Key matchup: Gonzaga, Michael Ajayi have plenty of history with LMU’s Jevon Porter
LOS ANGELES – Gonzaga has a deep file on Jevon Porter, stemming from four previous matchups with the skilled wing in West Coast Conference play over the past two seasons.
It’s not nearly deep as the one Michael Ajayi has, deriving from countless head-to-head matchups last season while the Gonzaga forward and first-year Loyola Marymount player were teammates at Pepperdine.
“I spent a whole year with him. I know his moves,” Ajayi said on Thursday. “Dribble pull-ups, 3s, just containing him, be aggressive with him from the jump and don’t let him get a shot up.”
The Zags (11-4, 2-0 WCC) will probably count on their own experiences with Porter as well as Ajayi’s when they take on the Lions (9-6, 1-2) in a 6 p.m. game at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Ajayi and Porter were a dynamic scoring duo for Lorenzo Romar last year, combining to score 33.4 points per game while averaging 15.8 rebounds for the Waves. When Romar was fired, the teammates went their separate ways – Ajayi returning to his home state of Washington to play for Mark Few and Porter washing up just down the road from Pepperdine’s campus in Malibu, California.
“I’m very excited for him,” Porter said of Ajayi in October at WCC Media Day. “He’s in a great spot close to home, great program, but he’s a competitor. He’s the type of dude, he’s going to survive anywhere, he’s going to make sure he does his part. So I think this year will be a really big year for him. I’m really excited to see what he’s going to do, but yeah, overall, I’m just really happy for him.”
Ajayi was moved to GU’s bench on Thursday against Portland, but the transfer wing should have numerous chances to match up against his former teammate and close friend, potentially as Porter’s primary defender when their minutes overlap on Saturday night.
“I’m looking forward to that, for sure,” Porter said. “That’ll be a fun, competitive matchup but definitely going to be going at each other, just like how it used to be at practice.”
Porter, the younger brother of Michael Porter Jr. – a teammate of former Zag Julian Strawther on the NBA’s Denver Nuggets – has done some damage against GU despite coming up short in four tries against the Bulldogs.
The junior scored 14.7 points, a touch above his career average, in those games while shooting 23 of 49 (46%) from the field, 3 of 15 (20%) from the 3-point line and grabbing 18 total rebounds.
The 6-foot-11, 235-pound Porter (13.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg this season) has a complete floor game on the offensive end and recently broke out of a 3-point-shooting slump, making 4 of 7 shots from distance while scoring 22 points and securing a season-high 13 rebounds in LMU’s 82-61 win over Oregon State on Thursday. Prior to that, he’d made 1 of 17 from 3 in LMU’s past three games.
Ajayi, who’ll look to break out of a scoring slump Saturday, will be one of two or three defensive options against Porter, depending how the Lions decide to line up. If LMU starts 7-foot Rick Issanza for the second straight game, Graham Ike will likely open on the center, leaving the Porter assignment to Ben Gregg and Ajayi.