‘It’s going to be World War III today.’ As expected, physicality at a premium during latest Gonzaga-UCLA meeting

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – With four losses to Gonzaga in four previous attempts, UCLA’s Mick Cronin may not have been bold enough to forecast a victory for the 22nd-ranked Bruins over the 14th-ranked Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at Intuit Dome.

The sixth-year UCLA coach did have a good idea of how things would look on the floor, and possibly what tone Saturday’s game would take on when things tipped off at the Los Angeles Clippers’ home arena.

“I told all these guys, I told them it’s going to be World War III today,” Cronin said. “I told them it was coming.”

After three games between Gonzaga and UCLA that were generally easy on the eyes – the Zags averaged 85 points in those, the Bruins averaged 76 – the past two contests have transformed into defensive slugfests, with physical play at a premium and offensive execution often hard to come by.

Saturday’s game, won by UCLA 65-62, didn’t always resemble last year’s consolation game at the Maui Invitational, when the teams combined for 51 fouls and 60 free throws while both shooting under 45% from the field. But it played out in relatively similar fashion, with neither team hitting its mark on offense and both falling well short of their season scoring average.

For the second time in as many years, Gonzaga and UCLA failed to make 50% of their shots from the field, but the Bulldogs and Bruins did manage to trade turnovers at a higher rate than either coach would have preferred, combining for 30 in the game after totaling 20 in the first half.

There were also two flagrant fouls – both committed by Gonzaga players – and double technical fouls assessed to players on both teams in the second half.

“I didn’t necessarily think it was chippy, I thought it was two teams really competing then playing with some intensity, or a lot of intensity,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said. “I think chippy has a connotation of some other things there, so I think it was just two teams that ramped up, playing really, really physical, and these guys are the highest of character and they’ve shown all year they’re going to respond.

“Whether it’s in the Garden and they get jumped there in front of a wild crowd there or tonight, so yeah, I was proud of them.”

With 4 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the first half, Gonzaga’s Khalif Battle had a Flagrant 1 foul upgraded to a Flagrant 2 after the guard yanked Eric Dailey Jr. to the ground by his neck after the UCLA guard caught Battle jumping on a pump fake under the basket.

“It was obvious,” Few said of the play, which stirred up some debate among fans on social media. “He just inadvertently grabbed a guy’s neck.”

GU’s Michael Ajayi was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul early in the second half after swinging his elbows through and making contact with an UCLA player on an offensive play just outside the key.

Officials went to the review table for a third time after Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard and UCLA’s Dailey were caught shoving one other after a tie-up on the Bulldogs’ end of the floor.

“We knew it was going to be a war,” Cronin said. “We knew they weren’t going to go anywhere.”

Gonzaga’s ability to match UCLA’s patented physical play was a positive takeaway in another Quad 1 loss in which the Bulldogs had multiple chances to win down the stretch.

“The big picture is, we were physical enough, we were tough enough,” Few said. “UCLA’s one of the better defenses in the country and play a real physical style of ball. Honestly, it was a real grinder type game and we showed we’re fine in a game like that.”

Off-hand, Few could cite a number of games in the past where the Zags have been overwhelmed by tough, physical, defensive-minded squads.

“The beauty, maybe the difference between this year and last year is last year we got matched up with teams that when you play (Purdue’s) Zach Edey and UConn last year, physically they just overmatched us in some areas,” Few said. “It’s certainly not happening this year, so that’s a great sign.”

The Zags have held up well in similar tests this season, even if they haven’t always come with a winning result.

“What I told them … we really played some teams that really pride themselves physically,” Few said. “You look at UConn, you look at West Virginia to a certain extent, you look at UCLA obviously. Those are hard, physical teams. We’ve done a great job matching that.”