Top 10 plays of Gonzaga’s season (so far)
It took all of 40 seconds for Gonzaga’s first eye-catching play of the season.
They’ve just kept on coming, the latest examples a pair of dagger 3-pointers by Jalen Suggs that sealed an 88-78 win over BYU in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game.
It took some time to whittle it down to the top 10 – reflecting the remarkable, clutch and historic plays thus far – as the Zags enter the NCAA Tournament.
Suggs’ slam vs. Kansas
Suggs sent an early message that his freshman season would be like no other in program history. The Zags slapped a 1-2-2 press on Kansas and Anton Watson came up with a steal and fed the ball to Joel Ayayi.
Ayayi lobbed a pass toward the rim and Suggs soared over Marcus Garrett, a preseason defensive player of the year candidate, for a dunk just 40 seconds into the season opener. Suggs was called for a technical foul, apparently for a celebratory shout after the dunk.
Suggs finished with 24 points, eight assists and four boards in 24 minutes in his college debut.
“Just playing patient, picking my spots, my moments,” Suggs said.
Ayayi enters record book
Ayayi did it all against Portland. The versatile junior guard was so efficient he put the finishing touches on the program’s first triple-double with 17 minutes left in the second half.
Ayayi reached double digits in assists with a no-frills pass that led to an uncontested layup by Andrew Nembhard.
Ayayi went on to finish with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists, the latter second in program history to Blake Stepp’s 16.
“My teammates were doing a great job on ball screens, transition … of being open,” Ayayi said. “It was almost my job to hit them, they were that open a bunch of times.”
Nembhard delivers in crunch time
The Zags’ closest game prior to Tuesday’s victory over BYU was a tight contest against West Virginia in Indianapolis. The Mountaineers led deep into the second half before Nembhard evened the score at 67 with a nifty pull-up bank shot.
Gonzaga led 82-77 when Nembhard began from the logo near midcourt with a crossover dribble to the left wing and fired a thread-the-needle diagonal pass over the arm of a late-arriving defender and in front of another to Drew Timme for a layup with 1:40 remaining.
“Just tried to be who I am,” said Nembhard, who settled the Zags down after Suggs departed with an injury in the first half. “I felt very comfortable stepping into that role.”
Nembhard finished with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Kispert goes deep nine times
Corey Kispert scored a career-high 32 points against Virginia, but even that took a backseat to his 3-point shooting clinic.
The 6-7 senior wing buried nine 3-pointers, matching the single-game record set by Kevin Pangos and Dan Dickau. He nailed one in the first half from close to 30 feet. The shot that put him in the record books was a 25-footer from the left wing in the second half. He made 9 of 13 3-point attempts.
“Those guys are great, both Kev and Dan, I look up to them a lot,” Kispert said. “To be in that same conversation is really sweet and I’m sure those guys are really happy for me as well, which speaks to the kind of players that come through here.”
Timme on the low block
Timme had a big game in his back yard against one of the better defensive centers in the country.
The Dallas native scored 29 points in Gonzaga’s easy win over Virginia in Fort Worth. Virginia 7-1 center Jay Huff, who was eventually named to the ACC All-Defensive team, had no luck slowing Timme down.
On one play, Timme caught the ball about 13 feet from the hoop, dribbled into the middle of the lane and then used a drop step and subtle head fake to finish with a layup while drawing a foul on Huff.
“It was just great to get him back home,” coach Mark Few said. “He has so much pride in the Lone Star State. He reminds us daily of that.”
Let Aaron cook
Aaron Cook kept things interesting in a blowout win over San Diego.
The 6-1 senior guard picked off a pass and threw down a left-handed dunk over 6-7 forward Ben Pyle, who was whistled for a foul. Gonzaga’s bench went crazy after Cook’s dunk.
“I’ve known for a while he has some bounce,” Nembhard said of Cook.
Suggs’ dish to Harris
Suggs probably could fill this list by himself, but we chose one of his two most memorable passes. This one was a 60-foot, sidespin pass that hit freshman Dominick Harris in stride on the break against San Francisco.
The sidespin was necessary with USF’s Julian Rishwain literally in the way if Suggs had tried a direct-line pass. Rishwain had no other option but to foul Harris as he attempted a layup.
“One thing a lot of people don’t understand is there’s an art to passing the ball,” said Suggs, who also had a jaw-dropping 85-foot sidearm bullet to Ayayi for a layup against BYU. “I’ve learned a couple things since I’ve been here from (GU legend John) Stockton and things like that, just where to pass the ball, getting up on the shoulder, different backspins to throw on bounce passes.”
Watson drive and dunk
Watson wasn’t happy with Gonzaga giving up a small portion of its comfortable lead in the closing minutes of a road game against Pepperdine.
The 6-8 sophomore forward did something about it with a baseline drive around one Wave and soaring over a help-side defender for a dunk.
Watson finished with 12 points and five boards in a 97-75 win.
Long-distance connection
Kispert’s longest 3-pointer of the year came in the closing seconds of the first half against San Francisco.
He caught an inbound pass, dribbled over the midcourt line and drained a pull-up 40-footer, capping a 7-0 run that put Gonzaga on top 47-37 at the break.
“It tells a lot about their squad,” Dons coach Todd Golden said. “We played well, as well as anybody probably has up there all year. We’re down three, 7-0 run (by Gonzaga) and it’s just deflating.”
That was Kispert’s only 3-ball, but he finished with 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting.
Timme goes the distance
Timme has had countless crafty moves and finishes, including one memorable play against Pacific.
The sophomore forward grabbed a defensive rebound, dribbled down the floor and zipped around 7-footer James Hampshire inside the free-throw line for a left-handed layup.
Timme finished with 22 points in 24 minutes.