No time to waste for GU
Gonzaga didn't get much time to celebrate its easy win over Oklahoma on Thursday, or New Year's Eve, for that matter. The Bulldogs are in Chicago for a non-conference battle with Illinois at 10 a.m. Pacific Saturday.
Illinois defeated Northwestern in overtime Wednesday. The Wildcats shot a mind-boggling 47 3s (made 16) in that game.
My unedited preview is below.
By
Staff writer
Steven Gray is young, enjoys basketball and he’s used to playing 30-plus minutes per game.
When Gonzaga was in the midst of three games in three days in
So the notion of polishing off an impressive victory over Oklahoma on Thursday night in Spokane and taking the court against Illinois 36 hours later in Chicago doesn’t ruffle the junior guard.
“Our coaches do a great job of preparing us and getting us dialed in,” said Gray, after scoring 18 points in 34 minutes against the Sooners. “The beauty of this is all through
Gonzaga (10-3) hopped on a charter flight Friday morning and squeezed in limited preparation time for its clash with
“You play it like an NBA schedule,” head coach Mark Few said. “Just show up and play hard. The Xs and Os will take care of themselves.”
The results weren’t pretty the last time Gonzaga faced a nationally-televised showdown against a high-profile opponent in an NBA arena. Duke blasted Gonzaga 76-41 two weeks ago in
Junior guard Demetri McCamey leads the way at 13.7 points and 5.6 assists. Freshmen guards D.J. Richardson (10.9 points) and Brandon Paul (10.2) give the Illini five starters averaging double figures.
The Illini failed to reach 70 points in losses to