Gonzaga rewind: Guards, bigs win game within the game against BYU

It wasn’t always easy on the eye, but Saturday’s Gonzaga-BYU bruisefest was certainly intriguing and essentially a battle of wills.

So was the game within the game. Spend any time around Gonzaga coach Mark Few and you will hear one of his favorite sayings – paraphrasing here – that one of the hardest things to do in sports is finding a way to flip it when things just aren’t going your way.

It happened up and down Gonzaga’s roster versus the Cougars. It also happened in several key statistical categories, too. That’s the theme of our Gonzaga rewind from the Zags’ tense 88-81 comeback victory at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Redemption tour

Pick a GU player in the rotation and each had a shaky, unproductive stretch against BYU. That tends to happen in every game, but it’s not a given that a bounce back will follow when battling against a determined, physical foe.

The Zags rebounded in a big way, particularly a guard line that endured a difficult first 31-plus minutes. Starters Rasir Bolton and Nolan Hickman and reserves Hunter Sallis and Malachi Smith combined for just eight points, zero 3-pointers and 4-of-16 shooting as BYU led 63-57 with 8:38 remaining. Wing Julian Strawther was just heating up, but he was on the bench with his fourth foul.

What happened next? Anton Watson snagged a rebound that led to Smith’s 3-pointer. Smith added a steal and layup to put Gonzaga in front 64-63. Watson had a rocky night at the foul line, but he connected on a pair to push the lead to three.

Hickman drained a mid-range jumper. It set the stage for Strawther’s two clutch 3s, Bolton’s equally clutch 3 and Sallis forcing an airball 3-pointer by BYU’s Spencer Johnson with 30 seconds left. Bolton nailed six free throws to seal the win.

“They’re just guys you can count on,” senior forward Drew Timme said. “Everyone struggles, it’s a part of the game. You’re not going to be good all the time. I know I’ve been struggling, the first guys to pick me up are these guys, and vice versa.

“That’s the luxury of this team. Someone will step up and we’re there for each other through thick and thin.”

Interjected Strawther: “I’ll say that, you look back and might say the biggest shots might have been a couple of 3s down the stretch. To me, the biggest shot was down six, we get an offensive rebound tip out to Malachi and he cuts the lead to three. If felt like that sparked some life back into us.

“We were in a tough spot. We’d turned the ball over a couple times and Mali stepped up and knocked it down.”

Strawther back on track

Strawther found his groove again after a three-game mini slump after dropping 40 points on Portland on Jan. 28. In that stretch, he averaged 10 points and made just 2 of 11 3-pointers. Against the Cougars, he was 4 of 9 from deep and finished with 26 points, second only to his career-high 40, to boost his scoring average to 14.6 points.

“These guys really trust me to make big shots,” Strawther said of his teammates. “Somehow, someway, my man’s head gets turned or they go under a screen and these guys make the right read and find me. I’m always going to shoot it, every time.”

“He’s very confident in that stroke of his,” Few added. “He’s really added this last 10, 12 games (where) he’s very comfortable going downhill against some of these coverages and hitting those little floaters in the lane.”

Statistical turnaround, too

BYU, which came in shooting 31.4% on 3-pointers in road games, stung the Zags with seven first-half triples on 43.8% accuracy. The Cougars also collected eight offensive rebounds that resulted in 10 second-chance points and a 37-34 halftime edge.

In the closing half, the Cougars were 1 of 8 from distance and were shut out in second-chance points. Gonzaga won the boards 34-33 after trailing by six at intermission.

“In the first half, they were hitting us pretty hard,” Timme said. “We just kind of flipped our mindset. Five guys rebounding, that’s huge. No one was leaking out.”

Gonzaga, with Watson leading the way on the offensive glass, had an 8-0 edge in second-chance points in the second half.

BYU coach Mark Pope pointed to GU’s offensive boards late in the second half as the difference in the outcome.

“They’re playing two super senior bigs (Timme and Watson) and we’re playing two young bigs (sophomores Fousseyni Traore and Atiki Ally Atiki),” Pope said. “That’s just the lesson you learn and it’s super painful.”

The free-throw line has been an adventure for Zags, particularly Watson and Timme. Watson missed five in a row Saturday, but connected on two big ones in 6:18 left. Timme drained all five of his free -throw attempts in the second half.

Bolton, one of team’s best free-throw shooters, hit 6 of 6 in the final 25 seconds. Gonzaga made 20 of 24 at the line in the second half.

“We’ve been trying all year to free up Rasir on press breaks so we could get him to the line,” Few said. “We finally did it this game.”