, have been going well for some time, and I expect nothing but the same excellence in all weeks to come as this team becomes more cohesive with each contest.  After its road trip to California last week, Gonzaga will be enjoying a stretch of games at home that should test this team to the core as they proceed deeper into the minefield the WCC seems present these days. 

Gonzaga is the only team in the conference that has managed to go undefeated, even at this early juncture.  Every other team has suffered at least one loss, and Gonzaga’s long-time rival and nemesis, the Saint Mary’s Gaels—who took the WCC Tournament Championship from the heavily favored Zags in Las Vegas last year—have already suffered 2 defeats in conference play and will have to climb back into good standing.

The next two opponents coming to Spokane may be the best two they’ll face before March.  The Zags are at home against Santa Clara on Thursday (at 8 pm Pacific on ESPN2), a team with a very impressive 15-3 record on the season who just beat Saint Mary’s by a point last Saturday.  After that they get BYU on Saturday.  Sitting at 13-5 on the season, their non-conference losses have come at the hands of some of the better teams in the country, including Kansas and San Diego State.  They were narrowly defeated by Saint Mary’s in conference play and will no doubt present a significant challenge considering that the very talented, veteran players they return to the court are both accustom to Gonzaga’s style of play and are looking for revenge after some significant pummelings in the last couple of years delved out by the paws of the Bulldogs.

The WCC seems to be as competitive this season as I’ve every seen.  Every team has a shot at winning any given night, and there are 4 or 5 teams that are going to threaten to add to Gonzaga’s loss column.  These next two teams the Zags play are both significant threats, along with Pacific who comes to town the following Saturday the 25th.  You can’t build greater strength without resistance and I think the WCC play is going to be some heavy lifting this year. 

My predictions this week:  Gonzaga is going to add some order to the chaos in the conference by establishing dominance and continuing its winning ways.  The McCarthy Athletic Center and the hometown crowd are going to give Gonzaga the extra boost that propels them into even more significant victories.  Santa Clara will suffer a respectable loss in Spokane, falling by a score of 88-77 on Thursday night.  BYU will lose just a bit more convincingly, 95-80 if Childs is playing in decent form and 95-71 if he’s still suffering a good deal from the recent injury to his hand.  Best wishes, Happy New Year, and GO ZAGS!!!

​~ Clark Karoses            

Since the New Year, Gonzaga Men’s Basketball has played two WCC conference games, one away against Portland on January 2nd, and another at home against Pepperdine.  Though the Zags were heavy favorites in both, neither game proved to be smooth sailing for the Bulldogs.  Each game proved to be a significant challenge, testing the meddle and composure of the team that had been granted the title of #1 for Christmas.  The challenge presented in every game of conference play is a trend that will likely continue throughout play and into March as every team with a shot at beating #1 and proving they deserve a leg up in the ranking gives an extra-special effort against the Zags.  It is facing up to that challenge and maintaining that #1 next to their name on the scoreboard that should carry this team closer to perfection and put them in an even better spot come tournament time.

Gonzaga’s WCC opener away at Portland quickly had me thinking the jinx on anyone who has been honored with the #1 spot in the polls (5 previous teams ranked #1 this season have lost quickly after gaining the throne in the polls including Michigan State, Kentucky, Duke, Louisville and Kansas) was more like a legitimate curse.  The Portland Pilots, despite being considerable underdogs in the contest, came out strong in the first half on Thursday night and left Gonzaga more than a little bit flabbergasted—concerning both how to guard a team that seemed to be throwing everything they put up into the basket (Portland was 6 of 8 from beyond the arc in the first half and finished the game at a scorching 61.5% from long range) as well as how to solve the seeming lid over their own basket (Corey Kispert was the only player on the team to hit 2 3-pointers in the first half though Gonzaga took 10 attempts).  After a frustrating first half of play, the #1 Bulldogs went to the locker room shaking their heads and down by 7 points, 42-35.

I’m not sure what Mark Few and the rest of the coaching staff said at halftime, but it sure inspired some spirited defense that turned into some much better offense in the second half.  Killian Tillie, in particular, caught fire.  With 3 misses from beyond the arc and only 4 points in the 1st, he dialed in the long-ball and did a bit of everything well in the second—including making steals, one of which he threw down on an alley-oop dunk served up nicely by Ryan Woolridge.  Tillie would emerge as leading scorer for the night with 22 points, followed closely by Corey Kispert with 18.   

Tillie’s dunk helped light the fire under the whole Zags team, and they utilized a 16-0 run early in the second half to not only erase the 7-point deficit from halftime, but to go up as much as 18.  While an 85-72 victory against anybody on the road is nothing to shake a stick at, Mark Few’s comment after the previous game against Deroit Mercy on Dec. 30th applies well to both conference opening games that followed:  “We were a little choppy tonight, “ he said after the 93-72 win.  “We’ve got to be better than we were tonight.”  Few also foreshadowed what would come in these initial conference contests, recognizing that the #1 spot Gonzaga had gained would motivate opponents to make extra-special efforts and present a serious challenge.  “We’ve got to embrace this challenge,” the Gonzaga coach remarked.  “You get all kinds of crazy efforts out of the people you are playing against.”

Two such efforts stood out recently.  The first by the truly phenomenal Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy who is averaging over 25 points a game.  He dropped 31 on the Zags in the loss on the 30th.  Pepperdine’s Colbey Ross, another outstanding talent, had a double-double against Gonzaga with 24 points and 10 assists.  The Gonzaga player who drew the hefty defensive assignment against both, Ryan Woolridge, stepped up well to the challenge even if the point total each player finished with isn’t indicative of excellent defense.  Both were held to sub 50 % shooting in their respective contests, Davis on an 11 for 23 effort and Ross with 9 for 21.  And the 10 assists Ross dished out were ultimately negated by 10 turnovers that can largely be attributed to defensive pressure from Woolridge and the Zags. 

Prior to Saturday night against Pepperdine, Woolridge hadn’t just been good on the defensive end—against both Detroit Mercy and Portland he showed off his smart, high-percentage offensive production as well.  In the two games combined, Woolridge shot a bonkers 78% from beyond the arc and 81% from the field on 13 for 16 shooting overall and 7 for 9 from deep—adding steals, rebounds and assists that bolstered team play all around and led the Zags to victories in both contests.  Too-often, perhaps, point-minded fans mistake a large point total for an excellent game when they should be giving praise to those playing tough, smart, high-percentage basketball instead.
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As wonderful as those two games were for Woolridge, the game against Pepperdine was a different story.  Woolridge didn’t score at all—not a point, on 0 for 3 shooting and 0 for 2 from deep, finishing with 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 rebound.  Much of the result may have had to do with the way Pepperdine was playing defense.  The Waves “guarded the fence” very well, pressuring shooters at and beyond the 3-point line, and forced Gonzaga to work hard for almost every point inside.   It may be that the better scoring opportunities weren’t there for him and he chose to facilitate everyone else’s scoring instead of his own—or maybe he was laser-focused on his defensive assignment against Ross.  Whatever the cause, or the excuse, it’s a bit confounding after such heavy production in the two games prior. 

But Woolridge’s statistics overall this season are quite mysterious.  Consider the fact that his 3-point field goal percentage is a few tenths higher than his field goal percentage at 53.8% and 53.2%.  That seems a little odd, but maybe not unwelcome by any means—he’s hitting more 3’s than he misses and nobody is going to complain about that.  The very problematic statistic is his free throw percentage which is right in the same range.  A point guard, especially a point guard who drives to the hoop as much as Woolridge does, has a lot of potential to go to the free throw line often.  A low free-throw percentage for that position is rarely even heard of.  Woolridge’s free throw percentage is (brace for it) 54.5%.  That’s one he’s got to bump up.  Contrast that with Pepperdine’s Colby Ross whose 3-point percentage looks low comparatively at 33.3% (he shoots a lot more than Woolridge), but shoots free throws at 91.3%.  Now that’s just phenomenal for any player, but you get my gist. 

