Zags smother Vandals

There are few things more satisfying for a coach than seeing his team take a game plan from the drawing board and execute it on the basketball court.

For 20 minutes, Gonzaga did precisely that, disrupting Idaho’s offensive sets and limiting the Vandals to four first-half field goals. The second 20 minutes weren’t nearly as crisp, but the issue was long decided by then.

“I was totally, incredibly pleased with how they took our game plan and how they took the challenge of setting the tone with our defense,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said after his club dismantled the Vandals 80-46 in front of a sellout crowd of 6,000 Tuesday at the McCarthey Athletic Center. “We talked about doing it the last couple days and they took it to heart.”

By doing so, it took a while for the Vandals to score. Gonzaga led 17-0 before Marvin Jefferson hit a free throw with 12:54 remaining in the first half. Idaho (1-2) made 19 percent of its first-half shots and committed 13 turnovers, which Gonzaga converted into 21 points at the other end.

The Bulldogs (2-0) bookended the half by scoring the first 17 points and the final 12 to take a 47-11 lead, their biggest halftime lead since a 39-point advantage over San Francisco in January 2004.

“It was a fun half,” said senior forward Micah Downs, who had 16 of his 18 points by intermission. “Coach (Steve) Hertz said it’s the best half he’s ever seen and he’s been around here for a long time. If we can keep up halves like that every game we’re going to be a tough team to play against.”

It’s customary for Hertz, the former Gonzaga baseball coach who is the school’s director of athletic relations, to address the team after games.

For Idaho, it was the end of a grinding two-game road trip that began with a 100-62 drubbing at No. 6 Michigan State on Sunday. The Vandals returned home Monday and appeared a bit leg-weary against the ninth-ranked Bulldogs.

“You go to Michigan State and then you go to Gonzaga, there’s probably not a team in the country that’s going to go win that road trip,” Idaho first-year head coach Don Verlin said. “On the other hand, I thought we could compete a little bit better.”

UI point guard Mac Hopson, who came in averaging 16 points per game, found little room to operate against Jeremy Pargo. Hopson had two points and three turnovers in the first 20 minutes. He heated up in the second half to finish with 19 points and eight rebounds.

“I thought he pressed real hard in the first half,” Verlin said.

Gonzaga had nine steals, made 10 3-pointers and won the boards 47-27. Austin Daye (16 points, seven rebounds) and Steven Gray (11 points) supported Downs’ and Josh Heytvelt’s 33 combined points.

“Micah was terrific,” junior guard Matt Bouldin said. “He hit his first couple shots and got into a rhythm.”

The Vandals got a brief spark from Luciano de Souza, who made consecutive 3s to trim GU’s lead to 17-7, but points were scarce for the remainder of the half. Kashif Watson rebounded from a scoreless first half with 12 points in the second.

Few was pleased with various aspects of his team’s defense, everything from his players maintaining a defensive stance for entire possessions to the high number of deflected passes.

“If this team buys into (defense) and can make it a strength, which is going to be a challenge for some of them just because of their physical attributes, then the better off we’re going to be,” he said. “I think we have enough different weapons that we can always play pretty good offensively if we keep sharing the ball like we have been.”

Gonzaga is off until it faces Oklahoma State on Nov. 27 in the first round of the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla. Idaho returns home to meet North Dakota State on Saturday.