Gonzaga rewind: Numbers adding up for Zags, but defense leaves room for improvement

Gonzaga fans are probably aware of the current streaks extended by Saturday’s 111-88 victory over Pepperdine.

GU has won 74 straight at the McCarthey Athletic Center, 27 consecutive West Coast Conference openers and a mind-boggling 44 in a row over the Waves.

Here are a few other numbers to chew on from Saturday’s rout, all topics in our latest Gonzaga rewind. The Zags rediscovered their running game, posting 30 fastbreak points. They scored 70 paint points. Both were season highs against a Division I opponent.

It wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops for No. 10 Gonzaga, which gave up 88 points, 10 above Pepperdine’s season average. The Waves made 52.2% from the field, the highest against the Zags this season.

Transition tune up

It has been a common refrain from Gonzaga’s foes through the years. Paraphrasing, opposing coaches and/or players stressed transition defense and avoiding turnovers that would result in points at the other end of the court.

We haven’t heard that quite as often this season.

Near the midpoint of the season, GU is wildly efficient (52.6% shooting, first nationally) and scoring at a high clip (86.9 points per game, fifth nationally), but ranks 34th in KenPom’s adjusted tempo.

Gonzaga scored 30 fastbreak points against the Waves, including 20 in the opening half. Prior to Wednesday’s rout of NAIA Eastern Oregon, the Zags were averaging 10.7.

GU had 36 transition points vs. EOU, 28 against North Florida in the season opener and 23 vs. Xavier in offensive shootout in Portland. The Zags’ next highest total was 14 vs. Montana.

“That’s what we’ve always tried to do here,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “This group has a been a little bit slower to catch on to it. When you think about all our teams, we’ve been great at that. Lately we’ve spent some time on it and I think doing a better job of pitching it ahead and even getting it out of the net and throwing it ahead if we can.”

A year ago, Gonzaga outscored foes 15.1-7.4 in fastbreak points. The last two games have boosted GU to a 13.7-9.5 edge.

Similarly, the Zags dominated paint points (44.0-29.4) last season, including 11 games with at least 50. The current Zags hold a 43.1-31.1 advantage. Prior to scoring 84 against Eastern Oregon and 70 vs. Pepperdine, Gonzaga’s paint-point margin was 37.8-31.4.

GU’s other games with more than 44 paint points – 66 vs. North Florida and 50 vs. Alabama.

The bottom line is Gonzaga hardly struggles to score and its demonstrating there are multiple ways of putting the ball in the basket.

The Zags rank second behind Arizona in KenPom’s offensive efficiency. They have led the nation in scoring each of the last four seasons and have an outside shot at making it five in row. James Madison ranks first at 89.7 points.

Defense rests

The points came easy for the Zags on Saturday. It was the same for the Waves for most of the game, but they never really threatened after falling behind 56-40 at half.

“For a while there that’s all it was, both teams scoring on each other,” Few said. “We finally had a stretch where we got some stops. There was a lot of stretches where we were just exchanging baskets. Probably these last four games, our offense has definitely been carrying us.”

Few, in pre- and post-game comments, complimented Pepperdine’s offensive ability. Maxwell Lewis, a smooth 6-foot-7 wing, had two 3-pointers and 20 points in 23 minutes. He was in foul trouble and played just seven minutes in the first half.

All five Waves starters scored in double figures and combined to shoot 57% from the field. The Waves hit 40% on 3-pointers.

“Your defense can slack a little bit when you put up that many points,” said Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, who scored 35 points. “Obviously we don’t want to live by that because we’re not going to shoot like that every night. It’s just not possible.”

Pepperdine became the fifth team to shoot above 50% against GU, joining Texas, Alabama, Xavier and Montana. The Zags, at times, had issues covering pick-and-rolls and cutters. They’ll likely see more of the same schemes on the road this week against San Francisco and Santa Clara.

“Everything,” Few said of what his team needs to address defensively. “We’ve got to guard the ball better, guard actions better. Everything. There’s probably not one thing I feel great about” after Saturday’s win.

Added Timme: “We have a beast of a week coming up. We’re really going to have to lock in on our defense. We’ve shown we can defend and we’re more than up for the challenge.”