Don’t get me wrong, Ryan Woolridge is a gift to this team and he has absolutely stepped up in so many areas to continue to get this team its wins.  Like the team as a whole, though, he needs to bump up that area of his game or Gonzaga is going to run into some serious problems quickly.  In many of the games so far, free throw shooting has been beyond problematic.  Consider the last 6 games against Arizona, North Carolina, EWU, Detroit Mercy, Portland and Pepperdine.  As a team, Gonzaga shot 56.7%, 68.2%. 75%. 70.8%, 47.8%, and 66.7%.  My guess is that among most coaching staff in Division 1 Men’s Basketball, 70 or 75% free throw shooting in a game would be considered around average, anything below 70% would be considered not so good to poor and get players some extra wind sprints in practice—and anything below 60% would make many a coach lose some hair.  Sitting at around 65% for the season overall, it’s quite amazing the Zags have managed to win all the games they have.  Many games down the road are going to tip toward or away from the Zags depending on their ability to make free throws and that has got to get better.

Whatever difficulties Gonzaga is having, the team is facing up to challenges it’s been presented with and come away with all but a single win this year.  Against Pepperdine’s Herculean effort on the defensive end, and despite it’s own sometimes sloppy play (the two combined resulting in 17 turnovers) Gonzaga mustered some composure late and came out on top.  An absolute steady source of greatness, Filip Petrusev got himself another double-double with 16 hard-earned points and 10 rebounds.  Corey Kispert’s 10 points and 7 rebounds on top of that, helped Gonzaga outrebound the Waves 39 to 30 on Saturday night.  Tillie added 4 rebounds and the 3 of bigger starters—Tillie, Petrusev and Kispert—added 4 assists and a block each. 

Tillie’s block may have been the most important, coming against Pepperdine’s Colbey Ross, who pulled up (with seconds left on the clock and the score 73-70 in the Zags favor) to shoot a 3-pointer that could have tied the game had it not been swatted.  Killian Tillie ended up with exactly 20 on the night and for two games straight was at or above that point total.  Admon Gilder and Joel Ayayi added excellence at key moments as well, hitting from deep at crucial moments and putting in 11 and 12 points respectively.  In limited minutes, Drew Timme has shown moments of brilliance in both games as well, and offered an excellent player to spell either Petrusev or Tillie when necessary.
What we can see from these first two conference games is that the WCC is not going to be a cakewalk by any means.  It is assumed that the better teams in the conference, including Santa Clara, Saint Mary’s and BYU, are still a few games away.  But looking at other WCC results, including a 107-99 win by Pacific against Saint Mary’s on Saturday, this conference looks like an absolute minefield—full of challenges that are going to require extreme focus from everyone on the team.  Gonzaga is going to have to bring their best every night and even the #1 team—or, rather, especially the #1 team—is going to have to tough it out many a night. 

It is truly a dangerous, hydra-headed attack that Gonzaga presents to defenders when any of the starters can potentially come up with 20 points—all the starters have in one or more games this year and the 6th man off the bench, Admon Gilder, has as well.  The defense needs a couple turns on the ratchet to tighten up, but I think it’s all going to improve with time.  No doubt about it, Killian Tillie’s health is going to be vital to the most difficult contests this year.  Mark Few realizes that and has provided his future NBA prospect a number of games on the bench to preserve his health and allow him to further heal.  Though his leg obviously isn’t 100%, he’s looking good lately—and whatever happens he’s got a host of talent and heart on the team to carry all this wonderful momentum forward.  I’m still predicting the Zags will win out in conference play and through March and April.  It would be a momentous feat for the Zags to do so, but I’m a true believer that this team can tough it out.  As far as the next few contests go against San Diego and Loyola Marymount, I predict good wins for Gonzaga by 20 or more.  They’ve been tested early and I think they’re tired of the game staying close.  I think they’re going to pull away early and hit often—and I think they’re going to shoot over 70% from the free-throw line.  I would say 98-76 on Thursday night against San Diego and 87-56 against Loyola.        
     
And as a true fan now and in the future, I can’t help but be happy about Gonzaga getting a verbal commitment from Jalen Suggs.  It’s hard not to be skeptical about whether a “verbal commitment” actually means anything in this day and age, but I hope Jalen Suggs is sincere and that the tricky trio will be lighting up the court next year for the Zags.  It’ll be a great year again no matter what, but that trio coupled with Timme, Ballo and anyone else who doesn’t get snatched up by some professional organization in the states or abroad would be one seriously fun group to watch.

Have a Happy New Year and Go Zags!  

~ Clark Karoses

After a demonstration of dominance with a 112-77 win at home against Eastern Washington University on December 21st, Gonzaga Men’s Basketball was named #1 in the country the following Monday according to all the significant polls.  Usually that’s good reason to celebrate and shake some champagne and such.  But the way things have been going in the upper echelons of Division 1 Men’s College Basketball this season, that might be an accolade any team that has strung together some significant wins would want to chase away with a cross in one hand and a wooden stake in the other.  With 5 different teams having taken the #1 throne since the beginning of the season only to lose almost immediately after gaining the honor, that designation could be something many teams would flee from.   

No stranger to #1, Gonzaga has begrudgingly accepted the honor out of necessity this December and disregarded its importance completely—preferring to get back to work and to heal the bumps and bruises they’ve sustained in their weary travels so far.  If Mark Few is any indication of how everyone on the team feels, there definitely isn’t much import placed on the top slot.  In an interview prior to the game against EWU, Few said:  “I don’t think they should be doing polls this year until March. . . it’s just an effort in futility at this point.” 
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Is Gonzaga, or any team for that matter, the #1 team in the nation?  That’s hard to say, but enough people considered expert in the field think so and they’ve got the number now.  Ohio State has, perhaps, as many great wins as Gonzaga—and undefeated San Diego State looks good as well—along with a long list of potential greats.  Gonzaga has come up with significant wins at the right time and has benefitted a great deal from the difficulty of their schedule before the New Year.  Maybe the more important question is:  Can Gonzaga hold on to #1 and get rid of the jinx on that number?

Yes, is my answer.  And yes, they will hold on to #1 in the polls provided the pollsters accept Gonzaga continuing to win every game as sufficient to keep them there.  They’ll be there until March and into March Madness.  That’s my prediction.  Many feel winning out isn’t in the cards for Gonzaga—that it’s too much to expect—but I strongly feel they’re wrong.  As a Bulldogs fan, I may be the wrong person to ask, but I think Gonzaga is going to win out—a formidable task, no doubt, but I think this is a team that can face every contest with even-headed intensity and come out on top.
 
The WCC conference, very good last year, is perhaps even better this year.  Saint Mary’s (12-2), BYU (10-4) and Santa Clara (12-2) are all going to be difficult to beat, especially with that #1 designation like a target on the back of the Bulldogs.  But Gonzaga matches up well against anybody in the country right now and I think every member of this conference (like their next opponent on December 30, Detroit Mercy) is going to be begging for mercy when they face the Zags.

In the last game against EWU, many expected a decent game and perhaps a challenge from the Eagles who were averaging over 90 points a game.  I predicted the game would be somewhat close in the first half before Gonzaga pulled away for a significant victory of 93-70.  It wasn’t that, for sure.  With a final score of 112-77, the game essentially seemed over 10 minutes into the 1st half.  After a somewhat even exchange of baskets for the first 6 minutes of the game, Gonzaga went on a 15-0 run between 13:55 and 11:14 on the clock to go up 29-9.  Every aspect of the game, besides some decent 3-poing shooting from EWU, was controlled by the Zags, especially rebounding.  A freak tip in by Anton Watson as the final seconds in the 1st half ticked away made the score 64-33. 

It was another game that saw a pair of Gonzaga players with 20 or more points for the game.  Filip Petrusev, who added 20 points against North Carolina earlier in the week, added another 24 against the Eagles and was just a rebound short of a double-double.  Admon Gilder, who had been hobbled of late with knee trouble, seemed quite well against EWU.  His shooting numbers look especially strong with 8-11 overall from the field shooting, 3 of 6 shooting 3 pointers, and 22 points total.  It was the second straight game that the 2 highest scoring Zag players combined for 46 points.  Against North Carolina, it was Petrusev and the highly regarded (and justly so) shooting guard/forward Corey Kispert who went bonkers with his 26 points on 5 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc.  Against EWU he settled down a bit, but was a perfect 2 for 2 from deep, 3 for 4 from the field and steady at the free throw line—finishing with 13 points.

