Gonzaga rewind: Drew Timme’s shoes, free throws and strong bench production

This Gonzaga rewind is brought to you largely by the quotable Drew Timme.

Topics covered: The much-needed bench production in Monday’s 88-67 win over Northern Illinois, the end of the line for Timme’s red Nike shoes and the senior forward’s 88.9% accuracy at the free-throw line.

No. 15 Gonzaga stretched its home winning streak to 71, equaling Arizona’s run from 1987-92 as the longest in college basketball since 1985, when the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams.

The Zags’ performance was a bit rough around the edges, much like Timme’s shoes from the wear and tear of extended use, but they got it done with Timme’s 26 points and a season-high 42 points from the bench, led by Ben Gregg, Hunter Sallis and Malachi Smith.

Subs take center stage

The bench provided nearly half of Gonzaga’s 88 points. It was timely with four starters having off nights. Coach Mark Few said Julian Strawther was under the weather.

Timme didn’t mince words when asked about the bench’s contribution.

“It was huge,” he said. “We couldn’t score the damn ball, to put it bluntly. Obviously, we have a bunch of guys going through some things, but Mali (Smith) and Ben really rose to the occasion, especially in the second half. The energy Ben brought, even the rebounding was huge for us and it kind of helped us pull away.”

Gregg finished with 18 points and seven rebounds. Smith made four 3-pointers and had 14 points and six boards. Sallis added 10 points, two assists and another strong defensive effort in a team-high 30-plus minutes.

“Hunter is playing great defense. He’s bringing energy, our level kind of goes up,” Few said. “He’s kind of making the right reads on ball screens and distributing the ball when he needs to, finishing when he needs to.”

Asked about Smith, Few said, “Same thing (as Sallis). It’s interesting, you’re just kind of rolling the dice with which one of these guys is going to play good in these games. It’s kind of hard to predict, to be honest, so we kind of wait to see who it is. Fortunately for us, Malachi, Ben and Hunter gave us something.

“If we can get some consistency out of those guys, it’ll make the minute distribution a lot easier, but right now it’s been kind of up and down.”

The same probably could be said of the starters .

The bench’s previous season high was 41 points vs. Portland State at the PK85 and 39 in the season-opening rout over North Florida. Gonzaga’s three easiest wins have been PSU, North Florida and Northern Illinois, which resulted in extended minutes for the second unit.

The bench has outscored opponents in five of 11 games. Sallis chipped in seven points as GU held an 11-7 edge against Washington.

The Zags had a 23-16 advantage against Baylor behind Smith’s 16 points.

On line success

Timme’s eyes immediately found the free-throw column on the stat sheet as he sat down for a postgame session with media. He hit 8 of 9 at the line.

“That’s what I was looking at,” he said. “I have a lot of choice words about it, but I’m very excited because a lot of them have felt good. It’s something I’ve been working on a lot, and maybe I sometimes needed to show the rim more love or something, I don’t know. They went in, I loved it.”

The free-throw line has been a mixed bag for Timme, who was at 56.9% prior to the game and 60.8% afterward. He’s tied for 12th nationally with 74 attempts.

GU struggled at the line in exhibition games and in the win over Michigan State. The Zags enjoyed four straight games between 70% and 90.5% before enduring a rough four-game stretch.

The Zags connected on 18 of 21 against Northern Illinois.

Laces out

And now the hard news from Monday’s game. Or at least Timme’s hard decision.

Scan through The Spokesman-Review’s photo archive of this season and there’s snaps of Timme clad in red Nikes maneuvering inside against Tennessee’s bigs in Frisco, Texas, against Michigan State’s Mady Sissoko on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego harbor, against Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe at the Spokane Arena and against Baylor’s Flo Thamba in South Dakota.

Between Friday’s win over Washington and tipoff Monday, Timme decided to bench his favorite shoes for a fresh pair of white Nikes.

“I was so sad to put them down,” Timme said. “The amount of buckets I’ve got in those, that’s why I couldn’t give them away. But my mom and agent have just been hounding me for the past three weeks about it.

“I haven’t had a proper funeral service yet, but I might get a little emotional later tonight putting those down. Those are definitely going into the hall of fame. I thought they had a game or two left, but my mom wasn’t playing with me on that one, so I had to put them away.”

Timme wasn’t sure how long he’d worn the shoes, but he indicated they made frequent appearances last season. As for the buckets, he’s at 90 made field goals this season with a career-best 20.5 scoring average.

“I think we got those shoes last summer,” Strawther said after Friday’s win over Washington. “I think we wore them in team pictures last year. Until they’re completely done and he can’t play in them anymore, he’s going to wear them. I remember the Xavier game, they came off his feet.”