Day after Kansas State
Back with my day after post following GU's 81-64 loss to Kansas State, a game in which Gonzaga couldn't get a defensive stop in the first half and couldn't score in the second half.
Links: S-R game story, Kansas City Star gamer, K.C. Star photos and Jeff Goodman's recap/look forward.
Read on for more.
--Steven Gray has been outstanding in the first three and a half games. He was solid in the first half with 12 points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal. After hitting a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the second half, he found tough sledding the rest of the way. Gray had four turnovers, the first seven seconds into the half, and missed his last four shots. He did come up with three more steals, but the Wildcats did a nice job of making him work for everything he got. “Steven had some chances tonight,” coach Mark Few said. “He missed a breakaway layup. I actually probably need to get him a blow here or there, but he’s in such phenomenal shape he doesn’t really show it. At a couple junctures he was trying to do a little too much and forcing it. On several occasions he ended up with a tough shot or a turnover – they did a great job defending him. He’s a smart kid; he’s having a great year.” Gray played 35 minutes, sitting out the last five, just under his 34 minute average. Asked if he is getting tired on the court, Gray said, “I knew what was coming. I limited my other social activities, I’m just sleeping and resting because I knew what was coming. I have to take care of my body. I feel fine. It’s still really early.” --Elias Harris continues to struggle. Certainly some of that is explainable. He suffered a shoulder injury in preseason practice, then limped off the court with an achilles’ injury near the end of the Harris missed all four of his shots in a scoreless first half. He picked up his third foul early in the second half. He scored his first points on a pair of free throws at the 18:53 mark. Harris finished 1 of 7 and scored four points. He did battle on the boards as the game wore on and finished with four rebounds. “I don’t know, I think I’m overanalyzing stuff right now,” said Harris, with a bag of ice strapped to the back of his right calf/foot. “I should just go and do my thing like I did last year, just play the game. Everything else (injuries) are not really a factor and shouldn’t be a factor.” Harris said he felt a little discomfort in his achilles, but “that’s not an excuse.” --David Stockton gave Gonzaga a nice lift in both halves. He had two assists and two points as GU recovered from a slow start to close within 20-17. He also had a nice pass inside to Robert Sacre, who was fouled on the play. “He came in and gave us a good presence at the point,” Few said. “He made some nice plays. He sees some things that are there and isn’t afraid to throw the pass. Obviously he can function well on offense. We just have to corral him on the turnovers and stuff like that, but he really helped us big-time.” --Sacre led Gonzaga with 17 points, doing most of his damage at the foul line. He was 11 of 13 there. He also had four boards, three steals, three blocks, three turnovers and an assist. In fact, Gonzaga was 23 of 29 at the free-throw line. --Gonzaga unveiled yet another starting lineup (Mathis Mönninghoff joined Harris, Sacre, Gray and Goodson). The 6-7 German played 23 minutes, scoring just two points and finishing without a rebound. Marquise Carter didn’t see the court until late in the second half. Five minutes in, Gonzaga had already used nine players. --Wildcats forward Curtis Kelly made his regular-season debut, subbing in to a rousing ovation in the first half. He was rusty early, but ended up with three points, four boards and a blocked shot in 15 minutes. He posted up Sam Dower and cashed in with a three-point play in the second half. “They’re a deep team,” Sacre said. Added Few: “They come at you in droves, they keep subbing in the bigs and there’s no drop-off whatsoever, especially inside. And the way Spradling was playing on the perimeter, there’s no real drop-off there. STATS OF NOTE --Bench points: KSU 35, GU 20 --GU was just 6 of 26 from the field in the second half (23.1 percent) --Gonzaga had nine assists, 17 turnovers. --Kansas State 22 turnovers, 11 of 20 FTs. --Stockton (2 and 1) and Sam Dower (1 and 0) were the only Zags with more assists than turnovers. --Behind Sacre and Gray, no Zag scored more than six points (Goodson and Olynyk). QUOTES Few on trying to limit K-State shooters in the second half: “We kept our post in there alone and tried to stay out there on their shooters. We focused less on offensive rebounding so we could get out in transition, that’s where they got most of their 3s. Pullen does a great job pushing the ball.” K-State coach Frank Martin: “I was pleased with how we guarded in the second half. In the first half, we made some mistakes early.” Gray: “The things that we need to correct are very easily correctable. We know, and the coaches been on us, and it’s a matter of going out and doing it – that’s probably the most promising thing in the whole thing, the mistakes are correctable.” Martin on Spradling: “It is not about shooting the ball, I know he can do that. It is about his composure and being in the right places. He did a great job defensively. He battled his tail off to guard Gray. We are talking about a guy that was worried about a prom date four months ago and tonight he guarded one of the best guards in the country.” Pullen: “We wanted to push tempo and make them backpedal and help off on defense. We got some open looks and we shoot basketballs every day, so we say when you have an open look, shoot it and that’s what we did tonight.”
