Back with more, but frankly not much more, from Gonzaga’s 94-54 runaway over Texas Southern last night.

Here’s my game story and Dan Pelle’s photos.

Read on.

 

--The outcome was never in doubt, just the final margin. It turned out to be 40 points, pretty much in the neighborhood with Sacramento State (104-58), Saint Joseph’s (94-42) and St. Thomas Aquinas (109-55).

And, much like those games, it was over early and reserves logged extended minutes. Walk-on Dustin Triano notched his second 3-pointer of the season. Walk-on Rem Bakamus scored in the final minute, boosting his career points to 11.

Few opted to start Angel Nunez, who didn’t play against UCLA, and Domas Sabonis. Sabonis started the second half against Arizona after sitting most of the first with foul trouble. Kyle Wiltjer got the second-half starting nod over Nunez on Monday.

“It’s nice to get the guys that come to practice and give it their all to finally get a chance to show it when the lights are on,” Gary Bell Jr. said.

--Season shooting percentages for GU’s bigs: Kyle Wiltjer 56%, Przemek Karnowski 54.5%, Sabonis 75%, Nunez 70%.

Wing Byron Wesley, who does most of his damage in the lane, is at 53%.

“We just played inside out,” said Wiltjer, who scored 21 points in 19 minutes. “We wanted to push down low because they weren’t as big as us, get a lot of easy looks and really focus on knocking them down defensively.”

STATS OF NOTE

--Kevin Pangos’ mini shooting slump appears to be over. He drained 3 of 5 3s vs. TSU. He was 3 of 17 from long distance in the previous four games.

--Outside of walk-ons Bakamus, Triano and Connor Griffin, the other nine Zags played between 17 and 27 minutes, led by Silas Melson’s 27.

--GU was 20 of 29 FGs in the second half (69%).

--The Zags’ bench contributed 49 points.

--TSU’s Jason Carter, eligible for his first game of the season, launched 13 shots (7 of those were errant 3s) in the first half, making two. He finished 2 of 15 and scored 4 points.

--Bell has made 48% of his 3s, Wiltjer 44%, Nunez 44.4%, Pangos 39.5%. The team is at 39.7%.

--GU’s is averaging 85.5 points, allowing 60.9.

QUOTEBOOK

Wesley on Wiltjer: “He’s just getting more comfortable out there. He had the shake off a little rust from his redshirt year. He’s phenomenal offensively. He’s a hard guard.”

Melson: “It always feels good to get a feel for the game. Our roster is so deep even our bottom two in the rotation are good enough to play at this level.”

Wiltjer: “I have just been finding open shots in a variety of ways, not just doing one thing.”

 

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