‘Attack the rim’: Paint production carries Gonzaga past Pepperdine in WCC opener
MALIBU, Calif. – Khalif Battle concisely summed up Gonzaga’s goal offensively vs. Pepperdine.
“Game plan was to attack the rim,” Battle said. “Paint points.”
Gonzaga yielded 50 points in the second half to Pepperdine, picked last in the West Coast Conference coaches’ preseason poll, but the Zags were able to get to the finish line for an 89-82 victory Monday night by dominating in the lane.
Battle, a 6-foot-5 wing, did his share. He repeatedly used dribble penetration to get to the rim and made 7 of 11 shots en route to a team-high 21 points. Back-up forward Braden Huff poured in 17 of his 19 points in the opening half. He finished 9 of 10 from the field.
Graham Ike had a key stretch in the second half after Pepperdine cut a 20-point deficit to 56-54 with 13:08 remaining. Ike had 10 points in a six-minute, 17-second span as Gonzaga opened up a 76-67 lead. The 6-9 senior hit 7 of 10 shots, two days after making 11 of 16 against UCLA.
“We were shooting a lot of 3s early,” Huff said. “They weren’t really falling. We knew we had to deliver inside and we were able to do that for most part. There were a couple of lapses at points, but I feel like we did a pretty good job.”
The interior production offset a poor shooting night behind the 3-point line. GU was just 2 of 15 on 3s (13.3%) after an 0-of-4 effort in the second half. Nolan Hickman was the only Zag to connect from distance.
Gonzaga was 34 of 51 on 2-pointers (68%). Sixty-four of GU’s 89 points came in the paint.
Forward Ben Gregg added 12 points and point guard Ryan Nembhard chipped in a couple of driving layups in the final eight minutes.
“They were great,” coach Mark Few said of Gonzaga’s bigs. “They were (getting) doubled and they were playing through the doubles. The guys did a good job finding them. They also did a good job posting and ducking in, and that led to some opportunities for the guards.”