Gonzaga rewind: Ryan Nembhard-Braden Huff connection sparks Zag offense in San Diego thumping

SAN DIEGO – Mark Few celebrated his 700th coaching win on Thursday in a convincing 86-61 victory at Pepperdine. The second leg of Gonzaga’s two-game trip in Southern California, a 105-63 victory against San Diego, gave the 25th-year coach and his family another reason to celebrate.

Few’s middle son, Joe, played the final 6 minutes, 29 seconds with Gonzaga nursing a 38-point lead and scored his first career field goal with nearly two minutes left in the game. After missing a 3-pointer a few minutes earlier, the junior walk-on drove past his defender and converted a floater approximately 10 feet from the basket, extending GU’s lead to a game-high 43 points.

Dad’s analysis of the play?

“It was the right basketball play,” Few said. “They were up into him, he did a good job driving. He likes that little runner. I’m not sure I like the 10-foot runner, but he likes to shoot that. The 3 was great, he took a nice 3. I thought that was in, that looked really good when it left his hand. It was awesome. It’s awesome. He’s been really, really valuable for us this year.”

Gonzaga’s end-of-game unit, featuring Few, Jun Seok Yeo, Pavle Stosic, Dusty Stromer and walk-on Colby Brooks, outscored the Toreros 10-7 inside the final five minutes.

“He’s really helped us with the scout team and that’s the first time our scout team basically got out there at the end and grew the lead a little bit and didn’t give up a bunch of baskets,” Few said. “So they did a really nice job on defense for extended minutes.”

Our day-after rewind focuses on two of the players who helped Gonzaga pull away early on in another convincing WCC road win.

New high for Huff

Huff’s first 95 seconds on the floor featured a missed 3-pointer, a turnover and a layup attempt that bounced off the rim. Things got substantially better from there for the reserve forward.

Huff collected his own rebound on the missed layup and converted the putback then continued to hurt the Toreros with an array of layins, dunks, midrange jumpers and 3-pointers. Over a 3:08 stretch, Huff individually outscored USD 12-4 and missed only three more shots for the remainder of the game.

“He can do that,” Few said. “His scoring’s kind of easy for him, his ball goes in. We’re still challenging him on the defensive end. Yeah, he’s just got that real knack and his ball goes in, got great hands and great feel around the basket. Our guys are doing a good job finding him. Ryan made some exceptional passes to him there.”

The Glen Ellyn, Illinois, native became the first Gonzaga freshman to score at least 26 points in a game since Jalen Suggs tallied 27 in a neutral-site game against Iowa during the 2020-21 season. In some ways, Huff’s feat may have been more impressive when you consider the forward came off the bench and crammed his 26 points into 20 minutes in a true road game.

“He doesn’t miss shots, that’s kind of who Braden is,” fellow forward Ben Gregg said. “He’s been that way all summer, and last year was so big for him. He was working so hard every day and it’s showing now. It’s big time for us. Anytime he gets in the paint, he’ll get it in the hole somehow, and especially his ability to stretch the floor as well is awesome.”

Huff’s frame gives him a distinct advantage against USD’s smaller lineup and the freshman capitalized on situations where the Toreros switched a smaller guard onto the 6-foot-10 forward. The Bulldogs had success feeding interior passes into Huff but also threw the ball up and over USD defenders on a few occasions to give the freshman uncontested dunk opportunities.

“He’s got really good touch around the rim,” Nembhard said. “All you’ve got to do is get it to him, he’s going to make sure he catches it and put it up. So he’s been super good for us this year.”

Huff’s minutes have fluctuated in WCC play, but the forward’s efficiency hasn’t wavered. In conference play, Huff’s field goal percentage of 70.5% ranks second in the WCC behind only San Francisco’s Jonathan Mogbo, the early frontrunner for the league’s player of the year honor.

‘Heckuva night’

for Nembhard

Gonzaga’s starting point guard picked up a handful of things watching Few’s offense on television while older brother Andrew played in Spokane. Now Nembhard’s getting a crash course on how to operate it.

The Creighton transfer furnished another impressive stat line, scoring 12 points while matching his career high with 12 assists on Saturday night.

Equally important to Gonzaga’s offensive efficiency? Nembhard didn’t commit a turnover for the third consecutive game.

“That is what he can do,” Few said. “Sometimes he gets a little bored with it, sometimes our bigs don’t quite roll and present themselves like they need to when playing with such a great passer. There’s two sides of the story there. I think they’re coming along with that, certainly Braden gets it and I think Graham (Ike) is still coming along with it. That’s a heckuva night.”

Nembhard’s now played 113 minutes without a turnover and the junior’s dished out 26 assists since his last turnover. Prior to this stretch, Nembhard had never gone three consecutive games in his career without a turnover.

The point guard ranks No. 12 nationally averaging 6.4 assists per game, up from 4.8 last season, and would need to average 4.9 the rest of the season to crack Gonzaga’s single-season top 10.

“I feel like I’m just starting to get used to all the guys and stuff, I’m starting to see my reads a little better,” Nembhard said. “It’s definitely slowing down for me, seeing the game better at this point of the year, and hopefully that continues.”