I had hoped to post this last night, but it wasn't up on our site by 11 p.m. I explored the amount of playing time GU freshmen Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. (pictured above) are logging this season and compared it with past Bulldogs in their first seasons.

I remember talking to Austin Daye about hitting the so-called freshman wall a few years ago and he admitted he felt the impact of the longer collegiate season. Oddly, his numbers seemed to get better and better in the latter half of the WCC season. It should be pointed out that Daye played about 18 minutes a game while splitting time with David Pendergraft. Pangos and Bell are logging 31.5 and 27 minutes, respectively.

Pangos experienced a bit of a slump recently but was still productive despite losing his shooting touch over a five-game span. He had a strong outing against Pepperdine (three 3s, 15 points) on Saturday. Bell has been steady throughout. Both are dealing with the bumps and bruises that come with playing big minutes.

Here's my notebook on freshmen playing time (there's an update on Ryan Spangler at the bottom). Below, there's a list of Zags and their freshmen-year playing time from the last 15 seasons. (NOTE: The graphic that ran in today's S-R is also for the last 15 years, not school history). .

FRESHMAN YEAR, MINUTES, GAMES, MIN. PER GAME

Kevin Pangos, 2012, 694 minutes, 22 games, 31.5 per game

Matt Santangelo, 1997, 848 minutes, 27 games, 31.4

Blake Stepp, 2001, 1,021 minutes, 33 games, 30.9

Elias Harris, 2010, 998 minutes, 34 games, 29.4

Matt Bouldin, 2007, 947 minutes, 34 games, 27.8

Gary Bell Jr., 2012, 594 minutes, 22 games, 27.0

Steven Gray, 2008, 612 minutes, 23 games, 26.6

Axel Dench, 1997, 597 minutes, 27 games, 22.1

Adam Morrison, 2004, 644 minutes, 31 games, 20.8

Ronny Turiaf, 2002, 624 minutes, 32 games, 19.5

Austin Daye, 2008, 611 minutes, 33 games, 18.5

Jeremy Pargo, 2006, 565 minutes, 33 games, 17.1

 

 

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