Day after Saint Mary’s
You know the drill.
Here’s my game story, John Blanchette’s column and Tyler Tjomsland’s photos.
Read on for my day-after Saint Mary’s post.
--Watched the replay this morning and it looked like the Zags from their December/January losses all over again – at times encountering a lack of poise, turnovers, errant perimeter shooting that resulted in a packed lane and defensive lapses – bugaboos that haunted them in their three previous home losses.
GU's only consistent offensive threat was Josh Perkins in the second half when he had three 3s and 17 of his 21 points.
Other than a few transition hoops and two early lobs to Domantas Sabonis for layups, there weren’t a lot of easy baskets. There were far more “decent” looks than “quality” looks. Many of the Zags’ 3-point attempts were way off target.
As a result, Gonzaga’s biggest runs were a couple of brief 6-0 spurts. When they did find a bit of rhythm, they lost focus at the other end. Perkins’ steal and layup cut SMC’s lead to 46-42, but then he tried to pick up Emmett Naar in the backcourt. Naar quickly got past him, and drove and dished to Jock Landale for a layup.
After Kyle Wiltjer’s only 3 – a 24-footer – pulled GU within five, SMC countered by grabbing an offensive rebound, then using its patented high ball screen/pick-and-roll. Not sure what coverage Gonzaga was in but very sure it wasn’t allowing Naar a virtually uncontested layup. Kyle Dranginis trailed around the screen, Wiltjer didn’t deter Naar's penetration and Sabonis didn’t help off Landale. Easy bucket.
“We were just too spread out,” guard Eric McClellan said. “We were putting each other on an island to guard by ourselves. For about a 4-8 minute stretch in the second half we didn’t do a good job guarding the pick-and-roll and they had layups again and again. Just attention to detail, scouting report things.”
And the offense?
“I just think they did a good job executing their plan, which was (directing) a lot of attention to our bigs,” McClellan said. “They were loading up on the strong side. When they’re doing it and we’re not doing our jobs as guards, it makes it harder for them.”
--The big two of Wiltjer and Sabonis were largely ineffective for one of the rare times this season. Wiltjer was 5 of 16 en route to 13 points. Sabonis had three layups in the first 9:30 and didn’t make another FG the rest of the game. After each catch, he drew a crowd on his first dribble.
“We never really got in a lot of offensive rhythm,” Few said. “They did a good job directing our shots, doubling down on Domas and we didn’t make them pay.”
The duo combined for just 20 points – 19 below their combined average – on 8-of-24 shooting. They had 20 combined points vs. Texas A&M but Sabonis was limited to 18 foul-prone minutes. They had just 23 in the first meeting with Saint Mary’s, Wiltjer limited to six and Sabonis producing 17.
Sabonis had just five points while battling foul trouble against BYU but Wiltjer erupted for 35. When Wiltjer managed just four points against SMU, Sabonis dominated with 20 points.
The Gaels have done the best job defensively on the tandem, and now they've done it twice.
STATS OF NOTE
--Gonzaga has scored 68 points or less in all seven losses.
--Bryan Alberts, GU’s top 3-point shooter by percentage (43.4) in the rotation and the best 3-point shooter at home (58.3), had a DNP for the first time this season. He was the floor for less than a minute against SMU.
--SMC's bench outscored GU's 15-2, led by Landale’s nine points. Silas Melson scored the Zags’ only bench points.
--Naar and Joe Rahon never left the court. Sabonis played 39 minutes, Wiltjer 38, Dranginis 36, Perkins 34 and McClellan 31.
--The Zags didn’t commit a turnover in the second half.
--Perkins (9 of 18) was the lone GU player to make at least 50 percent of his shots.
--SMC led for nearly 28 minutes. Gonzaga for 4:52, the last time at 15-13.
QUOTEBOOK
Few: “Hurt us with 3s in the first half and killed us on 2s off the dribble in the second half.”
Sabonis: “Obviously you want to win on Senior Night, especially a game like this where everything is on the line. Now we have to win these two away games.”
Few: “There’s still games left, but we can’t go to that place we went to today. We can’t get frustrated and can’t get off the path like we did. We have to stick to the plan and play the way we’ve been playing this last six weeks because we’ve been playing pretty good.”
Few on Perkins: “I saw, in the second half, a guy that wanted to make the right read on the ball screen and wanted to do what we were asking him to do and it turned out pretty good for him.”
Perkins: “In this locker room we know what we’re capable of. Everything that goes wrong is pretty much on us, easy fixes, not easy but fixes are something we can do and hoping we can make some changes.”