Free throws (a sore subject this season) were a statistic I implored myself to pay attention to after the last two games.  There has been a steady rise for the team in free throw shooting percentage over the last three games.  Against Arizona we saw Gonzaga shoot a very disappointing 56.7% on 17 of 30 from the charity stripe—and the panic alarm was sounded.  Free throw shooting has often been an embarrassing issue for Gonzaga this season but rarely as poor as that 56.7 %.  Against North Carolina we saw a bit of a boost, as the Bulldogs sank 15 of their 22 attempts for 68.2%.  In the last post I asked for a goal—that Gonzaga raise their team free throw shooting percentage to 70% over the course of a number of months by getting a consistent 75% mark in each game.  The Bulldogs responded by doing exactly that with a 30 makes in 40 attempts effort against EWU.  Petrusev, who will continue to shoulder more and more of the free throw shooting load was a very decent 10 of 14.  Corey Kispert, who is the team leader in free throw percentage at an even 80% went 5 for 6.  Ryan Woolridge, who has the worst free throw shooting percentage among players with significant minutes at 53.8%, is, we all hope, on the rise with a 2 for 2 effort in the game against EWU.
          
Free throw shooting might be the most significant concern for this team going into the new year.  Rebounding is a minor concern as well.  The Zags out-rebounded EWU 49 to 34, but not their two previous opponents.  Despite winning the previous two games, they were narrowly outrebounded by both Arizona and North Carolina.  They’ll need to focus some effort on more effectively getting to the glass against tough opponents.  They’ll also have to tighten up on defense.  Gonzaga plays very good but, perhaps, not great defense.  There are breakdowns on defense, like we saw at the very inopportune time of the last two minutes of the game against Arizona, where both the defense looked bad and the team made many mistakes.  Gonzaga has all the potential, I think, to hold opponents to under 60 points though they’ve only done so in a few contests this year.  All these areas I think will be areas of improvement in games to come as Gonzaga buckles down for the coming conference schedule.

Another thing to look for is the continued improvement of Joel Ayayi who has been an invaluable contributor to Gonzaga’s game on both ends of the court.  He has had brilliant games this season, especially in tight contests.  In the last two games he was slightly short of brilliant, going a combined 2 of 11 from 3-point range and 10 of 23 overall shooting from the field.  Despite those less than ideal numbers he added 13 points and 8 rebounds against EWU and 11 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals against North Carolina.  His rebounding numbers (he averages nearly 7 a game) are second only to Filip Petrusev on the team.  

Looking into the future, I see Joel Ayayi and the rest of the team coming out of the Christmas rest with a vengeance.  They needed a week of rest after a brutal schedule, suffering significant injuries that slowed many players on the court and kept others off the court.  Anton Watson should see more minutes in games to come and could add even more length and strength to an already formidable line-up.  If Killian Tillie has used the down time to heal and strengthen his legs which, no doubt, he has—I pity the team who has to face his dangerous, Hydra-headed game down low and from deep and everywhere in-between.  The guards, including point and shooting, are just plain eating opponents up lately.  Ryan Woolridge is a precision surgical instrument, dissecting defenses and thwarting offensive weapons.  Gaining his health, Admon Gilder will continue to be dangerous everywhere as well.  And Corey Kispert and Joel Ayayi—lets just say it all looks good from here.  I just don’t like anybody’s chances against this team—nobody.  If the Zags lose before the tournament starts, I’ll admit I’m just a starry-eyed Zags fan.  Until then I’m that and the guy who says they’re not losing.  Right now, it seems like a good fan to be.  Best Wishes and Happy New Year.  I hope you catch the game on Monday against Detroit Mercy and the Conference opener against Portland on the second.

​~ Clark Karoses      

​There’s a saying in basketball.  To have “numbers” means to have more of the guys on your team ahead of the guys on the opposite team while you’re heading toward your basket.  You hear it sometimes on a fast break from the bench, or on a particularly quick transition push up the floor from players trailing.  “You got numbers, man—you got numbers!” which means attack the basket and look to pass if any defender focuses on stopping you because they’ve got less than enough to cover your more.  On Wednesday night, in the much-anticipated game against North Carolina in Spokane, Gonzaga had numbers.  Sometimes it was just one Zag ahead of no defenders—as Joel Ayayi and Admon Gilder showed on two separate plays after each made a great steal and took it to the basket by themselves with everyone else behind.  Sometimes it was a pass to a streaking zag ahead of everyone else—as we saw when Corey Kispert received the perfect long pass from Joel Ayayi to take it off a big bounce and throw it down for the emphatic dunk.  Sometimes it was just more of our guys getting ahead when we recognized any one of the defenders was lagging.

 This Gonzaga team pushes the ball perhaps better than any Gonzaga team I’ve watched so far—and to say that they did it well against a team that pushes the ball as a trademark is something significant.  Against a team with a fathomlessly deep bench (North Carolina utilized 17 different players in the game—Gonzaga played only 7), the Zags got out and ran and ran and ran Wednesday night—sprinting ahead on offense and backpedaling back on defense, again and again and again with very little to no relief from the bench.  And they showed that it is with good reason they’ve got #2 next to their name on the television scoreboard because they’re not only one of the most skilled teams in Division One basketball, but also one of the best conditioned.

Of course, “numbers” also refers to statistics and Gonzaga put up some serious numbers in that sense as well on Wednesday night.  I predicted we’d get 96 in the previous blog post, but 94 points is not too shabby against a team as well-coached and disciplined on both sides of the court as the Tarheels (I did get their 81 correct).  It was disappointing to the fans on both sides, I think, not to see Cole Anthony on the court as it would, no doubt, have made this an even more exciting game had he been healthy.  He’s the kind of game changer that could have evened the scales that, considering the injury difficulties Roy Williams’ club has suffered this early season, were tipped a bit toward the Bulldogs (though the Zags have a few injury troubles of their own).  We were blessed to have a window of reasonably decent health to work with on Wednesday night, and work with it is what we did.

Filip (allow me to apologize for the many times I’ve spelled this Philip) Petrusev and Corey Kispert simply killed it in this game.  Period.  Exclamation Point!  Some sportswriters, no doubt, will express disappointment with the number of rebounds they came up with, but when a team makes so many of the shots they take, the number of offensive rebounding opportunities goes way down.  In other words, you don’t have an opportunity to go after a ball that goes through the basket—the ref gets that one—and boy oh boy was it ever going through the basket for these two Gonzaga stars.

Petrusev was 6 for 11 shooting from the field against some great forwards down low while Kispert, beyond outstanding, went 10 for 12 including 5 for 6 from beyond the arc.  Petrusev wears number "3" which may seem more appropriate for Kispert, who wears "24" but hits so many triples in the course of the game.  The important thing would be to keep a good thing going so I would say stick with whatever number you've got.  Kispert showed his skills down low as well as from deep when, after too many of our bigs got into foul trouble, he filled in as forward (he’s listed as a forward even though he rarely posts up).  He defended quite well all over the court and showed off some nice touch with the jump hook that all the Gonzaga forwards utilize so well (thinking of both Tillie and Timme). 

Together, Petrusev and Kispert combined for 46 points, just a point shy of half of the Zags total.  The Serbian big man added 3 blocks and 4 rebounds to his 20 well-earned points.  For a guy who got a lot of flak for having too much finesse and not enough attitude in the post, Petrusev not only looked strong on Wednesday—but absolutely punishing.  He finished through contact multiple times for and-1 baskets (there is a good reason he wears "3")—and made powerful moves toward the hoop to get fouled as well.  On one such move, getting his shoulder into the defender and leaping for the shot—they had to check the defender’s teeth afterward on the sideline to make sure he hadn’t chipped or wasn’t missing any.  He is truly coming into his role underneath and looking more comfortable every game against some of the best of the best. 

Corey Kispert, who went off against Arizona for 18 points and 8 rebounds last Saturday, was leading scorer for the team once again against North Carolina with his 26 points, adding 1 block, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 rebounds and 4 turnovers (sorry CK, I just wanted to keep counting).  Any player on a Gonzaga team getting over 20 points is a rarity since the team always shares the scoring so well--but to see two reach the mark is rare indeed.

