Bulldogs Teach Idaho Tough Lesson

The Idaho Vandals attended the Gonzaga basketball clinic Tuesday night.

At least for 20 minutes.

Much to the Vandals’ credit, they never capitulated in a 75-55 loss to Gonzaga.

Although it would have been understandable after the Bulldogs powered to a merciless 41-15 halftime lead - outshooting the stunned Vandals 70 percent to 24 percent.

Cut here, screen there, make the shot - any questions? The clinic was conducted in front of 3,634 at the Martin Centre.

The win was the 34th consecutive for the Bulldogs (10-1) at home, while Idaho dipped to 4-6 and still hasn’t led in a road game this season.

“I thought we came out really well prepared, and defensively, for the first 15 minutes, we played as good as we have played,” GU coach Dan Fitzgerald said.

Idaho’s shooting improved in the second half, when the Vandals outscored GU 40-34.

“It was disaster for them at halftime, but they came out and actually won the second half,” Fitzgerald said. “They went out and played very, very hard, and that’s a credit to them and to (UI coach) Joe (Cravens) and the job he’s doing with them.”

Cravens is confounded by his team’s poor shooting.

“We got a lot of the shots we wanted, we just didn’t make them,” said Cravens, whose team took 61 field-goal tries compared to Gonzaga’s 41.

“I’ve never seen a team that is so, I don’t know, frail mentally, I guess,” Cravens said. “We start missing shots and then we start looking at each other and it affects us on the other end.”

Idaho defended hard and hustled, but was never in it as GU zoomed to an 18-point lead just 10 minutes into the game.

The Vandals appeared intent on disrupting GU point guard Kyle Dixon, double-teaming him when he had the ball with the shot clock winding down.

“It kind of surprised me and caught me off guard,” Dixon said. “But it’s definitely risky with some of the other shooters we have.”

Dixon managed to score 11 while also kicking it out to Jon Kinloch (18 points) and John Rillie (12).

“Dixon’s a good player, but we make him out to be Superman,” Cravens said. “I don’t know if he’s John Stockton, but we treat him that way.”

Kinloch made 6 of 9 shots, hitting 3 of 4 3-pointers. His recent impressive offensive binge has boosted his percentages to 53 from the floor and 48 from behind the 3-point arc.

“We didn’t execute incredibly well tonight; it was just a matter of the right guys taking the right shots from the right spots,” said Kinloch, who noted the improvement the team has made since slipping past the Vandals by six points at Moscow in December.

“Every guy has made improvements individually to help us be better collectively,” Kinloch said. “I think the difference is, all of us are starting to understand our roles and jell as a team.”

Idaho got 16 points from guard Shawn Dirden and 10 from Mark Leslie, but the team still finished shooting just 32.8 percent from the floor.

“We’re not that far from being a good team,” Cravens said. “That sounds like a guy on some kind of drugs for a coach whose team is down 25 at halftime.”

But playing Gonzaga at the Martin Centre, as the winning streak attests, is hardly an easy chore.

“They’re a very good team - I don’t care if you play them in downtown Moscow,” Cravens said. “At their place, they’re extremely good. They run an offense that is very hard to defend and they run it better than anybody in the nation. It’s almost like cheating. And I mean that as a compliment.

“(Fitzgerald) does the best job with the kids he has of maybe anybody I’ve ever seen,” Cravens said.

Fitzgerald said Idaho was the best rebounding team the Bulldogs have faced this year, but GU dominated that category 38-25, with Scott Morgan grabbing a game-high six.

Also, the Bulldogs made 24 of 27 free-throw attempts for 88.9 percent as Rillie was 5 for 5.

Gonzaga 75, Idaho 55 IDAHO (4-6)

Dirden 6-14 2-2 16, Leslie 4-8 0-0 10, Gardner 1-9 2-2 4, Coates 2-7 2-3 6, Harrison 3-11 1-1 7, Hay 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-1 2-2 2, Jones 4-7 0-1 8, Baumann 0-3 2-4 2, Spike 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-61 11-15 55.

GONZAGA (10-1)

Dixon 4-7 2-2 11, Rillie 3-7 5-5 12, Rogers 4-6 0-0 8, Kinloch 6-9 3-4 18, Rubright 2-5 3-4 7, Morgan 1-1 4-4 6, Nemeth 0-0 2-2 2, Cole 1-3 2-2 4, Bond 0-1 0-0 0, Snider 0-0 2-2 2, Williams 2-2 1-2 5. Totals 23-41 24-27 75.

Halftime-Gonzaga 41, Idaho 15. 3-Point goals-Idaho 4-16 (Dirden 2-7, Leslie 2-5, Coates 0-2, Johnson 0-1, Baumann 0-1), Gonzaga 5-9 (Dixon 1-2, Rillie 1-3, Kinloch 3-4). Fouled out- Coates. Rebounds-Idaho 25 (Harrison 7), Gonzaga 38 (Morgan 6). Assists-Idaho 7 (Leslie 3), Gonzaga 13 (Rillie 6). Total fouls- Idaho 17, Gonzaga 19. Technicals-Idaho, Walker. A-3,634.