Grip on Sports: Gonzaga, Seahawks make it hard to sleep – for different reasons

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It was impossible to fall asleep last night. After that nail-biter of a Gonzaga game, I was just too wired to call it a night. Ah, who am I kidding. It was the two cups of coffee I drank during the second half to stay awake. So when will the Zags have an edge-of-your-seat contest that actually does get us chewing our nails? Read on.

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• Thought today’s column was going to be about the Seahawks, didn’t you? Sorry. Couldn’t do it. The Hawks were just too disappointing. And I’m not even talking about yesterday’s loss.

This season was too disappointing. The nadir came against Arizona. The second time. Win a home game against a battered and disappointing Cardinal team in the regular season’s penultimate contest and boom, the playoffs begin in Seattle. After a week to rest and recovery.

Instead the Hawks played like (word we can’t print here). That was enough for me. The season was unofficially officially over. That day we all sort of knew. No matter what happened, this team wasn’t going to get through two road games to earn a Super Bowl berth.

It wasn’t like what ailed them was going to heal itself. No one was laying hands on Earl Thomas’ leg or the five guys up front and, lo and behold, the whole season would change in Atlanta. Their weaknesses were still their weaknesses. So yesterday’s outcome wasn’t a surprise.

• Which brings us back to the Kennel. The outcome there wasn’t a surprise either. Gonzaga is tough to beat at home, though Saint Mary’s did it last season.

But the margin, that was surprising. The Gaels’ one loss this season had been by one point. Their one decent road game, at Dayton, had resulted in a four-point win. So you expected them to be in this one until the end.

Except they really didn’t have their best player. Center Jock Landale played less than half the game, due to foul trouble. The rest of the Gaels were able to patch the big hole in the middle for only so long.

Pretty soon they were leaking water and, after he fouled out, they sank under the weight.

Which means the Zags are 17-0. The last undefeated team in America. The first time they have gotten to mid-January without a defeat. Ever.

They may not be No. 1 – and they won’t be in the new polls, it will probably be Kansas – but they are playing like one of the best teams in the nation again. If only their opponents, even the highly rated ones, would play like it once in a while too.

My coffee bills would go down.

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Gonzaga: The Zags’ 79-56 win is covered from all angles this morning, as is the usual method of operation at the S-R. Jim Meehan has the game story and a notebook of interesting happenings as well as the keys to the game. John Blanchette has a column on Gonzaga’s punch – darn autocorrect, that was supposed to be “punctuation” – and Dan Pelle and Colin Mulvany combined on the photo report. … Whitney Ogden was in attendance and has a feature on the Gaels’ favorite place to eat while Michael Gulledge points out the biggest difference in this game and the last few. … You like numbers? Here is the game summarized in a cool form. … I sat at home, drank coffee and watched the ESPN2 telecast. They didn’t miss much. Except maybe an early Mark Few explosion after an uncalled rebounding foul. The next Saint Mary’s possession the same thing occurred and this time Kevin Brill blew his whistle. Correlation? … The Saint Mary’s side of the story is also available. … The Gonzaga women picked up another WCC victory, stopping Saint Mary’s 79-77 in Moraga behind Jill Barta’s career-high 33 points. … Around the WCC last night, San Diego picked up its biggest win of the season, pulling away from BYU late in an 88-75 victory. There is trouble in Provo. … Loyola-Marymount rallied late and got past Portland, 79-78. … USF routed visiting Pacific, 72-51.

WSU: Unlike the other night at Stanford, the Cougars had a chance for a Pac-12 road win against California on Saturday. They just couldn’t get over the hump at the end. Jacob Thorpe was in old Haas Pavilion and has this game story. … There was also coverage of the game in the Bay Area newspapers. … There were some real routs in the Pac-12 yesterday, though none was more “routee” than Oregon’s 85-43 home win over Oregon State. It was worse than that actually, Ken Goe explains, as the Ducks led 21-0 at the start. Dana Altman was smart enough not to go for two after the first touchdown. … Utah had a chance, but in the end, the UCLA Bruins were able to get out of Salt Lake City with the win. … Washington rallied in the second half but still came up short at Stanford. … Colorado is relying on its young guards. … In conference football news, California made the Justin Wilcox hire official. … Oregon is rebuilding at the expense of Arizona – and other conference schools.

EWU: The Eagles had every chance to hand Weber State its first conference defeat. But Eastern couldn’t hold on in Ogden and fell 70-67 despite 36 points from Jake Wiley. … The women put almost a hundred points on Weber in Cheney, winning 99-85. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Portland State had little trouble at Southern Utah. … Montana snapped North Dakota’s four-game winning streak, 76-70 in Missoula. … Northern Colorado struggled at Montana State. … On the football front, Jim Allen has a story on Beau Baldwin’s new contract. 

Idaho: The Vandals got back on the winning track in Pocatello, riding Victor Sanders’ 22 points to a 77-62 win over Idaho State. … The Vandal women fell at home to Idaho State.

Whitworth: For the second consecutive night, the eighth-ranked Pirates had to rally in the second half to win a home game. Jim Allen has the story of the 80-72 win over Pacific Lutheran. … The Whit women also won last night.

Preps: We have girls and boys basketball roundups to pass along as well as one from wrestling. … Four local cross country coaches were honored this week.

Chiefs: Spokane earned a much-needed win, snapping a four-game losing streak with a 6-5 decision in Portland.

Seahawks: Not only were the Hawks upended 36-20 in what was anything but a nail-biter, they also didn’t act all that nice afterward. (As if any of you care.) … Russell Wilson was under pressure all game long and though he avoided sacks, he probably threw on the run more than he did from the pocket. … Pete Carroll is always the optimist, right? His spin after this one: The Hawks aren’t at the end of their title-contending run, they are in the middle of it. For that to be true, some changes have to be made. And some hard decisions made. … There was one sequence of first-half plays that may have decided this one. A long Devin Hester punt return negated by a penalty and a backup offensive lineman stepping on Wilson, causing a key safety.

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• That’s it for this Sunday. I need a nap. Staying up after 10 p.m. just wears me out. … Just kidding. I was actually awake until it was Sunday. That doesn’t happen often. Heck, it didn’t even happen on New Year’s. Until later …