Gonzaga rewind: On guard play, defense and improvement since 5-3 start

Our latest rewind looks at Gonzaga’s guard play and defense in Tuesday’s win over Montana – spoiler alert: some good and bad – and the Zags’ improvement since their 5-3 start.

No. 11 Gonzaga earned a hard-fought 85-75 victory over the Grizzlies behind Drew Timme’s 32 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks.

It’s not recommended to dig an early hole, but it’s worked out for GU in the past two games. The Zags trailed by nine before handling No. 4 Alabama 100-90 on Saturday. They trailed by 10 before taking control with a 26-5 run in the first half and weathering a late Montana comeback.

Progress report

There have been numerous ups and downs in the Zags’ first 13 games, but they take a five-game winning streak into the holiday break. They’re trending in the right direction after stumbling late against current No. 12 Baylor and absorbing lopsided losses against current No. 1 Purdue and No. 7 Texas. Those teams are a combined 28-3.

“The guys are mentally tired, they’re physically tired,” coach Mark Few said. “I’ve been saying all along this is the most difficult run we’ve had in the preseason. To have it with this young of team, guys that are kind of new to their roles and so many guys having to figure it out, I’m really proud of them.

“Obviously, we have a long way to go, but I’d say from where we were walking out of Texas or that Purdue game, it’s been pretty good stuff.”

Purdue center Zach Edey is the front-runner for player of the year, but Timme has strengthened his candidacy with huge stats and by flat-out taking over several games.

“I think we’ve just matured as a team,” Timme said. “We’re a young team. Malachi (Smith) is a senior/junior in his first year in the offense. We have a lot of moving pieces, new people, new roles and it takes time to figure it out.

“It’s always going to be, ‘Oh, you guys are going to be undefeated again.’ That expectation was unfair on this team. People need to take a step back and realize we have to grow as a team. We’ve taken big strides, but there’s still lot of room for us to grow because we’re still nowhere near our potential right now.”

No-turnover Nolan

Gonzaga’s backcourt, like the team in general, has had an interesting journey in the nonconference schedule.

Sophomore Nolan Hickman has been steady at point guard with three straight turnover-free games and 11 assists. The Seattle native has gone nearly 100 minutes (98:26 to be exact) since his last turnover in the second half against Washington.

He’s had nine consecutive games with more assists than turnovers. He has a 3.73 assist-to-turnover ratio in that span (41 assists, 11 turnovers). He ranks No. 68 nationally at 2.43.

“He’s put together several games where he hasn’t turned the ball over, which has been big,” Few said. “That’s a huge stat for us. Offense has been carrying us through this run. We’ve been working, trying, prodding and encouraging to get the defense up to speed, but it definitely wasn’t there (vs. Montana). Our offense has been clicking right along.”

Smith has three consecutive double-figures scoring games after posting three in the first 10 contests. He’s the primary reason Gonzaga’s bench has outscored five of the past six opponents.

Smith has hiked his scoring average to 8.5 points. He’s made a team-leading 50% of his 3-point attempts, including seven of his past 10.

“I’ve done a lot of things in my career, so my confidence has never wavered,” said Smith, who was the 2022 Southern Conference Player of the Year before transferring from Chattanooga to Gonzaga. “Just learning the system, just learning where I fit in and just playing more and thinking less, that’s what I’d say.”

Senior guard Rasir Bolton has hit a rough patch . He made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 37 seconds as the Zags held off the Grizzlies. Those were his only points in 16-plus minutes.

Bolton was in double figures in six of the first seven games, but just once in the past six contests. In the past four games, he’s 7 of 30 from the field, including 2 of 12 on 3s. Bolton ranks third in scoring (10.3) with 40.4% accuracy from distance.

Reset button

The Zags will take their longest break of the season over the Christmas holiday before returning to Spokane on Monday to prepare for NAIA Eastern Oregon on Wednesday.

The timing is ideal with a few Zags hoping to shake a lingering illness that has made the rounds among several players. Julian Strawther isn’t quite back to 100%, but he was nearly 100% from the field Tuesday (4 of 5 from the field, 2 of 2 from distance and 5 of 5 at the foul line).

“Hopefully, we’ll get rested over the break and come back healthy and ready to go,” Few said.

“I feel like every team in the country is tired,” Timme said, “so a break wouldn’t hurt.”