Typing away while keeping an eye on the Seahawks game (down 21-0 at half). I'm guessing there won't be an EWU-style comeback in the second half. Earlier I watched the replay of Gonzaga's 79-59 win over LMU and it's amazing how much you miss when you're jotting down notes, tweeting, etc. In case you missed S-R game story, here's a link.

Read on for my day-after post.

--One thing became abundantly clear watching the replay: GU didn’t dominate on the scoreboard in the first half, but Rob Sacre was a one-man wrecking crew.

Here’s a recap of Sacre’s contributions to GU’s first 15 points. First play, entry pass to Sacre, foul on Garibay. Inbounds pass to Sacre, basket. Inbounds pass to Sacre 15 feet from hoop, LMU defender sags off Gray to double Sacre, Gray hits a 3. Goodson entry pass to Sacre for 6-footer. That’s 7 points.

Inside to Sacre, 3 players collapse, foul. Harris drives from top of the key, Sacre’s man doesn’t leave to help, Harris fouled by Viney, two free throws. Eleven points.

(Didn’t result in points, but Sacre hits cutting Arop, who misses short bank shot). Sacre early post-up, Garibay foul. Sacre draws charging foul on Hamilton. Sacre blocks shot. Sacre scores on early post, GU up 15-14.

Harris, too, was a force inside. His numbers were better (8 of 9 FGs) vs. Pepperdine, but Harris seemed much more active and explosive against LMU, though he made just 5 of 12 shots.

“If we can get those guys going early and keep them going, it’s going to make this team so much better,” Gray said. “It takes the pressure off the perimeters because you have the bigs going. If you want to double and sag off … we saw that earlier this year, and we’ve made some adjustments.”

--Sacre’s impact on the defensive end is somewhat overshadowed by the emergence of his offensive game. But he’s usually able to guard centers one-on-one in the post (guards don’t have to double down, etc.). He blocked five shots, moving his season total to 34 and career total to 107.

“He’s doing a really nice job anchoring our defense,” Few said. “He has a physical presence in there.”

LMU forwards Hamilton, Garibay and Diederichs were 1 of 9 combined.

“The coaches told me don’t help out unless you know you’re going to block the shot,” Sacre said. “We’re working on our defense so much. Guys aren’t worried if they go to the hoop because they have to finish over me.”

--Still not quite sure what to make of the aftermath of LMU’s Diederichs’ hard foul on Harris. Diederichs was called for an intentional foul. Watching the replay, Gray appears to be called for a technical foul. After order was restored and the officials huddled, Harris was assessed the technical.

Harris shot two free throws and GU retained possession, scoring on Harris’ runner in the lane. Didn’t seem like much of a penalty on GU, other than a personal on Harris (and the potential for ejection if he picked up another T). The explanation I received was that the intentional superseded the technical because the T was during a dead-ball situation. Had the T been on Gray, it would have been his fourth personal foul with 13:06 minutes left. Instead it went to Harris.

I asked Few about it. “The ol’ double deal,” he said with a shrug.

I asked Gray about it. “I had one and they took it away. That would have been my fourth (foul) and I was like, ‘Oh crap.’ I wasn’t going to ask, I just let it be.”

Smart move.

LMU coach Max Good: “I don’t really know. What was a little frustrating was that Gray was the one that (was called) and they called it on Harris. But you pick your poison with those guys.”

Somewhere in the middle of the incident, something was thrown onto the court from the stands. One of the security personnel said it was something red, perhaps the size of a Lifesaver. Few took the microphone to ask fans not to throw things on the court.

--LMU outrebounded Gonzaga 40-39, though it was a 24-17 edge after the first half, and the Lions attempted 30 free throws, making 24. Those have been staples of LMU’s game the last couple years. They’re plus-6.5 in rebounding per game and have attempted 58 more free throws than they’re opponents.

Why?

“They rebound five,” Few said. “You don’t see a team send five (to the boards), most send guys back. They’re opportunistic, quick-handed and they’re used to going and tracking the ball down. We did a better job of I think being tougher and more aggressive in the second half.”

