Gonzaga’s evolving offense to face disruptive Texas Tech defense when No. 5 Bulldogs, No. 25 Red Raiders meet in Phoenix

During an eight-day layoff, Gonzaga players and coaches worked hard to curb the turnover issues that have popped up far too often for a team with the Bulldogs’ standards and aspirations.

Considering what the Zags have on deck, the results they’re looking for may not come immediately.

Meeting for the first time since an intense matchup in the Elite Eight three seasons ago, No. 5 Gonzaga (8-2) and No. 25 Texas Tech (8-1) will tip off at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. The second of five games at the Jerry Colangelo Classic will air on CBS.

Gonzaga is desperate for improvement in the turnover column after committing 15.5 per game against Duke, Tarleton State, Alabama and Merrimack. But the Bulldogs may also need to exercise patience against a Texas Tech team that ranks No. 36 in the NCAA at 17.1 forced turnovers per game.

“We’re trying to work on it, but I don’t know if this is a fair assessment of where we’re at,” Few said Thursday. “Part of the issue is when you’re playing these varying styles. You just don’t face what you face in Merrimack, quite frankly. That’s an interesting, unique defense and to turn around and have to deal with – and then the pace, the incredible pace you play with when you play Alabama – and now you flip around and play a half-court defense with the schemes that Texas Tech has.

“They’re all different, so it’s definitely on our minds and in our practice schedule and what we’ve been emphasizing, but we’ll see what kind of results we can get.”

Gonzaga has seen Texas Tech’s “no-middle defense” three times over the past four years despite playing the Red Raiders just once during that time.

First-year Texas Tech coach Mark Adams was an assistant to Chris Beard in 2019 when the Red Raiders beat the Bulldogs 75-69 in the Elite Eight, forcing Gonzaga into 16 turnovers on a night the Zags shot 42% from the field and 26% from the 3-point line.

Another version of the defensive strategy spawned in Waco, Texas, where Baylor coach Scott Drew and the Bears used a similar scheme to beat the Bulldogs in last year’s national championship game, forcing 14 Gonzaga turnovers.

“Obviously Baylor, I don’t want to say stole it, but took it from them and then brought high-level athletes to it especially around the rim,” Few said. “But in the half-court it’s going to be a challenge to get open looks.”

Another Big 12 team adopted the system this year when Beard took over at Texas. The Zags cruised to an 86-74 win over the Longhorns at home last month, playing through Drew Timme on a night that saw the national player of the year candidate score a career-high 37 points.

Gonzaga turned it over just seven times in that game, but Few is quick to offer a caveat: “It was new to Texas, you could tell. It’s been ingrained in Texas Tech for quite some time. I’m sure Texas in due time will get it to where it’s second nature, but it’s very second nature and definitely part of the culture and substance of Texas Tech.”

The only remaining Gonzaga holdover from the 2018-19 team that lost to Texas Tech is walk-on Matthew Lang, but transfer guard Rasir Bolton is well-versed in what the Red Raiders do on both ends of the floor, having faced them three times the past two years at Iowa State.

“They’re tough, they’re disciplined, they follow their game plan all the way through, load over help, take charges,” Bolton said. “So, they really stick to their defensive game plan and stay disciplined. I think that’s the best thing.”

The 2018-19 Red Raiders beat Michigan State in the Final Four before losing to Virginia in the national championship, but some in Texas Tech’s camp felt the team faced its toughest challenge in the Elite Eight.

“When I look back and we played them in that Elite Eight game, when you look at our journey to the championship game, we felt like overall – nothing against Virginia, we felt like Gonzaga might have been the toughest team we played,” Adams told local media earlier this week. “In that particular game, we played extremely well and basically outscored Gonzaga. I thought our defense carried us most of the way through that tournament, but that Gonzaga game we shot the ball and played just great on offense.

“So, we’ll have to have that kind of performance I think this Saturday if we’re going to compete with them.”

Like Gonzaga, Texas Tech doesn’t bring back anyone who appeared in the 2019 game. The Red Raiders are led by wing Terrence Shannon Jr., who Few called a “scorer deluxe,” and guard Kevin McCullar. Both players are averaging 14.3 ppg, but Shannon left the team’s most recent game against Arkansas State with back spasms and didn’t return. His status for Saturday’s game is unknown.

Texas Tech’s starting unit doesn’t feature anyone smaller than 6-foot-6, nor does it list anyone bigger than 6-8, which means the Bulldogs should have superior size in the frontcourt with the 6-10 Timme playing next to 7-footer Chet Holmgren.

“We’ve got Drew down low and if we get him the ball as much as possible – we saw against Texas, against that same type of offense when we got Drew the ball … he had a field day,” Gonzaga wing Julian Strawther said.

“So we’re going to try to do the same thing again and you’ve just got to stretch them out and make the simple play.”