A Grip on Sports: The Zags tune up for showdown with Saint Mary’s by flipping the switch and shutting down Loyola

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s funny how the stars align at times. We walked into Gonzaga’s McCarthey Athletic Center last night with one aim. Focus on the Bulldog’s defense. You know, the key area if they want to defeat Saint Mary’s in Saturday’s rivalry game.

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• Yes, we know this season’s GU squad has been defined in large part by its offense – and not in the best way.

Outside shooting is probably the key indicator whether the Zags win or lose. Make 3-pointers and everything else seems to follow. But the order felt flipped Tuesday night against Loyola Marymount.

You might remember the Lions from such box-office smashes as last year’s 68-67 upset in the Kennel, a win that snapped the Zags’ 75-game home winning streak. LMU ran its ball-screen action over and over, with an emphasis on forcing the Bulldogs into defensive matchups they either didn’t like or couldn’t handle. It worked.

For one night, anyway. Four weeks later in L.A., the Zags handled everything LMU threw at them and won by 43. Which Gonzaga team would show up on the defensive end Tuesday? It’s was our mission to find out.

Our verdict? The good one. Bordering on great, actually. With one key lesson for Saturday: If handling the myriad of ways Saint Mary’s attacks with ball screens is the difference between winning or losing, the Zags will be alright. With one caveat. They repeat last night’s performance.

How good was Gonzaga’s core group – the five starters and Dusty Stromer and Braden Huff – on the defensive end?

In the first half, when the game outcome was stapled to the stat sheet, the Lions had 12 turnovers, leading to 16 of GU’s 45 points. Most of the miscues were the product of an inability to handle the Bulldogs’ switches, whether they came against the ball screen or other offensive actions LMU runs to get shooters free.

By trusting bigs Anton Watson, Graham Ike, Ben Gregg and Huff to guard Loyola’s guards in space, Mark Few’s plan seemed to open up opportunities. For Loyola. But it was fool’s gold.

When Lions such as Dominick Harris, the former GU player who is their leading scorer, Will Johnson and, off the bench, Justice Hill and Justin Wright, came off the screen, oftentimes they found themselves confronted by the 6-foot-9 Ike or 6-10 Gregg or 6-11 Huff between them and their preferred objective, the rim.

Attack, right? Ignore the bigs matched up with the guards and use quickness to score. Except it was a losing proposition. The one-on-one battles, especially for starters Harris and Johnson, were going to fail. The Zags’ big came up huge.

On this night, the Gonzaga front line was great in space, forcing off-balance shots and taking away any conception of team play. And, if passes were made, the Bulldogs switched back to like-size matchups smoothly.

The key stat? Not the 20 overall turnovers Loyola had. It was the assist total. The Lions finished with six on 23 made baskets. That’s a symptom of one-on-one basketball. For contrast, Gonzaga had 19 – led by Nolan Hickman’s five – on its 36 hoops.

Reserve guards Hill and Wright were matchup problems, sure, with the latter the only Lion who made better than half his shots. But their 12 combined buckets, better than half LMU’s total, were the result of individual effort, not team execution. GU can live with that. And hopes to see the same strategy deployed Saturday night as it hosts West Coast Conference-leading Saint Mary’s.

The Zags had a similar effort against SMC last season in the finals of the WCC tournament. They locked in defensively and forced Randy Bennett’s Gaels to try to win one-on-one battles. They couldn’t.

Saturday will be the first time the teams have met since. How will the Gaels adjust? All we know is they will.

Wait, we know one more thing. If the Zags are as locked in as they were Tuesday night, it may not matter.