Guard Vernon Teel leads LMU in rebounding (7.5 per game). Point guard Anthony Ireland, at 5-feet-10, led the way with 10 boards against Gonzaga. Teel had four boards in just 13 minutes (he didn’t start because of a sore knee).

The free throws are the result of LMU players generating offense on the bounce. It’s the Lions’ best option. They shoot just 30 percent on 3s, so Teel, Ireland and guard Jarred DuBois (before suffering a season-ending knee injury) put pressure on the defense with penetration. Teel has attempted 121 free throws this season. By comparison, Sacre has attempted 105.

I asked Few if LMU was a team you invite to shoot from the perimeter, in contrast to sharp-shooting Portland, which GU pressured heavily on the perimeter.

“I don’t know if you invite them, but they’re just drivers, drivers, drivers,” Few said. “That’s how they get themselves to the line. We did a decent job in the second half of being in the gaps and shoring that up.”

GU won the glass 22-16 in the second half.

“That was the key to winning the game,” Sacre said.

--Gray had his left knee wrapped after tweaking it in Thursday’s game, but he appeared to be at or close to full speed.

--As they did against Gonzaga last season, the Lions (8-10, 1-3) played with obvious confidence and without fear. They’re close to getting their roster healthy – the loss of DuBois won’t be easy to overcome – and when they do, they’ll be a formidable opponent down the stretch.

They were pretty much in the same situation as a year ago. When they lost to GU in the MAC, they dropped to 10-11, 1-4). 

“They’re very, very talented,” Bulldogs guard David Stockton said. “It just depends on which team shows up to the gym. They’ve had some struggled, injuries have hurt them, but they’re more than capable of beating good teams.”

Gray concurred.

“They have a lot of belief,” he said. “They have a lot of good players and they have a lot of confidence and freedom. That’s what makes them so dangerous.”

STATS OF NOTE

--Sacre’s first rebound came with 2:02 left in the first half when he putback his own miss. He finished with seven boards. He had seven rebounds combined in GU’s first two WCC games.

--The Big Three scored 48 of GU’s 79 points.

--Gonzaga had a season-low 8 turnovers. LMU had 14 turnovers, which led to 16 GU points and a 10-2 fast-break edge.

--Kelly Olynyk had 8 points and 3 boards in 10 minutes. Sam Dower had 4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 12 minutes.

--The Zags went 12 of 22 at the FT line (54.5 percent), its worst percentage of the season. They’ve only been below 60 percent one time (57.9 vs. IUPUI) this season. Harris was 4 of 8, Olynyk 2 of 6.

--Harris had his second double-double of the season (14 points, 10 rebounds).

--LMU started three freshmen and a fourth, Quincy Lawson, entered late in the first half. A fifth freshman, starter Godwin Okonji, sat out with an injury.

--Gray hit a 3 with 19 minutes left in the first half. His next field goal came with 16:23 remaining in the second half. He made 6 of 10 shots in the second half.

QUOTES

Good on Sacre: “Sacre's really improved. I thought we did a good job on Sacre and he gets 18 and 7.”

Good on Gray: “I thought we did a terrific job on Gray, but when you play against Gray it’s like walking in a minefield. Sooner or later, you’re not going to keep him down for 40 minutes.”

Few on the running game: “I think we can do better. We still want Meech to throw the ball ahead and get the wings ahead and wanting the ball more. We haven’t done a great job with that this year. Keita does a nice job of attacking. They tried to press us a couple times and he made the right move and made them pay.”

Arop: “Keita came in and gave us huge minutes. Steve was huge in the second half, Rob is always a warrior down low.”

Good: “We quick-shot it a few times. All of a sudden it goes from down three to eight to 11. I was almost at the point where I thought about calling timeout and saying we don’t even shoot, we just hold it for 35 seconds and let the shot clock go off. But then you’re waving a white flag and you can’t do that.”

“But we wanted to shoot it early if we had a great shot or we wanted to shoot it very late in the shot clock. We didn’t do that every time.”

Good on LMU’s road trip: “We played a good 50 minutes at Portland (double-overtime loss) and we played a good 20 here.”

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