Gonzaga feels pressure down stretch, loses first true road game of season to upset-minded Washington
SEATTLE – Gonzaga’s first true road game of the season – and just its second contest decided in the closing minutes – didn’t end well.
The seventh-ranked Zags appeared ready to stretch their winning streak against Washington to eight Saturday night in front of a boisterous, packed house at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Gonzaga had the upper hand for roughly three-fourths of the game, but the Zags couldn’t deliver the knockout blow. The Huskies clawed back from an 11-point second-half deficit to dig out a 78-73 victory that had fans from both teams standing in the closing minutes.
“Obviously we felt like we could have won that game and it came down to the wire,” Gonzaga fifth-year senior forward Anton Watson said. “It’s a tough loss, but we have to keep our heads up because we got a big game coming up this weekend (against UConn on Friday in Seattle).”
Gonzaga, which had won 14 of the last 15 against the Huskies, saw its 16-game winning streak against Pac-12 competition come to an end.
The Zags built their biggest lead, 59-48, with 14:30 left and were still on top 61-51 after Ben Gregg’s two free throws with 13:47 remaining.
Washington rallied, pulling even three times before taking the lead 72-70 with 3:41 remaining on Sahvir Wheeler’s driving layup – UW’s first lead since 3-2 in the opening stages.
Gonzaga registered plenty of defensive stops over the final 7 minutes, but its offense went ice cold, bogged down with turnovers and errant shots.
“We weren’t great getting to our second actions and trusting each other,” Zags coach Mark Few said. “We tried to make something out of nothing on a lot of those plays. We just didn’t play with great poise down the stretch, which so far we’ve done a good job with that.”
The Zags executed much better in crunch time in their only other game decided by fewer than 10 points, riding Watson’s career-high 32 points to a 69-65 win over UCLA in the Maui Invitational.
“They’re a good squad,” GU junior guard Nolan Hickman said. “We just didn’t do what we’re supposed to do on offense. Just a tough one all around. Turnovers, not meeting our defensive assignments, just stuff to learn from.”
Graham Ike’s three-point play with 1 minute left ended a 6 minute, 12-second dry spell and cut Washington’s lead to 74-73. Keion Brooks’ Jr. hit four free throws in the final 42 seconds, sandwiched around another costly GU turnover.
The Zags made 1 of their last 12 shots after Ike’s soft-touch bucket gave Gonzaga a 68-66 lead with 8:22 remaining. Gonzaga’s only points between Ike field goals were Watson’s two free throws with 7:12 left.
“We had some good stretches (defensively) in the second half,” Few said. “Our defense settled in and got us enough stops down the stretch but we were just not real efficient on offensive end.”
Ike led Gonzaga with 18 points but he was limited to 24 minutes due to foul trouble. Hickman scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half. Watson finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and five steals.
Brooks led UW with 17 points and eight rebounds. Wheeler added 16 points and senior center Franck Kepnang had one the best games of his career with 14 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.
Gonzaga led 48-42 after an entertaining, offensive-minded first half. The Zags led virtually the entire half and pushed toward a double-digit margin on several occasions only to see the Huskies battle back.
The bulk of Gonzaga’s lead was the result of an 11-2 edge in points off turnovers. While both teams shot over 55% from the field, UW was guilty of nine turnovers to GU’s three.
Both teams struggled offensively in the closing half. Gonzaga made just 26% and committed nine turnovers. Washington cooled off to 34.6 minutes in second half.