No. 3 Gonzaga back at it against visiting Long Beach State
It’s quite possible Long Beach State first-year head coach Chris Acker connected with his former boss, San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher, for some info on Gonzaga after the Zags’ latest win.
No. 3 Gonzaga (4-0) handled San Diego State 80-67 on Monday night at Viejas Arena. Its next assignment, following a quick turnaround, is entertaining Long Beach State (1-3) on Wednesday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Acker assisted Dutcher at SDSU for five seasons before replacing Dan Monson at Long Beach State. Monson, the former Gonzaga head coach, now directs Eastern Washington’s program.
Meanwhile, if Dutcher and Acker connected, it would probably confirm what Acker, who also worked on former Zags assistant Leon Rice’s staff at Boise State, saw during CBS Sports Network’s telecast of GU’s road victory.
Dutcher pointed to Gonzaga’s edge in big-game experience and noted that “Ryan Nembhard and Graham Ike were dynamic.”
Ike scored 20 of his team-high 23 points in the second half. He finished 7 of 9 from the field and 9 of 11 at the foul line. Nembhard had 19 points, 12 in the closing half, and 10 assists.
Dutcher’s defensive-minded Aztecs’ goal was limiting Gonzaga to 74 points to have a chance at an upset.
“We hung in the game,” Dutcher said. “They got 80, which is 20 under their average right now. We have to hold them in the 70s and then make a few more plays to have a chance to win.”
Acker and Long Beach State face a sizable challenge, even with the Zags returning to Spokane in the early morning hours Tuesday after a physical contest with SDSU and limited prep time prior to Wednesday’s 6 p.m. matchup.
Long Beach State is off to a 1-3 start, with the lone victory against Division III La Verne in the season opener, but only a play or two away from being 3-1.
The Beach lost an 80-79 heartbreaker on the road against South Dakota State. They fell 84-54 to San Francisco, picked fourth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll, and 63-61 to Portland, which shared eighth with San Diego in the coaches’ poll.
Next up Gonzaga, heavily favored to win the WCC. The Zags own impressive wins over Baylor, Arizona State and San Diego State in the season’s first two weeks. GU’s depth and seasoned roster should help the squad turn the scouting report page from San Diego State to Long Beach State.
The Beach, under Monson, made an improbable run to the Big West Conference Tournament championship before falling to Arizona last March in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Long Beach State’s roster, like so many in the NIL and transfer portal era, underwent major revisions in the offseason. Three players returned and Acker added six from the transfer portal, including leading scorer Devin Askew, who played at Kentucky, Texas and Cal before joining The Beach. Cam Denson, who played two seasons at Pacific, also made the move to Long Beach State.
Askew averages 17.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds. TJ Wainwright, a 6-3 guard who transferred from Robert Morris, is the only other player in double digits at 15.5 points in 27 minutes, second behind Askew’s 34.8.
Askew scored 27 points and Wainwright added 23 against South Dakota State, but Long Beach State gave up a three-point play with 1.5 seconds remaining in a one-point loss. San Francisco dominated the paint scoring 48-20 in a blowout win over Long Beach State. Askew missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in Saturday’s loss at Portland.
Denson, a 6-7 senior, contributes 9.0 points and 5.8 boards in 20 minutes per game. He averaged 8.5 points in his final year at Pacific. He scored 17 points on 6-of-20 shooting from the field in a pair of losses to Gonzaga last season.