Zags roll to 8th straight win
Gonzaga dominated Portland 71-49 at the Chiles Center on Thursday for one of the easier wins in its current eight-game streak.
The Bulldogs led by 14 in the first seven minutes. They were up 10 at half and then held the Pilots scoreless over the final seven minutes.
Kelly Olynyk scored 21 points in 19 minutes of playing time and Kevin Pangos added 14.
My unedited game story is below.
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Normally the Bulldogs lack significant points from the ‘3’ position, but Mike Hart, Guy Landry Edi and Drew Barham combined for 20 points against Portland.
That balance and depth produced an entirely normal result for Gonzaga at the
Kelly Olynyk, stuck on the bench after committing two early fouls, scored 19 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. He only played 19 minutes. Kevin Pangos and Drew Barham combined for six 3s in the opening 20 minutes. Elias Harris had a tough shooting night (5 of 16), but he contributed eight of his 10 points in the final 20 minutes as the eight-ranked Bulldogs pulled away in front of a full house of 4,892.
Gonzaga (17-1, 4-0), which visits No. 13 Butler on Saturday, is tied with
“They kind of crowded the paint in the first half and in the second half it kind of flipped because we had hit a bunch of 3s,” Olynyk said. “Kevin hit a bunch in first half, Drew hit a bunch. It really opened up in the second half.”
Pangos made three 3-pointers in less than 2 minutes as Gonzaga opened up a 16-2 lead. When the Pilots (8-11, 1-3) went to a zone defense, Barham got several open looks from the wing and corner. He made 3 of 4 3-pointers, the last with 35 seconds left to give Gonzaga a 36-26 halftime lead.
“That’s my role,” Barham said. “The coaches just said be ready because you never know when your time is going to come. I’ve just been ready in practice and finally a team went zone and kind of stayed in it.”
Hart, making his first start in his hometown, had four points, five rebounds and two steals.
“It wasn’t an ending, but it was a cool way to end my career here in
Edi, who has struggled for the better part of six weeks, scored five points as Gonzaga rebuilt its lead to double figures midway through the first half. He finished with seven points, his most since scoring eight against Pacific on Dec. 1.
“I thought the ‘3’ position was great,” coach Mark Few said. “From Mike doing what he always does, Guy gave us his best minutes in the last couple weeks and Drew really did some nice things. We needed it. They were in at crunch time.”
They missed their last nine field-goal attempts and a pair of free throws and failed to score the rest of the way.
Gonzaga collected 16 offensive rebounds and dominated the boards, 35-22. Harris led with nine rebounds and Olynyk had eight. The Zags had been outrebounded in their last three games. The bench contributed 16 of GU’s 36 first-half points. David Stockton chipped in four assists, four rebounds and two steals.
“That’s kind of what we can do,” Few said. “We have some nice balance and we can call in a lot of guys. I kept telling Drew if he just waits, we’ll see some zone eventually. He’s been doing that to us all year in practice, and obviously when Kevin makes shots it opens up a lot of other things.”
