DAVE BOLING

With four games remaining, the final stretch of the West Coast Conference regular season promises to put Gonzaga to the test.

For the first time this year, and with only four regular-season games remaining, the West Coast Conference’s Player of the Week honor has been awarded to a Gonzaga player.

Gonzaga is back in the top 10 in the NET rankings, which nearly matches the Zags’ projected seeding in the NCAA Tournament. Yes, that’s a bit unusual.

Emmanuel Innocenti made his first appearance Saturday at a Gonzaga post-game media session and it certainly won’t be the last time as he continues to earn more minutes in the rotation. The sophomore guard has made a positive impact while assuming a bigger role over the last three weeks.

Here are three observations from Gonzaga’s 107-55 West Coast Conference win over Pepperdine on Saturday at McCarthey Athletic Center.

Anton Watson’s adjusting well to coastal life in a small town on the Northeast peninsula of the United States, roughly 2,800 miles from his hometown of Spokane.

It was that kind of night for Gonzaga’s offense and Pepperdine’s defense as the Zags cruised to a 107-55 West Coast Conference victory Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The first half started with Khalif Battle hitting consecutive 3-pointers and ended with Battle drilling a step-back jumper to beat the buzzer. In between, Gonzaga piled up 19 assists – 10 by Ryan Nembhard in another record-setting performance – and through the first 13-plus minutes had more assists (15) than Pepperdine had points (13). Midway through the half, GU was shooting 75% and led by 20. It was that kind of night for Gonzaga’s offense and Pepperdine’s defense as the Zags cruised to a 107-55 West Coast Conference victory Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Mark Few’s coaching résumé consists of 735 career victories, 24 NCAA Tournaments, two national championship appearances and 14 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year honors.

Chris Gerlufsen was pleased with the developments of the first five minutes of Thursday’s West Coast Conference game between his San Francisco Dons and the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

On Thursday night, Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard were Gonzaga's top scorer, each contributing 18 points to a 88-77 win over San Francisco that catapulted the Zags into second place in the West Coast Conference.