Strange alignments and series though, seem prevalent in the box score for this game.  Numerologists might find some significance in such alignments.  11 is a great number.  Not only is it a prime to mathematician type folks (prime numbers are ultra-cool and unique), but in spiritual number theory 11 is known as a “master number” signifying insight and enlightenment.  There were a lot of 11’s in the numbers for Gonzaga on Wednesday, foreboding good things perhaps.  Though we’d love to see this statistic a bit lower, maybe even in single digits, there were 11 turnovers committed by Gonzaga—pretty darn good against a decent defensive team.  An even better set of 11’s comes from Admon Gilder, Ryan Woolridge and Joel Ayayi who all scored 11 points—pointing at balance among the trio of supporting guards on the night. 

Of these Musketeers, Ayayi (who wears "11") went 5 of 11 (!) shooting from the field, Gilder 3 of 9, and Woolridge 5 of 6 (5 + 6= 11).  Like Kispert, Woolridge was just plain money at point guard on the night.  He hit his only attempt from deep, gathered 4 rebounds, and was just a good pass away from a double-double, with 9 assists.  He continues to show elite talent at point guard on both ends of the court, and though he didn’t have to shoulder the responsibility of trying to put the brakes on Cole Anthony like we thought he would have to (a challenge he very likely would have relished), he handled his defensive assignments with stern resolve.   Whoever convinced him to come over to the Zags from North Texas is sure smiling to himself after this game.

Whoever got Joel Ayayi to come to Spokane from France has been smiling for quite a while now.  Though he wasn’t as stellar from deep tonight, going only 1 of 5 from beyond the arc, he did get everything he needed for a double-double, with those 11 points and 10 rebounds.  He was the only player with over 5 rebounds on the team, getting the only offensive rebound the Zags had all night (again, some of that has to do with the ball going in a lot) along with 9 defensive rebounds.  He had 3 steals (1 for a sweet, fast-break flush), 2 turnovers and 1 personal foul—his 6 assists, combined with Woolridge’s 9 gave the duo 15 of the 18 assists for the team on the night. 
            
Besides getting 11 of our 94 points, Admon Gilder ("1") had a strange string of 2’s in his stat line.  2 is, as you might expect, a love number according to some mystical circles—and Zag nation is feeling the love for this native Texan of late.  After going 4 for 4 from deep against Arizona, he cooled off a bit and was 1 for 3 in the Kennel, but 4 for 4 from the free throw line (that’s what I’m taking about!) and he had 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 personal fouls (spooky, right?).  "2," worn by Drew Timme, also happens to be the only even prime number.

Perhaps one of the best things about Wednesday night at the McCarthy Center, and it seems strange to say this, was that Killian Tillie sat most of the game.  Tillie wears "33" which is, of course, 11 x 3--which may be foreboding of a championship game where Tillie sinks that many from deep.  He's certainly capable of that.  After a scary tweak of his ankle and perhaps some stress of his knee later in the 2nd half against Arizona, Tillie started against North Carolina, not allowing any pain he felt to stop him from participating in a game that meant revenge for the beat down the Tarheels gave last season’s Zag’s in Chapel Hill.  And he played, as he always does, very well.  He seemed slightly bothered, off balance and favoring his good side though—and got into some foul trouble early—using his hands, perhaps, when his legs weren’t responding as well as usual. 

Gonzaga’s dominance through most of the game allowed Tillie to get back to what might be best for the time being; healing on the sideline.  It’s a wonderful thing that Christmas is coming for so many reasons—one of them is so Tillie and Anton Watson ("22"--yep, 2 x 11) and the rest of the Zag players who need some mending can take a few days rest.  Tillie’s shot is simply a thing of beauty and while it was wonderful to see him hit the shot he made from deep, I think I was more relieved to see him sit.  I suspect he’s gonna look better than he ever has this season or last after the holidays give him a good chance to kick back into recovery mode after the early season knee surgery that kept him out of some of the first few contests.  His numbers against North Carolina:  in 15 minutes he was 3 of 5 from the field, 1 of 3 from deep, 2 of 3 shooting free throws, with 3 rebounds, 4 personal fouls and 9 total points (which is divisible by 3).   

One other thing I predicted in the last blog post was that Gonzaga would shoot better from the free throw line.  It wasn’t exactly a bold prediction considering the Zags went 17 of 30 for 56.7 % against Arizona.  Against the Tarheels, Gonzaga was 15 of 22 from the charity stripe for 68.2%.  Not great, of course, but better.  As I mentioned, Admon Gilder was perfect from the free throw line—which is so good to hear lately of any Gonzaga player.  Unfortunately, Ryan Woolridge continues to struggle from the line and lowered his already low FT percentage, as did Drew Timme.  Both had wonderful games otherwise, Timme getting 3 of his 5 attempts from the field down low to fall and, like always, being a tough toughie all over the court.  Together, however, he and Woolridge went 0 of 4 shooting free throws—and brought Gilder’s 100% back down to 50% in going 4 of 8 for the three combined. 

Kispert made his single attempt from the line after the sweet and-1 he had (deserving the bicep flex he gave the camera afterwards)—getting a 3 point bucket the hard way.   The lion’s share of free throws for the team came from Petrusev.  He’s going to continue to shoot more and more free throws each week as he makes stronger and stronger moves to the bucket.  He went 8 of 10 from the line and I don’t think there’s a coach out there who isn’t going to be extremely happy about those kinds of numbers. 

I shouldn’t take liberty to say anything for Mark Few, but I suspect 75% shooting free throws as a team would be a number he could be happy about.  Currently through, through these first 13 games, the Zags as a team are right at 65%.  I think Gonzaga has to, as a long-term team goal, get that number over 70%—meaning they’re going to have to reach at least that 75% mark each game for a good while to right the ship.  It might take until March, but I truly hope it’s in the works and I'll be paying close attention to those numbers.  
 
Here’s a couple more really great numbers for the night.  I said in the last blog post that 3-point shooting was going to be heavy in the scale of Gonzaga’s balanced attack.  Wednesday night it was—and it was Corey Kispert for the most part, having a field day.  The team was 9 for 18—a nice, round 50%.  Overall, at 35 for 59 shooting from the field as a team, Gonzaga was just shy of 60%.  Those are numbers to love.  Those are numbers to cherish.  So is 12 wins in 13 games—and the Zags got there on Wednesday night and in many of the contests this season with guts, tenacity and the ability to make the necessary changes to get better. 

This group that Mark Few called a bunch of introverts early in the season (claiming that in his despair over the difficulty he felt working with the group, he had wanted to forget about the basketball season, take a long fishing trip and be found only much later in April) is becoming a communicative, cohesive, bonded group—they’re diving for loose balls on defense, making the extra pass for the best shot and doing everything else and whatever it takes to improve their game.  It’s exciting to see the way possibility opens up with effort like theirs—that, despite despair, willfulness can usher in greatness and celebration. 

We mentioned 11’s earlier as regards some of the point totals and turnovers.  11, in spiritual circles, is also indicative of taking notice.  You see 11:11 on the clock, for instance—you’re supposed to pay attention to what’s going on and consider what’s going to happen because the universe is trying to tell you something—something perhaps a bit hidden that you might skip over if you didn't take a hint.  If I were to wage a guess at what the universe might be hinting at, I’d say the Zags are being told something about the game on Saturday—and to take notice of the challenge they are about to face in Eastern Washington University. 

These guys just up the interstate in Cheney are no joke (and we're playing them on 12/21--forwards-backwards, backwards-forwards).  After beating Belmont earlier in the season, they scored 146 points against Multnomah on December 13th.  At over 90 points per game, they have the highest scoring offense in the country (Zags were #3 last time I checked) according to one source—a statistic which, though impressive, should be taken with a grain of salt since the competition on their schedule isn’t quite up near the same level as Gonzaga has faced.  They did get 80 against Washington—though Washington got 90 against them.  But facing this team after a very hyped game against North Carolina, with all the ESPN cameras and the McCarthy Center going wild seems like something to be very wary of—with the potential for a serious energy level shrink being likely.  Mark Few said as much in the post-game interview on Wednesday, and earlier called it a classic “trap game.”
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No doubt the coaching staff will avoid putting a foot in the snare that Saturday could be.  The Zags are going to come out and play their brand of basketball against these Eagles from EWU.  Cross-town contests like this one are bound to get gritty and they know it.  Don’t miss this one if you have a chance to watch.  I think Gonzaga is going to take it very personally that EWU is racking up crazy numbers on the scoreboard and focus heavily on defense.  They’re going to test exactly how effective they can be at snuffing the opponent out.  I say they make this one into an ugly game—maybe not right away, but fairly quickly.  I say Gonzaga by 23, with a hard-fought first half and a dominant 2nd:  93-70.  Happy Holidays folks!!!

