First, Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Gotta fly today so we'll get right to it. Here's my gamer from GU's 91-81 win over Arkansas.

Read on for my day-after post.

 

--The Bulldogs will enjoy a basketball-free day on the island and gather for Thanksgiving dinner later today.

“We’re going to the beach all day and playing with our families and diving off Black Rock (near the Sheraton) and hopefully getting a couple hours of surfing in,” coach Mark Few said.

Staying an extra day means travelling home on Friday and a shorter prep time for Coppin State’s visit Sunday. The team likely will practice Friday before departing.

“I don’t know what the heck happened to us,” Few said. “We usually are pretty leery of playing a  game after this and we wait until Tuesday.”

--As I mentioned yesterday, I’m not used to covering early games at holiday tournaments, but that’s where Gonzaga found itself after dropping its opener to Dayton on Monday. GU made the most of the last two days by hammering Chaminade and Arkansas.

Few calls them “breakfast bracket” games.

“This was a different experience for us,” he said. “It really challenges who you are and what you’re all about. You’re still playing good teams and you’ve got look deep inside yourself. I like how our guys fought through it.”

--The incredibly soft rims at the Lahaina Civic Center were a tournament-long topic. Balls hitting the front of the rim landed gently and often found a resting spot in the net. Even bad shots were occasionally rewarded.

“You hit the front of the rim and it just absorbs it,” guard Kevin Pangos said. “We’ve been shooting like this all year. As a shooter, you feel more confident putting it up knowing there is that extra bit of chance it’s going to roll in or get a good bounce, even (on) floaters and that sort of thing.”

“I think I could shoot 50 percent on these rims,” Few said. “One of my assistants said, ‘Hey, if you want to get more scoring in the game, just loosen the rims all over the place.”

--With the exception of a lull spanning the first and second halves of the Dayton game, Few was satisfied with Gonzaga’s play at the three-day tournament

“We basically played pretty darn good except for about a 5- or 6-minute stretch in that Dayton game where we couldn’t get a rebound, couldn’t get a stop and just had a couple turnovers. Other than that, we had a good stretch of the 120 minutes we played over here.”

More Few: “We’ve learned a lot. Even though I have a lot of returning guys back we’re having to play a different way because we lost some guys to the draft and the NBA. We’ve been pushed three different ways.

“The other thing that gets lost is your team really comes together. It’s not a cliché, it’s real. This is our first road trip of the year so you really begin to get some camaraderie.”

STATS OF NOTE

--Gonzaga was 15 of 28 FG in the first half, 15 of 27 in the second.

--The Zags were 8 of 10 on 3s in the final 20 minutes.

--Arkansas had 19 offensive boards and outscored Gonzaga 23-5 in second-chance points. That’s been a sticking point all season for the Bulldogs.

--Sam Dower Jr. scored 19 points in 21 minutes (foul trouble).

--Second-half score: Gonzaga 53, Arkansas 50.

QUOTEBOOK

Gary Bell on Luke Meikle, who scored four points with GU’s bigs in foul trouble: “He played great. He just needed a chance and he definitely produced.”

Pangos on facing Arkansas’ pressure defense: “You have to focus that extra bit. You relax for a split second, whether you’re cutting or dribbling and you’re in trouble.”

Few: “We’ve shot the ball well for seven games.”

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