Dave Boling: The Zags show they still have some dog in them with physical win over Indiana

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Gonzaga’s multiple mascot names can be a little confusing. And it seems they carry a little different connotation.

They were best-known, traditionally, as the “Bulldogs,” but as the team has emerged as a national powerhouse, “Zags” has been more commonly used and is recognized as an alternate nickname.

“Zags” really suits those graceful and gifted athletes, whose transition game moves like a lightning strike.

But Thursday night, in a bounce-back, 89-73 defeat of Indiana, these guys were absolutely Bulldogs. Slavering, snarling, attacking. There might have been some growling, too, at times, but it was hard to hear with the cacophony of whistles being blown by zealous officials.

Bashing No. 14 Indiana has become chic, as Louisville trounced the Hoosiers by an 89-61 count on Wednesday, in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.

After the No. 3 Bulldogs’ overtime upset loss to West Virginia on Wednesday, coach Mark Few cited inconsistent defense, particularly on the perimeter. Communication and execution simply were not good enough to sustain their late lead.

Few said the guards’ meeting Wednesday night stressed his point. Apparently, they were urged to climb up inside those Hoosier jerseys and make their lives miserable because the heightened defensive intensity was obvious from the first possession.

“We talked about how, in a game like the other night, it comes down to one or two possessions, and you’ve got to be able to execute, especially on defense,” Few said. “I thought we were more connected today. The guards met last night and discussed owning it and communicating better.”

With the defense sparking their transition game, GU went on a 16-0 scoring rampage with under 5 minutes late in the first half, to essentially put the game away.

Former Zag center Oumar Ballo was a problem in the first half, but Few said an adjustment of ball-screen coverage helped slow him in the second half. Ballo finished with 25 points, making 11 of 13 field goals.

Ballo’s effect on the Zags went beyond his scoring, as GU bigs Graham Ike and Braden Huff got in foul trouble quickly.

“That’s the first team we played that is kind of like us, likes to throw it inside a lot … and really puts a lot of foul pressure on you,” Few said. “We were in massive foul trouble in the first half, and got in even more in the second half, but they kept playing and competing.”

With Ballo literally flexing his muscles under the basket (he deserved a little showmanship given his dominance), and Ike and Huff being seated with fouls, forward Michael Ajayi (15 points, nine rebounds) and Ben Gregg (13 points) took up the slack.

On the perimeter, the guards, switching and executing as if their jobs depended on it, held the Hoosiers to 4-for-18 shooting from behind the arc.

The meeting of the guards to discuss the problems from the West Virginia game was not something unusual, Few said. Position meetings are the norm.

But the message was obvious. “They were the ones out there who were screwing up the switches, and we needed to solve it. You know what my message is.”

In defense of the unacceptable defense on Wednesday, a fair question is how players are to understand, from game to game, what constitutes a foul.

This is not a complaint of officials’ competence, but more the observation that the calls vary so dramatically from night to night. So uneven, so unpredictable, at times unfair.

Thursday, 44 whistles were blown, split evenly. So neither team was unfairly burdened.

But the fans certainly are. And guys like Huff, who leads the team in scoring, ended up playing nine minutes.

Exhibit A: Early in the second half, six fouls were whistled in 23 seconds.

GU dealt with it Thursday by replacing players with substitutes who got the job done. And it didn’t seem to squelch their aggressiveness.

Near the start of the Zags’ big first-half scoring spurt, a ball got loose and half of each team seemed to dive to the floor in a dog-pile, great hustle all around, but GU came away with it and it led to a Nolan Hickman 3-pointer.

As Few said, so many games come down to a play or two that may be decided by the player who wants it more.

It was tough defense, heart and desire, one of those difference-making plays. It was combined with some typical Zag-like offense.

This is when they’re at their best, playing with their abundant skills, and defending rabidly. Maybe they should just combine the nicknames: ZagDogs.