Good morning from Los Angeles. It was hardly pretty last night, but Gonzaga held on for a 67-57 win over Loyola Marymount.

Here's my game story link and you can read my day-after LMU post below.

 

--At the top of my game story, LMU coach Max Good mentions that if he’d known Rob Sacre would shoot 1 of 6 from the field and Steven Gray 5 of 16, he would have liked his team’s chances to win.

Let’s turn that around a little bit. If you’d told me Lions’ leading scorer Drew Viney wouldn’t play (awaiting medical clearance from recent migraine headaches), second-leading scorer Vernon Teel would score one point in the first half, point guard Anthony Ireland would commit seven turnovers, four in the first five minutes, and fourth-leading scorer Ashley Hamilton would have just one field goal in the opening 20 minutes, I would have thought GU would lead by 20 points at the break.

And, early on, it looked like the Zags would. Gonzaga got the ball inside to Sacre and Elias Harris in the opening minutes and those two combined for 8 of GU’s first 10 points. It was 22-4 just nine minutes in, but the Bulldogs struggled offensively from there, making just 5 of 20 second-half shots.

They turned the ball over, several on sloppy post-entry passes, and relied on offensive rebounding (13 overall, 9 in the second half) to generate 10 of their 30 points in the second half. Gonzaga made 20 of 26 free throws (76.9 percent) in the last 20 minutes.

“I wish we would have played 40 minutes (like the first 10),” head coach Mark Few said, “but it’s tough to do on the road. Steven was sick all game, cramping up, so we were subbing around that. We were trying to find a guy that could fill in and give us minutes and not hurt us.”

LMU, to its credit, started taking to the ball to the basket and had some success scoring or getting to the free-throw line. Remember, the Lions, without Viney, hung tough with Saint Mary’s, trailing by four late in the game before losing 79-70 in Moraga last Saturday.

The Lions turned up the defensive pressure and were able to defend Sacre and Harris inside.

“Our whole thing was we wanted to crawl up into them and not give them good looks,” Good said. “They’re so tough on the high-low, we tried to crowd Harris, it’s no secret. We played behind Sacre (in Spokane) and that’s not good for you. He’ll give you headaches. We tried to play him at least on the side so it was tougher for him to catch in the post.”

--LMU also pressured Gonzaga’s guards. In one sequence, Teel hounded David Stockton near the mid-court line and eventually came up with a steal.

“Stocks made some plays once we settled him down,” Few said. “They were really climbing up into him, and he wasn’t getting much help.”

Stockton hit a big 3 near the end of the half and followed it up with one of his four steals and a layup. He also made four free throws in the closing minutes to help preserve the win.

Marquise Carter made five second-half free throws and a key shot in the lane with 2:30 left.

“We kind of let them rush us and get us out of our game,” Carter said. “Coach (Few) called timeout and settled us down. We knew that they were going to play hard against us and we wanted to keep fighting and eventually they’d break. That’s what happened at the end.”

Good was impressed with Stockton’s performance.

“You know what, he’s going to be a good player,” Good said. “He’s got those long arms and he’s sneaky in the passing lanes. We warned our players that you have to create a lead on him, you can’t just stand there and expect to get the ball because he’ll shoot the gap from a standing position. He’s helping them immensely.”

--Gray said he felt OK after the game. He wasn’t sure if a first-half collision with a Lions player triggered his upset stomach. He left the game briefly, jogged to the locker room and returned a couple minutes later. He scored on a layup shortly after re-entering.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m fine now, it was just when I was running up and down the court” that his stomach would act up.

Gray took several hard falls, one late when his shot was rejected in the lane and GU clinging to a 54-51 lead. On the ensuing play, Gray knifed between two LMU defenders and scored on a three-point play that gave Gonzaga a 57-51 edge.

“He made some plays,” said Sacre, who couldn’t resist needling his teammate. “I hate to give my best friend credit, but I respect what he did.”

Gray had an interesting stat line: 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, seven turnovers and two steals.

--What Gonzaga did do well for most of the game was defend and rebound, other than allowing 12 LMU offensive boards. The Lions made just 25 percent of their second-half shots. After some early success, LMU was 1 of 8 on 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes.

Larry Davis, who had 13 first-half points, didn’t have much room to operate in the second half. He missed all six of his field-goal attempts.

Gonzaga won the rebounding, 39-31, with Sacre grabbing 10 and Harris seven. On at least two instances, Sacre and Harris were battling each other for the ball before Sacre took possession.

“It was a big difference in the game,” Sacre said. “That was one of the main things we focused on.”

--Minus Viney, LMU had few reliable offensive options. Davis finished with 18 points and Teel had six free throws en route to 10 points.

“We just didn’t respond well early,” Good said. “I thought we had decent looks, but we were hesitant and we played on our heels.”

Of Viney’s absence, Good said, “We can go to him and get baskets when we need them. We had nowhere to get them.”

 

STATS OF NOTE

--Gonzaga hit the 20-turnover mark for the third time this season (WSU 25, Xavier 23, LMU 20). In addition to Gray’s seven, Demetri Goodson had five turnovers. Eight different Zags committed turnovers.

--Dower scored nine points in just 13 minutes. He picked up three fouls in the first half and played only four minutes in the second half.

--Carter started for the second straight game. He was one of four Gonzaga starters to play at least 31 minutes.

--I’ve never seen such a small crowd in my four trips to Gersten Pavilion. It was announced as 2,964, but the 4,200-seat was barely half full.

--Harris didn’t reach double figures for the fourth consecutive game.

--GU was just 2 of 8 from long distance (Gray 1 of 5, Stockton 1 of 1).

--LMU point guard Anthony Ireland finished 3 of 11 and scored seven points.

 

QUOTES

Good on Ireland: “He hasn’t made turnovers all year and he had seven. He’s a freshman and we think he’ll be a very good player. He wasn’t aggressive enough. He gets too deep in the lanes sometimes and he kind of gets swallowed up.”

Sacre: “We’ll take it anyway we can. Teams have bumped up their competition and we’re a different team than the past. We can’t just win on sheer talent. We’re going to have to grind things out.”

Few: “I thought our defense was pretty solid most of the game and the rebounding – they’re a really good rebounding team – we did a nice job there.”

Sacre: “Stocks, Quise (Marquise) hit some big free throws. I have to get some free throws up before Saturday’s game, but I’m not too worried.” (He missed two 1:32 left, but made 7 of 10 overall).

Sacre: “We came out guns a blazin’. We need to start games like that all the time, but it’s easier said than done.”

 

 

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