Gray, Bouldin combine for 48 in GU win
Back with the game story from Gonzaga's 76-72 win over Colorado on Monday at the Maui Invitational.
Click below for my unedited article. I'm going to put together a notebook that should be posted in an hour or so (if I don't leave to check out the last five minutes of Cincinnati-Vanderbilt!).
By Jim Meehan
LAHAINA,
The Bulldogs yielded seven 3-pointers and trailed by as many as 15 in the first half. They were still down 11 with eight minutes gone in the second half. But a switch to a zone defense and a steady diet of guards Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray at the offensive end helped Gonzaga pull out a 76-72 Maui Invitational win inside a steamy
“Now I kind of know what
Gonzaga (3-1) advances to play ARIZONA-WISCONSIN in the semifinals at 6:30 Pacific tonight. For a long time Monday, it looked like Gonzaga was headed for the loser’s bracket. The Bulldogs lost track of
With
“It was nice getting that one,” Bouldin said. “I knew (Cory) Higgins had four fouls so I figured he wouldn’t guard me too tough and I just attacked him.”
Gray, who was Gonzaga’s lone threat from long distance by hitting 4 of 7 3s, made 2 of 4 free throws and Bouldin sealed it with a pair of free throws with 4 seconds left. Between Gray’s free throws, the Zags forced a turnover when Nate Tomlinson lost the ball on an out-of-control drive down the lane.
“We didn’t have to shoot a 3 there because we still had a timeout,” said
Gray had 14 points in the first half to keep the Zags within range. He made two 3s – one narrowing CU’s lead to 7 and another trimming the deficit to 4 with 9:34 remaining – that brought the partisan Bulldogs’ crowd to its feet.
“I was just looking to attack and put a lot of ball pressure on them. When things aren’t going well, it’s one of the easiest ways to get it going,” said Gray, who made 11 of 14 free throws.
“It’s an intricate offense, the Princeton-style motion, and if you don’t have a long time to prepare if can slice and dice you and they sliced and diced us pretty good,” Few said. “Under fire, from a very skilled and I’d call them a great offensive team right now, the zone and our guys held up pretty well.”
Noted McClain, who was the head coach at
Another key: Gonzaga only had one turnover in the second half, which curbed
“It’s a win you kind of like to see your guys get because it wasn’t working,” Few said. “They were playing well and we weren’t, even to the point where they had us frustrated. I told our guys anybody can continue to play well if you’re a frontrunner and things are going great. But the sign of a great competitor is if it’s going bad and you can flip the switch. We had several players do that and as a team we did that.”