~ Clark Karoses           

This is the first installment of The Zag Wag in the 2019-2020 season, and it comes at the end of a challenging stretch of games that have tested the Gonzaga Men’s Basketball team thoroughly.  As a team I would say the Zags have performed exceedingly well, having won 11 of their first 12 games and earned significant wins over some of the best teams in the country, and definitely the very best of the PAC 12.  There are, of course, some reasons for concern and room for improvement, but what I see right now is another team that Mark Few and his assistant coaches and staff have captained extremely well into a solid spot where the sky is the limit.  Having won two straight road games against their most talented rivals out west, Arizona and Washington, the Zags return home for a contest that might mean more to Gonzaga coaches, fans, and players than any game on the slate this season.  What I’m referring to is the titillating chance at redemption for last year’s loss and losses in years past (need I mention more?) against North Carolina who comes to town this very Wednesday.  So how does the team look in preparation for the contest?

Though Gonzaga saw a few players return to action this season, it was quite a different team stepping on the court in November with some serious question marks.  Besides the obvious question of how to replace the powerhouse, NBA-bound duo of Rui Hachimura and Brandon Clarke (who anchored Gonzaga down low last season), this year’s team also had early question-marks concerning how to find quality minutes in the backcourt with the exit of Josh Perkins at point guard and Zach Norvell Jr. at wing.  Further uncertainty surrounded who would be coming off the bench for quality minutes with the loss of the likes of Jeremy Jones and Geno Crandall.  Perhaps it should no longer surprise us how well things come together under the expert guidance of the Zag’s coaching staff, and how well players have stepped up to fill these vacant roles. 

What we’ve seen come to fruition after the first 12 games of the season is the trademark, balanced attack of a slimly rotated Gonzaga squad with very solid and talented starters and back-ups. Six players are averaging 10 points a game or more and a seventh is so close to the mark we might as well round him up (Ryan Woolridge at 9.8 ppg).  The team is developing quite nicely on the defensive end as well, playing with a tenacity that, besides being very stingy about giving away buckets to opponents at any level, has blocked shots, caused numerous turnovers and shot clock violations and translated into offense through some easy transition baskets off steals.

In its offensive attack, Gonzaga always focuses on balance, sharing the ball and the scoring in a way that lifts up the whole team—often at the expense of some greedier-handed players’ statistics.  Perhaps the best example of that offensive balance was the game in Seattle, against the uber-talented Washington Huskies with young, NBA talent in Isaiah Stewart, Jaden McDaniels, Nahziah Carter and company.  This win saw every Gonzaga starter scoring in double figures, and the team as a whole showing what seemed like very serious veteran cool down the stretch. 

Though the Zags were never able to fully pull away with a comfortable lead, they held a relentless grip on superiority throughout.  The Huskies, despite strong play inside and moments of brilliance, tried in vain to string together significant runs that would weaken the Zags resolve.  The Bulldogs were able to thwart their efforts with tenacious defense, a hard-nosed crashing of the offensive and defensive glass, consistent skillful play inside and in the mid-range holes in the zone, strong drives to the basket and unflinching confidence in the long ball.  In other words, they did a little of everything—balancing the attack all over the court, utilizing every player.

Consistent savvy shooting the three has been and is going to be perhaps the most important part of that balanced attack this year.  Everyone loves a three pointer of course—everyone loves to raise both arms up high, fingers in the classic gesture for OK .  And I think Gonzaga fans are going to get more than their share of that love this year.  It was two deep daggers late in the game; one from Killian Tillie with just under three minutes left and the shot clock expiring, then another from Joel Ayayi with under thirty seconds (both from the same NBA-range spot, sneakers on the Alaska Airlines logo), that provided the final offensive punch to put an end to Husky hopes of upsetting their rival.  A similar story put the game strongly in Gonzaga’s favor in Arizona, when Killian Tillie and Admon Gilder each hit three pointers within a minute and a half of each other between the 8 and 6 minute marks, cushioning the lead to 14—a margin the Wildcats would never quite supplant. 

While Gonzaga has relied heavily on their inside game to carry them through many hard stretches last season and in years before, I believe it is going to be shots beyond the arc that keep us marching strong this year.  That is not to say we’re weak inside and that Gonzaga is going to hoist up a crazy numer of 3’s in the dim hopes a few might drop.  Each of the previously mentioned pairs of 3’s were the sandwich ends of shots at the rim.  At Washington, Ryan Woolridge had 2 of his numerous lay-ins between the aforementioned 3’s.  Philip Petrusev had an ESPN highlight-worthy dunk between Tillie and Gilder’s threes in Arizona.  Our inside game is strong enough to provide the necessary boon to open up our outside shooting and vice-versa. 

Gonzaga doesn’t, however, have anyone quite like last season’s dynamic duo of Brandon Clark and Rui Hachimura—dunking like crazy all over and/or ruthlessly swatting shots on defense.  Don’t get me wrong, Killian Tillie and Phillip Petrusev are as apt and able a starting duo of big men as any college team (or NBA team for that matter) could hope for—and provided they stay healthy they’ll have plenty of highlights to fill their reel when the time comes for that.  Rui and BC were something special down low together.  Tillie and Petrusev would be the first to admit that, having learned a great deal from them both.  The two starters this year, both from across the Atlantic, are extremely crafty forwards, with excellent discipline, strength and the ability to both block shots and throw down the occasional hammer.  They differ a bit in their styles of play, but compliment each other perfectly.

Consider the Serbian first.  Philip Petrusev is as legitimate an NBA prospect as anybody out there.  He’s started every game so far for Gonzaga this year and has performed extremely well against all but one opponent (against whom he performed only swimmingly).  In two of the three signature wins for Gonzaga, Petrusev had double-doubles with 22 and 15 in the OT win against Oregon and 17 and 10 against Washington.  Against Arizona and the most certainly NBA-bound Zeke Nnaji, he was excellent again with 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting, adding 7 rebounds and 4 emphatic blocks.  He’s the leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker on the team, averaging 15.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.  When he does well, the team has done well and the only game in which he had less than double digits scoring (he had 9 points and 9 rebounds in the Battle for Atlantis title game against Michigan), Gonzaga lost.

It was against Michigan, and the Wolverine’s hefty John Teske (and very talented Isaiah Livers) that we saw Petrusev and Gonzaga flounder.  He was bottled-up on offense and taken to school on defense.  And like the whole team, it seems Petrusev came out of the loss with a great lesson and great resolve.  It’s easy for a fan like me to look for a silver-lining in such a thorough thrashing, but I truly believe Petrusev and the team have taken the lesson to heart and manned up to face every challenge without shrinking.  I don’t think there’s a member of Zag Nation out there who hopes we don’t see Michigan again this coming March. 

Keith Ybanez, who put forth the criticism soon after the Michigan game that Petrusev’s style of play has “a little bit too much finesse and not enough attitude,” has seen a different Petrusev and a different Gonzaga team since that conclusion to The Battle for Atlantis.  Though now and again he defers to craftiness at the expense of a strong, power move that would yield either a dunk, an easier bucket or a trip to the charity stripe, Petrusev has been strong of late.  And that craftiness, which is going to get points at times when a power move would fail, get blocked or turn the ball over, seems no longer to be what he defers to.  His game is solid of late and its simply a matter of his leaning toward craftiness/finesse or strength/power at the right moments—and having both available all the time.

That balance of finesse and strength was on full display against Arizona where Petrusev showed great rim protection with four blocks, punished the rim a few times with two handed slam dunks (once a bit too emphatically for the referees’ tastes and earning him a technical foul).  I believe through facing the challenges of the likes of Zeke Nnaji, John Teske, and Isaiah Stewart, Petrusev is truly going to fully arrive at his best game of poise, patience and strength by March.

