The headlines in Friday's S-R pretty well summarized it. On my game story: "Gonzaga sets season high for points." On John Blanchette's column: "In defense of GU, its defense shines."

Gonzaga put together a complete performance in pounding Santa Clara 95-53 on Thursday. We'll recap it below in our day-after post.

 

--Gonzaga's student section was in full force for the first time since Nov. 18 (Idaho). GU has played just three home games since -- all with the students on holiday break: Texas Southern Dec. 18, Portland State Dec. 23 and Portland last Saturday.

"It's an environment of instead of waiting for our guys to get them going, they get our guys going," coach Mark Few said. 

"They bring a whole new level of energy to the games," guard Steven Gray said.

 --All-WCC center John Bryant scored Santa Clara's second field goal with 17:20 left in the first half. By the time he made his next field goal, Gonzaga led 38-16 more than 11 minutes later. Gonzaga made Bryant work for his 12 points.

"He’s a big kid, but I thought we (Heytvelt, Will Foster, Ira Brown) all did a pretty good of  'D-ing' him up and I think we made it frustrating for him," Heytvelt said.

GU switched up, sometimes using a solo defender (usually Heytvelt) and occasionally doubling down.

"Heytvelt flopped on me a couple times in the past so I wasn't that aggressive in the first half because I didn't want to get two fouls early," Bryant said. "I should have been more aggressive in the first half. They didn't do anything we didn't expect."

--Gonzaga seemed to chase down every loose ball, whether it was a deflected pass or a scrap for a rebound. A couple of those hustle plays prevented turnovers and one in particular led to a Matt Bouldin 3-pointer in the first half.

"We didn't want to let Santa Clara get their momentum," Brown said. "We came out with energy and (Jeremy) Pargo led us well and all the guys played defense. The bench knew what we had to do to keep the thing going."

SCU committed numerous early turnovers, several against GU's press that were immediately converted into points at the other end. Combined with defensive stops (SCU shot just 36.4 percent), Gonzaga's transition game was in overdrive.

"They're one of those teams that doesn’t want to run you, you have to force your will upon some of those teams," Pargo said. "I think we came out and did that pretty early tonight. You have to start on the defensive end because if you give teams buckets they get back on 'D' every time. Probably 90 percent of time, (the transition game) comes off good stops or making people take tough shots and getting rebounds."

 

Pargo, who didn't have an assist for the first time in 76 games against Portland, had eight assists against the Broncos. Matt Bouldin and Gray each had four and Micah Downs had three.

--Austin Daye could joke about it afterward, but he was frustrated leaving the court when he was called for his second foul less than three minutes into the first half. Watching the replay, it was a bit of a phantom call, but it sent him to the bench for a big chunk of the first half. This time, however, coaches re-inserted Daye later in the half and he played foul-free for the rest of the half and the rest of the game.

"I swear I must like to do it. Play a bad first half and come out on fire in the second. It's just something I'm trying to get in my repertoire," he cracked of his frequent first-half fouling issues. "It’s like a bad habit, I can’t even explain it.

"I was just happy I got to play again in the first half. Coach (Few) had confidence I wouldn't get another foul."

--The reviews on Brown's two dunks were fairly unanimous. The first was a two-hander that rattled the rim, the second a memorable one-hander on a lob pass from Bouldin that Brown appeared to catch about two feet outside the backboard before sling-shotting it home.

"He actually jumped a little late," Bouldin said, "but he has that kind of balance."  

"I jumped so high out of my seat," Daye said. "That was ridiculous."

Asked if he's seen similar Brown dunks in practice, Daye nodded, but added, 'He can't dunk on me, I'm too long." That brought a raised eyebrow from Micah Downs in the next cubicle. "Who can't dunk on you?"

"Ira," Daye offered, unconvincingly.

"You're crazy," Downs said. "He's done it before."

Brown said the one-handed jam was "definitely in my top five."

--A week ago, Santa Clara lost to Saint Mary's on a last-second shot in Moraga. On Thursday, the Broncos suffered their worst WCC loss ever. Santa Clara's worst loss this year had been by 12 points to UNLV.

"We started three freshmen, four first-year players," SCU coach Kerry Keating said. "It's not that something went wrong. They need to understand how hard you have to play all the time. You can't go down to Saint Mary's and how it works out and then go the next weekend to Gonzaga and think you have it figured out."

--Sometimes stats lie; sometimes they don't. Here are some numbers: Points in paint, GU 52, SCU 18. Points off turnovers: GU 32, SCU 5. Second-chance points: GU 21, SCU 9. Fastbreak points: GU 19, SCU 0. Bench points: GU 22, SCU 7.

Shooting: GU 55.4 percent, a season high and the sixth game above 50 percent. Rebounding: GU 46, second highest of the season. Assists: 20, tied for third highest. Turnovers: 10, fourth lowest of the season.

The Broncos were just 7 of 15 at the foul line. Perry Petty, a 72.5 percent free-thrower, was 0 of 4. Kevin Foster, a 40 percent 3-point shooter, missed his first six 3s before connecting.

About the only thing to go right for SCU was when Gonzaga was in foul trouble early in the second half. The Broncos were in the bonus after the Bulldogs committed their seventh foul with the half barely four minutes old (I'm not sure I've ever seen a team in the bonus that fast). Gonzaga committed five fouls in 33 seconds. SCU didn't take advantage, making just 3 of 7 free throws in the second half. 

--Walk-on Chris Pontarolo-Maag made his third appearance of the season. He played two minutes, grabbed a rebound and missed one field-goal attempt. He played three minutes against Idaho and also saw time vs. Montana State-Billings. 

--Here's a link to Blanchette's column. Here are links to San Francisco's blowout loss at Portland on Thursday. The Dons visit GU on Saturday night.

 

 

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