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WSU: There is more than one Inland Northwest basketball team fighting for an NCAA Tournament berth. Down in Pullman, the Cougars are trying to build a resume that won’t force them to run the table in the Pac-12 tourney, something they have never done. Greg Woods looks at that resume line-by-line today. … Good for Gardner Minshew. He’s a Pro Bowl player, having been named to the AFC squad yesterday as an alternate, probably for Patrick Mahomes. Just think where Minshew was when he arrived in Pullman. And where he is now. It’s about as great a rags-to-riches story as ever been written on the Palouse. … The Cougars are still outside looking in according to this bracket projection. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, if you love college hoops, there is a good weekend ahead. Just a heads up. … Will the Huskies and Cougars continue to play? … UCLA has used a Kobe Bryant inspiration to get out of its funk. … Oregon has been hit by hard-to-overcome injuries. … Caleb Love is rounding into form, lighting up the scoreboard and leading Arizona at the right time. … In football news, Jon Wilner examines in the Mercury News the impact of the coaching transfer portal, with the winners and losers. … He also looks at the Big 12 football schedule for next season, announced yesterday. The best one seems to be Utah’s, as the Utes start with a tough stretch but the finish is a lot easier. … The schedule also impacts Colorado, Arizona State and Arizona. … Christian Caple has another Washington exit interview, this one with a graduating senior. The Huskies had more roster movement yesterday. … An Oregon offensive lineman has showed out in Senior Bowl workouts. But it’s Bo Nix that seems to be gathering draft momentum. … Oregon State made its last coaching hire. … The Wildcats are happy a couple players took the money and stayed loyal.

Gonzaga: We haven’t seen every Zags game so we will defer to Few here. “This was as good as we’ve played all year,” he said, mentioning the defense first. That quote, and much more, are contained within Jim Meehan’s game story. … Harris’ return went as well as probably could be expected. Not that good. Theo Lawson has more in this story. Our thoughts: Hickman played the type of game on both ends he has the potential to play. The matchup with an old teammate was probably a big part of that. Harris had no chance. … Theo also has the difference makers, including Hickman. … Colin Mulvany had the photo gallery duty and he delivered. … Jim put together a recap with highlights. … Former Gonzaga star Domantas Sabonis has become a double-double machine. … Wil Smith set two school records, one in the mile, last week. That news leads off the S-R’s latest local briefs column.

EWU: The Eastern women are no longer undefeated in conference play. No longer atop the standings alone. No matter. They are home and have key games ahead. Dan Thompson runs down their status in this story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, if winning the men’s player of the week award means anything, Northern Colorado’s Saint Thomas is a lock for the end-of-year award. … The Northern Arizona women, tied with Eastern, have a huge road stretch ahead.

Whitworth: After a lost weekend in Oregon, the Pirates returned home early Sunday morning knowing they only had Monday to get ready for a first-place showdown at Whitman. That’s been a tough task for even the best Whitworth teams over the years. It didn’t matter this time, though, as the Pirates ran away in the second half en route to a 92-74 Northwest Conference victory. Ethan Myers has the game story.

Preps: Dave Nichols did double duty last night, the first of which was covering Mead’s 68-48 victory Central Valley to stay atop the GSL girls’ standings. The Panthers are tied with G-Prep, with the teams meeting Friday. That game leads off his roundup.

Chiefs: Over at the Arena later, Dave has this story on Spokane’s 7-4 loss to Everett.

Mariners: The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal examines the M’s most-recent trade and how it fits into the franchise’s current philosophy. You know, being cheap. … The M’s added some speed to their roster with a trade. … The possible Portland ownership group is moving forward, trying to buy land from the city to site a new ballpark.

Seahawks: If the Hawks wanted to hire Ben Johnson, that’s not happening. The offensive coordinator seems to have decided to stay with the Lions. So now what is the move?

Kraken: Somehow Seattle had a letdown in the final game before the All-Star break. And it cost the Kraken key points in the standings. A 2-0 loss to lowly San Jose, which may be the NHL’s worst team.

Golf: The Saudi money? It seems the PGA Tour is moving away from it and toward billions from American sources. Quite a change. Wonder where it will lead.

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• It’s not often we take a moment before pounding away at the keyboard to contemplate the universe. But on the last morning of January, we did. And it was because the sunrise forced our hand. It was glorious. Red, bright, just the right number of clouds. It helped us focus our thoughts. Thanks, Big Guy. Until later …