In regards to attitude, strength, ferocity, leadership and determination, the team is going to continue to see more and more from our beloved starter down low, Killian Tillie.  Mark few calls Tillie his “problem solver”—perhaps due to both his excellent hands and anticipation defensively (he leads the team in steals), and his ability to score from absolutely anywhere and against anyone on the offensive end with excellent ball-handling, touch, power and range.  Sharing Petrusev’s finesse and craftiness, the very skilled French big man and Gonzaga veteran has been and is going to continue to be an absolute force everywhere on the court, especially from beyond the arc where he has proved himself to be a more than significant threat.  It was Tillie’s misfortune with injuries last season, and during the last NBA tryouts, that may have truly saved Gonzaga from being sub-par this season.  Zag Nation let out a great sigh of relief when it heard he would be returning to Spokane this season, and it is everyone’s hope that this year will prove worthwhile for him; that he will be injury-free and will significantly boost his NBA stock.  If he continues along at the pace he’s maintained since he started playing in the fifth game of the season, I have no doubt it will.

His all-around presence offensively against the Husky Zone, and defensively against Washington’s elite athletes, was the decisive factor giving the Zags the win in Seattle.  He went 5 for 11 from the field (2 for 5 from beyond the arc), finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, and truly earned the honor of ESPN’s Player of the Game.  In the Michigan game where almost every Zag player struggled, he was the lone star on the team to score in double figures in any statistic.  Facing up to the Wolverine’s, bulky, hounding defense, Tillie scored a season-high 20 points on 9 for 14 shooting (2 for 4 from deep).  On the season, he averages 12.7 points, 5 rebounds and 36.4% on 3 -point attempts in limited minutes.  He is perhaps the best defender underneath for the Zags—and all said, I think he’s just beginning to get his legs underneath him.

Maybe the biggest worry going into this season was replacing Gonzaga’s all-time assist leader and all-around baller at point guard, Josh Perkins—along with his back-up at point and Gonzaga shooting guard, Geno Crandall.  But the two guys who’ve taken on those roles this season have, in my humble opinion, far exceeded expectations.  Ryan Woolridge, a graduate transfer out of North Texas, has added a mature, slashing, drive-and-dish, disrupting element to the offense that has frustrated many a defense already.  Almost every one of his baskets against Washington (where he scored 16 points on 8 of 11 shooting and had 3 steals) were lay-ins, many of them heavily contested and stupendously gravity-defying.  Woolridge is shooting an outstanding 55.6% from 3-point land, perhaps largely because too many teams have made the mistake of discounting him as a threat from deep and sagged on defense.  When UT Arlington decided to pack the paint whenever Woolridge had the ball, leaving him open on a regular basis, Woolridge took serious offense and expertly dissected their defense. He ended up with three 3’s and a season-high 19 points and stared down the coach of the opposite team much to the chagrin of both Mark Few and the UT Arlington bench.

On top of his considerable offensive production, including nearly 10 points and 4 assists a game, Woolridge is an excellent defender.  He is quick, fast and anticipates extremely well, leading to numerous steals.  Tasked with the job of covering one of the best point guards in the country on Sunday, Nico Manion of Arizona, with the help of Joel Ayayi and the rest of his teammates, Woolridge performed wonderfully, limiting the known expert shooter to a 3 for 20 night from the field, and a stat line with only single-digit points, strong only in his 10 assists.

Joel Ayayi, Gonzaga’s team leader in assists with 4.1 per game, gets time at both point (to relieve Woolridge) and shooting guard to spell Corey Kispert or Admon Gilder.  Ayayi started the season as a substitute off the bench and surprised many with stellar performances in very limited minutes, filling almost every category of statistics’ sheets with numbers.  It was largely his heroics that carried the team to victory in the last seconds of both the Oregon and Washington games.  In the second game at the Battle for Atlantis tournament against Oregon, Ayayi made an acrobatic, reverse layup with 1:18 left in OT to even the score at 72, leaving it to Drew Timme to make one of 2 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.  Ayayi’s reverse lay-in earned him 2 of his 13 points on the night, as he went 5 for 8 from the field, 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, and added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
 
Ayayi’s heroics at the end of the game against the Huskies included another bold move by the young native of France.  It was a particularly brave shot to take with 27 seconds remaining, considering that, besides it having been beyond NBA-range, Ayayi had missed a 3-point jumper with 1:11 remaining on the previous possession.  Gonzaga ahead by a slim 3 points, instead of doubting himself as the shot clock ticked down single digits, he stepped into a shot without hesitation to hit what made any further attempt by Washington to win moot.  His 40.0% shooting from beyond the arc, ferocious rebounding, excellent passing, creative scoring from anywhere on the court, and quality defense have earned him a starting spot in the wake of Admon Gilder’s knee problems.  Consider his stat line against Arizona where he was 5 of 9 from the field, 2 of 4 from deep, with 6 rebounds, 7 assists 1 steal, and 15 points total including an incredible and-1 late in the 2nd half that stretched the lead and allowed Gonzaga to hold on for the victory.

Ayayi’s rise and continued health is a very welcome addition to Gonzaga’s backcourt that has been hobbled and is healing of late.  He and Corey Kispert have been the only two players not to suffer from health problems this season.  A Gonzaga veteran of 3 years and a team leader, the expectations for Corey Kispert this season are great.  He has suffered, however, from a few cold shooting spells in games where, unable to dial in his range, he finished in single digits.  After the season opening blowout of Alabama State where Kispert went 5 of 6 from deep and 10 of 13 from the field, finishing with 28 points, those expectations lulled a bit after games like the ones against Texas A&M and Michigan.  In both, Kispert scored only one field goal.  After shooting through these cold stretches as any pure shooter should, Kispert is back to his expert form, averaging 14.1 points per game and hitting threes at a clip of 40.3%, including an awesome 5 for 8 performance beyond the arc against Oregon. 

Lately, Kispert has done what sharp-shooters like himself should do when faced with any difficulties scoring—he’s found other ways to score.  In the games against Wasington and Arizona, we saw him being useful in many capacities offensively and defensively beyond his obvious talent shooting the long ball.  He’s been rebounding extremely well lately, especially on the offensive glass, pulling in a number of weak side rebounds and earning some easy put-backs as well as utilizing his considerable vertical leap to take the alley-oop from Ayayi against Washington for a sweet dunk.  In Arizona he and the team as a whole utilized the shot fake at the three-point line to repeatedly unsteady a defender and drive to the hoop for lay-ins.  Leading the team in points and rebounds for the game with 18 and 8, the strategy of faking and threatening with the drive opened up some space for Kispert to hit the two three pointers he had at key moments in the game. His rebounding, defensive toughness, athleticism and offensive play both in and outside the arc are extremely important to a proper balance and success for this team against elite competition. 

We can’t leave our discussion of Gonzaga’s backcourt without mentioning Admon Gilder.  Though Gonzaga has a reputation as an internationally flavored team with players from France, Serbia and Lithuania, more representation comes this season from Texas than anywhere else.  Admon Gilder, a transfer out of Texas A&M, along with Woolridge of North Texas fame and freshman, Drew Timme have added some of that state’s attitude and toughness to Gonzaga’s game.  With perhaps the least attitude of the three, Gilder, a starter for the Zags until knee problems sidelined him and limited his game of late, has averaged an even 10 points per game.  His 4 for 4 shooting from beyond the arc against Arizona was a consistent and necessary lift for the Zags in Arizona—both in the team’s recovery from being down early to go up by a point at halftime and to gain the considerable lead later that would allow them to narrowly hold on for the win.

Drew Timme, another Texan, has perhaps the lion’s share of attitude, at least according to Kispert in a pre-season television interview.  A star high-school player, Timme, despite his youth, has become a consistent substitute for the bigs down low.  His all-around toughness, excellent post play, and good defense allow Mark Few to give needed rest to Petrusev and Tillie without losing firepower on either end.  He’s off to an excellent start and has proven himself toe to toe against some of the best bigs in the county, exercising calm composure and patience along with fiery aggressiveness.  He averages 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.  If he doesn’t make an early exit for the NBA, he’ll be an integral part of Gonzaga’s offense this season and hopefully at least another season to come. 
The same goes for the local, Spokane-ite, Anton Watson who showed early brilliance and elite athleticism off the bench for Gonzaga.  Lately, however, he’s been sidelined for what appears to be (I’m admittedly no doctor) a repetitive shoulder stinger and/or dislocation problem.  It’s a very unfortunate problem because Watson had been a key element off the bench, adding frustrating length to the defense and elite athleticism to the offense in earlier games.  He is able to play and substitute for almost any position and has every part of what could make a dangerous NBA player one day, except health.  All of Zag Nation truly wishes him a speedy recovery and hopes he will return to the line-up very soon.

