Not sure there's much to add after Gonzaga's 94-42 beatdown of Saint Joseph's last night, but we'll give it a shot.

Here's my gamer and Jesse Tinsley's pics.

More in my day-after post below.

--The Gonzaga-Saint Joseph’s series has been brief but entertaining. Each of the five games – the last Gonzaga’s 70-65 overtime win in the 2008 season – were close affairs decided by eight points or less.

Until last night.

GU led 8-0 with the game not even 3 minutes old. The Zags earned their most lopsided win at the MAC and handed the Hawks their worst loss in program history. Saint Joseph’s was an NCAA tournament team last year, but suffered heavy losses to graduation. Still, the Hawks were picked eighth in the 14-team Atlantic 10, a solid conference.

SJU was a national power in the first half of the 2000s, rising to No. 1 in the polls and landing a No. 1 seed. The Hawks made it to the Elite Eight in ’04. They’ve had winning seasons, with exceptions in 2010 and 2011, but they’ve only been to two NCAA tourneys since that 30-2 team in 2004.

A reminder of how hard it is to get there, and to stay there.

(By the way, I covered that ’08 game. GU led by 17 in the first half but trailed by six with 3:37 left. It looked like they were done. Then Jeremy Pargo fed David Pendergraft for a layup and Matt Bouldin had a clutch three-point play. Austin Daye scored four points in overtime as GU snagged an impressive road win.)

--Gary Bell Jr. had an interesting first half. He was deadly from long distance – 5 of 7. He surpassed 1,000 career points on his second 3. He was getting an earful from Saint Joseph’s bench. And he banged knees with an opponent in the closing minute.

Bell hit a couple of his 3s right in front of the SJU bench. Despite Bell's accuracy and the lopsided score, he kept hearing chatter from the sideline. Finally, after drilling another 3 he turned toward the bench for a quick stare as made his way down court.

Bell said they were screaming at him as he rose to shoot, trying to distract him. It's apparently a fairly common tactic.

“Just the heat of the game, I turned around and gave them a look,” Bell said. “That happens at other places, though. I just turned around after I hit that one. I was in a zone.”

Bell insisted that his knee was fine, though he did seem to have a tiny hitch in his giddyup. Asked if he needed treatment, he shook his head and said, “I’m fine.”

STATS OF NOTE

--Kevin Pangos through three games: 76 minutes, zero turnovers, 16 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks, 68.2%  FG, 58.3%  3-point, 3.3 rebounds, 13 ppg. The kid has to pick up his free-throw shooting (2 of 4)!

--More Pangos. He had one block last season. He has two blocks this season, another indicator he’s healthy. Another pretty good indicator: Draining a left-handed running hook/flip shot in first half.

--GU won the boards 54-26 over an SJU team that was plus-9.5 in its first two games.

--The Zags’ up-and-down FT shooting was on the down side again. They made 10 of 17 (59 percent). They shot 69 percent in the opener and 40 percent against SMU.

--Paint points: GU 48-18. Bench points: GU 40-19.

QUOTEBOOK

Few: “We were moving the ball really well. It’s not stopping. We’re finding that guy that is open or hot or has the best matchup. Tonight it was GB (Bell).”

Few, on playing a complete game: “Our offensive numbers were pretty high and our defensive numbers were off the charts.”

Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli on GU’s potential: “I don’t have any idea. I’ll say this, for whatever the date is today. I should know the date, tomorrow’s my 38th wedding anniversary. This is a hell of a gift. If they're (ranked) 13, and there’s 12 teams better than them, I ain’t buying that.”

Karnowski: “One thing we’ve really focused on was rebounding. In those first three games we’ve done a good job. We have to keep it up.”

Byron Wesley on the defense: “Every time we went to the bench, the coaches kept pushing us to not let up and not be satisfied. Whatever lineup was out there I felt played really hard and we continued to compete.”

Martelli: “The window to your soul is your eyes, and we had guys whose eyes were very cloudy.”

 

 

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