Gonzaga facing ‘quick, tough’ turnaround ahead of road game against Pacific
STOCKTON, Calif. – Facing a sound and sturdy team from San Francisco, offensive issues piled up for Gonzaga through the opening quarter of Thursday night’s West Coast Conference showdown in Spokane.
The Bulldogs were held to their lowest first-half output this season (30 points), handcuffed by poor shot-making (35%), subpar free-throw shooting (50%) and the inability to control a handful of statistical categories the Bulldogs usually dominate, such as points in the paint (10) and fastbreak points (two).
If that felt rugged, consider what the Bulldogs’ next opponent went through approximately 2 hours later at Saint Mary’s.
Pacific didn’t make a shot for nearly 5 minutes to open the game, missed 13 of 14 shots while scoring only four points inside the final 11 minutes, 50 seconds of the first half and entered halftime trailing the Gaels 32-14. When the first-half buzzer sounded in Moraga, California, the Tigers had more turnovers (eight) than made field goals (five).
It’s a fairly safe assumption that Gonzaga (14-5, 5-1) and Pacific (6-15, 0-6) will be looking for cleaner starts when Saturday’s game tips off between the WCC opponents at the Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton.
“It’s a quick turnaround, tough turnaround,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said after the San Francisco game. “Hit the road and these are crazy kind of deals we have. Just got to rest up. Basically, going to rest up and get through a scout tomorrow.”
Gonzaga made the necessary tweaks against USF, pounding the ball into junior post Graham Ike and responding with a 47-point second half in an eventual 77-72 win that wound up being tighter than most thought it would be when the Bulldogs took a 13-point lead with under 3 minutes to play.
Pacific continued to stumble against Saint Mary’s, and found new ways to stumble in some instances, matching its first-half total with 14 points in the second half of a 76-28 loss. The Tigers were held to 18% from the field after halftime, allowing the Gaels to close the game on a 37-9 run. Pacific finished with 12 turnovers compared to 10 made field goals and shot a season-low 20% from the field.
According to former ESPN statistician Jared Berson, it marked the first time in seven years that a Division I team scored at least 70 points while holding its opponent under 30. Saint Mary’s was also the last to do it, beating San Diego 71-27 on Feb. 4, 2017.
The Zags have throttled teams occupying the bottom four spots in the WCC standings, winning four games against Pepperdine and San Diego by an average margin of 30 points, and they’ve won 19 consecutive in the series with Pacific.
But a coach can never be too cautious, and Few doesn’t need to go too far back to recall a closely contested game between one of his Gonzaga teams and Pacific. Just last year, heavily favored GU was tied at the half in Stockton, requiring a big second half from All-American Drew Timme to emerge with a 99-90 victory. Timme scored a career-high 38 points and had 18 straight GU points coming out of halftime.
“Like I’ve said over and over again, we have to bring it each and every night or we’ll put ourselves in position to lose,” Few said. “We don’t have that big of a talent discrepancy with anybody anymore. We’ve just got to bring it and we have to be ready to go on Saturday.”
Still seeking their first WCC win, the Tigers have only one player averaging double figures in senior guard Judson Martindale, who averaged 10.3 points on 38% shooting from the 3-point line.
Five others average between 7.5 and 9.1 ppg for Leonard Perry, the former Idaho player and Vandals coach who’s struggled to turn things around in Stockton, accumulating an overall record of 29-55 and WCC record of 10-26 in three years.