The very serious concern that I’ve avoided talking about so far for Gonzaga is free-throw shooting.  The Zags have been extremely lucky so far to win as many games as they have while shooting such a low percentage from the charity stripe.  Against Arizona, they were a dismal 17 of 30, or 56.7% from the line.  In the loss to Michigan, it was 46.2% (Ouch).  Overall this season, Gonzaga has shot 65%, which would, perhaps, be a disappointing figure for many high school teams in the area.  This is obviously something to be concerned about and, no doubt, the coaching staff is acting accordingly.  That Gonzaga has been able to win despite such poor performances at the line is quite a testament to what they’re doing well everywhere else, but eventually you can’t hide your weak points with strong points anymore.  It is particularly distressing that the point guard on the team, a position on any team that needs to shoot good free throws since they have the ball so often (especially when they specialize, like he does, in driving to the basket through contact) Ryan Woolridge is shooting the poorest percentage on the team, with (I cringe to say) 54.3%.  He did, however, ice the game in Arizona with the two free throws that made it an impossible 2 possession contest with just a few tics left on the clock.  Maybe he’s got ice in his veins when it matters but I’d rather have some higher numbers whatever the case.  Corey Kispert, as he should, leads the team at 78.6 %—and I watched in amazement when he was fouled on a three-point attempt against Washington and hit all three in a row as it seemed a rarity for anyone to get even one after another.  In the wins against Oregon and Washington, the team shot at or very near 80 %, giving hopes to fans that things weren’t as bleak as suspected.  But the poor performance against Arizona says issues there haven’t been put to rest and we’ll have to see how it pans out against the likes of North Carolina who might foul a lot as a strategy in the hopes of keeping the score in check. 

In the same Arizona game just mentioned, another issue was exposed in the poor team performance down the stretch by a Gonzaga team leading 81-65 with 1:35 left in the game.  How do you end up at 82-80 with a few ticks left, needing two free throws from a 55% free-throw shooter to ice the contest.  You mess it all up—that’s how it happens!  I have no doubt, however, that Mark Few will be sure to shore up those difficulties along with the woes from the charity stripe, and prevent potential heartbreak losses of the lead that have doomed a few of Gonzaga’s best squads to painful, heart-rending losses in March as potential trips to the final four slipped through our very able fingers (I won’t mention which team I’m thinking of—perhaps you remember one or more).

Those concerns aside, things look really good for the Bulldogs.  Really, really, surprisingly good.  The Gonzaga ship has weathered its worst stretch very well.  It has passed through the roughest center of the storm, and though it has a few bruises and is in need of a some repairs, all aboard can see the break in the storm ahead—the Christmas break.  We still have North Carolina on Wednesday.  That’s always gonna be tough, even though its at home, and even though North Carolina looks like they’re even more hobbled than the Zags at the moment.  I predict a really good outcome in that contest.  I think North Carolina is going to foul us a lot and we’re going to be very decent from the line this time despite our recent troubles.  If everyone is healthy—in particular, if Killian Tillie is able to play at near his best—I suspect this is going to be a blowout Gonzaga win.  If he’s not playing or not playing well, I still think we win by 9, 10 or 11.  I’m going to say 96-81 Gonzaga—maybe a bit pretentious me—but I’m gonna stand by it. 

With the excitement of Wednesday looming, let’s not forget that before Christmas there is another contest scheduled that no Zag fan or player should look past, or look though.  It’ll be the very tail end of the storm before the break, but it could get a little rough at the exit.  The inter-city contest against Eastern Washington University (technically they’re in Cheney, but let’s call it inter-city like it is) is not going to be easy.  EWU, while not an elite out west, has shown resilience and toughness and faced up valiantly against the likes of Boston College and Washington who by no means easily came away with wins against the Eagles.  Belmont suffered a loss against EWU this season.  Let’s not be another ranked team slapped out of the top ten by someone no one knows is very decent.  No doubt the McCarthy Athletic center is going to be up and rocking for the North Carolina game on Wednesday—for the opportunity to finally get a W against perhaps one of the most historically prestigious teams we’ve yet to beat.  No doubt about that—but once that happens, once the W is in the books, let’s make sure we get our heads back out of the clouds and set our eyes on clipping the wings of some high-flying Eagles here at home.  Only that will make it a truly brilliant and jubilant Christmas where Gonzaga could find, under one of the many Christmas trees here in Spokane, a box with #1 in the Nation inside.                            

~ Clark Karoses

For Gonzaga, it was a night for the unsung heroes.  You might have thought the Baylor coaching staff read a scouting report of Gonzaga with a bunch of asterisks on it—but forgot to read the asterisks.  I imagine a line like:  “Rui Hachimura is very good and scores almost at will.  He needs to be stopped!  Killian Tillie, besides being very handy in the paint himself, is an excellent shooter from distance.  Be sure to have a hand in his face at all times.*”  Oh, the staff thinks, we need to key on this guy, Rui Hachi-, Hachi-moto or whatever, and make sure Tillie doesn’t kill us from deep.  And it seems, from what my sweet girlfriend and I watched on Saturday night, they left it at that.  Of course, the asterisk reads:  “*Brandon Clarke is a complete badass, plays defense like a man possessed and can jump out of the damned building.  Don’t let him block shots, dunk, hit any floaters, or get into his mid-range game.”  Oops, sometimes those asterisks are important to read.  Another possibility:  “Zach Norvell and Josh Perkins can hit from anywhere on the court.  Deep NBA 3 pointers, jumpers, floaters, whatever.  And they both drive extremely well to the basket.**”  OK, lets really get out on those two from deep and be ready if they put the ball on the floor and drive.  And the double asterisk they missed:  “**Don’t leave Corey Kispert alone either.  He’s like a basketball Samurai, precise, deadly, and waiting patiently for the proper moment to strike.  He’s a strong, excellent defender who hits the glass hard.  Get a body on him or he’ll be serious trouble on the offensive glass.”  Double oops, missed that one too. 

Kidding aside, I doubt Baylor missed any asterisks.  Its just that Gonzaga has so many asterisks!  You key on something and they’re going to burn you somewhere else.  Baylor, it seemed, did a good job on defense as 4 of Gonzaga’s main guys shot a less than stellar 9 of 29—including our leading scorer who went for just 6 points and 5 rebounds due to some early foul trouble (and, I speculate here, likely wasn’t feeling well).  All their effort to stymie Rui went for naught as Brandon Clarke scored a Gonzaga team NCAA tournament record-setting 36 points.  Baylor’s attempts to limit “snacks”/to chill “the microwave,” Zach Norvell, though somewhat effective, just opened it up for Corey Kispert to take advantage of open looks and pull in a team second-best 16 points of his own for the game.     

Brandon Clarke was absolutely the man on Saturday, no doubt about it—but if you’ve been paying attention to Gonzaga this season, that’s kinda old hat.  Though not the leading scorer as often as Hachimura, he has scored in double figures every game (every game!) of the season.  He’s a rock on both ends—a very, very solid, springy rock.  It’s wonderful for him to have a game like the one he did on Saturday and get the kind of national attention he’s deserved for so long.  Clarke’s phenomenal stat line for the game includes 15 of 18 shooting (no wonder he leads the nation in shooting percentage!) for 36 points (the most by a Gonzaga player in an NCAA tournament game—besting Adam Morrison’s record by a point).  He had 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 5, count ‘em, 5 blocks (that’s 8 in the first 2 games of the tournament!).  Steve Cameron, in his column “The Zags Tracker,” mentions two interesting points about Clarke in his review of the game.  He has more blocks than missed shots (110 to 105) this season.  That there just leaves you a little speechless.  He’s also only the 3rd player in NCAA tournament history to garner 35+ points and 5 blocks in a game.  The other two were Shaquille O’Neal and David Robinson. 

