Senior forward Ben Gregg makes most of return to Gonzaga’s starting lineup

Ben Gregg has been here before as a starter and on the other side as a key reserve. He’s experienced it a couple of times this season as well as last year.

On Thursday, the fifth-year senior forward’s name boomed over the Arena’s public address system in Gonzaga’s starting five again prior to tipoff against Portland.

That was the case when GU throttled Baylor 101-63 in the season opener at the Arena and in the second game, an 88-80 victory over Arizona State, at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

He then resumed another role he’s familiar with – providing a spark off the bench – while Michael Ajayi started the next 12 games. Both helped the Zags crush Portland 81-50.

“It is great (to start), but I feel like I don’t even care who starts games,” Gregg said. “It’s whoever ends games, that has always been my biggest focus when it’s close. It’s awesome being a starter for Gonzaga again. I worked hard at it but a really slow start this season in the first couple games, got taken out as I deserved, but fight every day to get it back.”

Gregg did what fans have been accustomed to throughout his career – hit the floor in pursuit of 50-50 balls and impact the outcome with his scoring, rebounding and defending. Along the way, he collected a career-high four steals.

Gregg and Ajayi bottled up Portland 6-foot-10 freshman Austin Rapp, who finished with six points, far short of his team-leading 14.4 average.

“He just moves around so much, staggers, pindowns, away from the ball,” Gregg said of Rapp. “Just staying connected to him. Graham (Ike) did a great job on a lot of pindowns, switching with me, which helped make it easier.

“But (Rapp) is a great player. I watched his highlights (earlier Thursday) and he’s a bucket, man. His ball goes in. I just tried to take away his 3s, catch-and-shoot and not foul him because he’s 91% on free throws.”

The Zags have tweaked their starting lineup several times this season. Ajayi replaced Gregg as the starter in the third game before their rolls flipped again Thursday. Sophomore wing Dusty Stromer started against UCLA in place of Nolan Hickman, who was battling illness in the days prior to the game.

The tinkering probably isn’t over.

“Like I’ve said, the guys are all pretty much bunched together, so you may see more of that as we go through the season,” Zags head coach Mark Few said. “Some years you keep the same five, other years you kind of rotate through guys.”

It happened a year ago at about the same point of the season. Gregg moved into the first five in front of Stromer for the final 19 games.

Gonzaga got solid production against the Pilots from every player who has been in and out of the starting unit. In addition to Gregg’s numbers, Ajayi posted five points, 15 rebounds, two assists and one steal. Hickman had three 3-pointers and 13 points and Stromer added two 3s and 12 points.

“I have so much respect for (Ajayi’s) attitude and the energy he brings,” Gregg said. “He’s not shooting the ball great, I’m not either, but his attitude and energy comes in every day. He’s going to impact games with rebounding, getting his hands on the basketball.

“He’s never negative or feeling sorry for himself. He is in the gym working every day and nobody sees that stuff. I’m very proud of him. He’s been a great guy to be around.”

The Zags are also working on is improving their 3-point accuracy. The Zags made 11 of 24 against Portland, bumping their season percentage to 34.2. That would be the worst percentage by a Gonzaga team in college basketball’s 3-point era (since the 1986-87 season).

Post Graham Ike leads the way at 46.2% (6 of 13) with five 3s in the past seven games. Hickman is at 45.2%, Stromer 40.5, Ryan Nembhard 38.3 and Khalif Battle 33.3. Gregg is at 18.2% after hitting 37.7% each of the previous two seasons. Ajayi is at 14.8% after making 47% with Pepperdine last season.

“It’s surprising me,” Gregg said of the team’s 3-point struggles. “The way I’ve been shooting personally is unacceptable. I rep it out so much and work so hard on it. I don’t know what’s going on in games, but keep shooting and the dam is going to break eventually. That’s been the motto.

“We have talented guys that can shoot 3s and make 3s. We’re going to keep shooting. We’re in the gym by ourselves every day working on it. It’s going to come, it’s taken a little longer than we wanted.”