Early returns on Gonzaga’s offense: Balanced scoring, 3-point struggles

Gonzaga has played five games, a small sample size of 16.7% of the regular season, but the numbers have been interesting nonetheless for the offense.

Four players have taken turns as the leading scorer in a game, an indication that balance will be one of the offense’s calling cards.

The list of top scorers – Braden Huff vs. Yale, Graham Ike vs. Eastern Oregon and Purdue, Nolan Hickman vs. Syracuse and Anton Watson vs. UCLA – includes three bigs, one off the bench and one guard. In a blowout win over NAIA Eastern Oregon, three bigs scored at least 20 points.

Five players are averaging double figures, led by Watson’s 16.6 points. He was fourth on the team prior to his 32-point breakout in Wednesday’s 69-65 win over UCLA at the Maui Invitational in Honolulu.

Ike is next at 13.8 points. He had 25 points against Eastern Oregon and was closer to his average with 11 vs. Yale, 14 vs. Purdue and 16 against Syracuse. He missed all six shot attempts and finished with three points while battling foul trouble in 18 minutes against UCLA.

Hickman, who is averaging 13.6 points, is the lone Zag to score in double digits in all five games.

Huff scored 15 points in three Maui Invitational games, dropping his average to 11.4. Ryan Nembhard, with four games in double figures, is fifth at 11.2 points. Nembhard leads the team in minutes (34.8 per game) while Huff ranks seventh (14.6).

Gonzaga’s shooting stats have been a mixed bag. The Zags are at 49.1% overall, No. 44 nationally, but they’ve made just 30.3% (tied for No. 255) on 3-pointers and 63.7% (No. 301) at the foul line.

The Zags (4-1) are connecting on 58.3% of shots inside the arc.

Watson (50%), Huff (46.7%) and Ike (44.4%) are the top three among rotation regulars in 3-point accuracy. The same three – Watson at 69.2, Huff at 60.5 and Ike at 58.3 – also lead the way in field-goal percentage.

Hickman (87.5%), Dusty Stromer (85.7) and Nembhard (83.3) are the top three free -throw shooters for the Zags, who entertain Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday.

Watson makes Maui all-tourney team

Watson’s career-high 32 points against UCLA in the final game of the Maui Invitational earned him a spot on the all-tournament team.

Watson averaged 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds as the Zags went 2-1 and finished fifth in Honolulu. The fifth-year senior forward made 24 of his past 31 shots (77.4%) over the last five halves in the tournament, including 14 of 15 against the Bruins. He was 3 of 3 on 3-pointers.

Watson was joined on the all-tournament team by Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), Dalton Knecht (Tennessee), Oso Ighodaro (Marquette) and Braden Smith (Purdue).

Zach Edey was named tournament MVP after leading No. 2 Purdue to the championship.