It was great to see that kind of performance live.  If Clarke didn’t quite have 10 dunks in the game, he was really close, and a lot of them were spectacular enough to bring you out of your seat with your arms up and make you yell “Ohh!  Ohh!” (really loudly so the obnoxious Baylor fans behind you badmouthing your team know he just threw it the f- down).  The one that really lit up the arena was off a dunk that Tillie tried to put down himself on a lob from Crandall if I recall correctly—but when it came off the rim with some pretty good zip, Clarke caught it and threw it down with authority.  Clarke has some of the best hands in college basketball and anything in his reach rarely gets away.  He and Tillie had another awesome highlight together when Tillie tossed it, hook-like from the free throw line, over his shoulder to Clarke streaking from the left along the baseline who took it from under the rim over the top and smashed it home.  That clicking between the bigs--between Clarke and Tillie and Rui and Tillie in the past couple of games (which we’ve seen so much of with Rui and Clarke in Tillie’s absence) is a great sign.      ​

Clarke and Corey Kispert are truly the heavy lifters on this team, doing a lot of work without getting a huge amount of the credit.  Mark Few called Corey Kispert his “player of the game” on Saturday because of his excellence facing very difficult defensive assignments as well as his scorching shooting.  Kispert had 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting, including 4 of 6 from beyond the arc, and 7 rebounds to boot.  Much of the openness in the paint that Clarke took such wonderful advantage of was due to Kispert’s searing the defense with his long jumpers.  And many of Kispert’s rebounds came as he crashed the offensive glass, leading to easy put backs if not alley oops back into the hoop.  Though his shooting can sometimes run cold, Kispert can’t be left alone from distance, and shows immense strength, stamina, hops and pure heart on both ends.  It’s great to see the guys who don’t always get the headlines, show how great they really are in this game.  Happy, I’m sure, to let Clarke and Kispert have the brighter lights, Zach Norvell and Josh Perkins also played a quality game as well.  Perkins had 11 points and 6 assists, while Norvell finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds.  Geno Crandall had a very modest night, his only points coming off a somewhat laughable attempt to feed Clarke with an alley-oop that, with very little rotation on the ball, went in the basket for 3 points.  All he could do was shrug his shoulders and chuckle.  It's great to see these guys have fun when they play, even when it's accidental! 

Largely due to Clarke, Kispert, Tillie and Norvell’s efforts, the Bulldogs bested the Bears on the boards, with 39 rebounds to Baylor’s 27, including 13 to 12 on the offensive glass.  This is a great sign prior to the next game against Florida State.  The Zags were over 50 % on a 31 of 57 effort from the field, with a slightly less stellar effort than last game from deep going 7 of 20 for 35 %.  The Bears held it fairly close for a good amount of the game, down by only 5 points with 16 minutes left in the second half, but the Zags just kept tightening the choke hold.  Mark Vital, and Makai Mason each had 17 points, and Jared Butler and King McClure had 11 and 15 respectively despite strong efforts on the part of the Zags all game long on defense.  The assist ratio was almost 2 to 1 in favor of Gonzaga with 19 to Baylor’s 10.  To the Bulldog coaching staff’s chagrin, the free-throw percentage dipped below 70 again.  I have no doubt its going to come up in the game against Florida State on Thursday.

Though any game you win in the tournament is a great game, as Mark Few mentioned in his post-game interview, Florida State is “vastly under-seeded.”  If you’re a Gonzaga fan you remember the Seminoles from the Sweet 16 last year, and the difficult end to an excellent season that wasn’t expected to go nearly as far as it went when people projected things at the beginning of the season.  The Bulldogs weren’t expected to win the WCC in 2018—not the conference nor the tournament.  They won both and handily set aside all opposition in the WCC tournament that gave us such trouble this year.  The end to a very nice string of wins late in the season came in the Sweet 16, at the hands of Florida State and Leonard Hamilton’s fathomlessly deep bench.  Like the game against the Zags last year, Hamilton went often to his bench against Murray State in the game that earned them the right to play Gonzaga in this Sweet 16.  He kept fresh bodies in to defend the likes of Ja Morant and snuff out further tournament hopes for that superstar despite his stellar shooting to begin the game.  It is, no doubt, the same strategy he will employ against Gonzaga on Thursday night.  I think the best defense against a depth like Florida State’s is a depth of your own and the Zags are in a much better spot this year than last. 

Last year we didn’t really have it.  Tillie was, unexpectedly, out for that Sweet 16 game in 2018.  With him, as I’ve mentioned already, last year’s game would no doubt have been closer.  Geno Crandall, a seasoned veteran of the game who lends a great deal of depth to the Zags' backcourt, wasn’t a part of the team either.  Nor was Brandon Clarke—and Clarke is a serious game changer, as we’ve already seen.  Jonathan Williams was, of course, an excellent player in the 2018 game, but neither he nor Hachimura had convincing answers to solve how the team could compete against Florida State’s endless supply of fresh length and strength.  Rui scored 16 in the game to lead the Zags, Norvell had 14, and though the Zags narrowly outrebounded the Seminoles by a 42 to 40 margin, all the shooting percentages were extremely low for Gonzaga, going only 25% from deep and just under 34% from the field.  It wasn’t good enough to win then and it won’t be good enough to win on Thursday.  We have the answers to solve those problems this year and I suspect Mark Few will have some tricks up his sleeve to further frustrate the Seminoles.   

I have no doubt that this team, unlike last years team, has all the pieces necessary to make it over the hurdle of Florida State in the Sweet 16.  Making it over that hurdle, I believe, will put Gonzaga in very good territory to continue on toward a national championship.  One really positive sign is that Hachimura, leading scorer for the Zags in that 2018 game, has a lot more game-time under his belt and is infinitely better prepared to meet the challenge.  He’s learned to bang with the best of the big boys.  He’s stronger, faster and his intensity level is on the rise every game he plays.  Brandon Clarke had all those qualities to begin with and no doubt about it, will be seriously primed and pumped for this one.

Oh yea, and Tillie’s back.  It still rings like angel trumpets in my ears.  Clarke and Hachimura have slightly different games, I think. I would call Hachimura a finesse player, with excellent moves around players, using the basket often to his advantage as a way of losing defenders on the other side.  And his smooth jumper is a thing of absolute beauty.  He can play D and bang down low with the big guys, but perhaps smooth, poetic play is his natural state.  As we saw against Baylor, Clarke is going to give it all he's got everywhere on the court, swat you if you come up with even a pinch of weakness, get to the basket directly, and hit you in the teeth if you’re in his way.  Both players, I believe, have learned the style of the other—perhaps best by necessity from practicing against it all year.  Clarke has developed some very smooth moves, and Rui has had to become stronger and more forceful in his all-around game.  I remember watching the team scrimmage just before the opening of the season for the fans at the McCarthy Athletic Center.  It's a free, yearly event that draws a lot of people in and allows the team to introduce itself to the fanbase.  One thing I noticed right off the bat, because I suspected Rui would dominate the scrimmage, was that Brandon Clarke was really giving him some serious trouble during the scrimmage.  That, of course, boded well for the rest of the season because anybody who can give Rui trouble has got to have some serious skills.  Tillie, I would say, is a wonderful balance between the two extremes that Rui and Clarke represent.  He can finesse as well as bang with the best of them, and both seem natural to him.  And though Rui and Clarke pull the trigger from deep occasionally when left wide open (and make it at a pretty darn high percentage), Tillie makes 3’s with guys in his grill all the time.  They are an absolutely lethal triumvirate with such an incredible range of skills, and the Seminoles are not going to dissuade all three from having great games easily.  Oh, and Petrusev, our other tall guy off the bench, showed he can both shoot from deep, pull off sweet post moves and dunk against the likes of Duke and North Carolina earlier this season as well.  It seems to me, we’ve definitely got depth to contend with Florida State down low. 

In the backcourt, Perkins, Norvell and Kispert return from the 2018 team with the added help of our beloved Geno Crandall and his precision skills, imaginative execution and tenacious D.  Jeremy Jones, another veteran player with serious skills on both ends, plays with that wonderful quality of fuzzying the line between guard and forward.  He will be right in the grill of anybody he’s up against on defense, big or not, picking pockets, rebounding and he will not hesitate to take advantage of any scoring opportunities he’s offered.  All this is to say Gonzaga’s really, really good, and as prepared as they can possibly be, with the personnel to make amazing things happen.  There’s good reason the committee had them down as a #1 seed.  Florida State is going to be facing something they haven’t seen as of yet in this team--very different and, I believe, more lethal than any other Gonzaga team in the history of great Gonzaga teams.  Needless to say, I’ve got Gonzaga in ink as my pick to move on to the Elite 8, the Final 4, the Final and as the Champions.