GU again weakened at bad time

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – For the second time this season, Gonzaga University steps onto college basketball’s center stage a bit short-handed.

In an earlier 89-72 loss to then fifth-ranked Illinois – with defensive stopper Erroll Knight watching from the bench with a sprained thumb – GU’s undermanned backcourt was overwhelmed by the quickness of the Fightin’ Illini, who have since risen to the top of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

And the 22nd-ranked Bulldogs (7-1) will face a similar challenge at the Thomas & Mack Center this evening, when they take on No. 3-ranked Georgia Tech (6-0) in front of a national ESPN television audience – this time without long-range shooter Nathan Doudney, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during a 54-52 win at Washington State earlier this month.

The Zags and Yellow Jackets are scheduled to tip it off at 9:30 in the nightcap of the Las Vegas Showdown, which also features a 7 p.m. matchup between UNLV and Oklahoma State. And coach Mark Few knows his Bulldogs face an uphill battle against a Tech team that returns four starters and two key reserves from last year’s 28-10 team that made it to the championship game of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Connecticut.

“It would be nice to have all of your resources available against a team like Georgia Tech,” Few said. “But you have to play the cards you’re dealt, and these are the cards we’ve been dealt.”

Adding to Few’s concerns is the questionable status of leading scorer Ronny Turiaf, who saw only limited practice time again this week because of an ankle sprain suffered in the win over WSU.

“I wish Ronny was 100 percent, but he’s not,” Few said of his 6-foot-10 senior forward and co-captain, who is averaging 20.8 points a game, despite scoring only two in limited minutes during last Saturday’s 75-45 rout of Saint Louis.

“It’s going to be tough on him, because Georgia Tech is really going to come after him.

“And against a team like them, you need everything. You need to, somehow, be able to slow them down, but you also need to be able to score.”

With the athletic 6-7 Knight back in the starting lineup and freshman guard Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes figuring out more things each game, the Bulldogs seem much better equipped to deal with Tech’s perimeter quickness than they were with Illinois’.

But the absence of Doudney, a streak shooter who Few compared to a “powder keg just waiting to go off,” leaves the Zags short a scorer.

“Erroll’s going to help us a lot, because he’s so long and athletic, and he can make up for a lot of our defensive mistakes,” sophomore point guard Derek Raivio said. “He creates havoc out there and gives us a dimension we didn’t have against Illinois.

“But at the same time, we definitely lose some offensive firepower with Nate out.”

In Georgia Tech, the Bulldogs face another perimeter-oriented team that plays three guards much of the time. The best of the three is Jarrett Jack, a physical 6-3, 198-pound junior, who mans the point and averages 13.3 points and 5.9 assists per game.

In addition, coach Paul Hewitt can look to seniors B.J. Elder and Will Bynum for additional help on the wings, with 7-1 senior center Luke Schenscher, 6-7 senior forward Anthony McHenry and 6-8 senior forward Isma’il Muhammad rotating on the front line.

“They have everybody that walked off the floor after last year’s national championship game back. I mean, how great a luxury is that?” Few said. “They’re extremely athletic, one through four, and then they just throw a 7-1 guy in the middle, which kind of shores that up.

“They’re just throttling people on the defensive end of the floor right now. They are a legitimate national championship contender – again.”

And if any Bulldogs are looking for complacency as a potential Yellow Jackets weakness, they can forget it. Hewitt’s team has held its first seven opponents to a combined shooting percentage of only 32.5 percent, while forcing 123 turnovers.

“I really, really like the business-like way we’ve approached the season so far,” Hewitt said. “This is not a team that really gets complacent, because they all realize they’ve still got a lot of goals to achieve.”

Hewitt did admit, however, that he is a little concerned about the late start of tonight’s game, which equates to 12:30 a.m. EST.

“It could present some problems for our players,” he conceded, “but there’s nothing we can do about it. When you have a chance like this – to play a very good basketball team like Gonzaga on national television – you take it.”

GU plays Eastern Washington University on Tuesday at the Arena.