One week after Gonzaga’s Graham Ike was named an Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association gave the same honor to frontcourt mate Braden Huff.
Former GU center Richard Fox, analyst on Gonzaga telecasts on KHQ and SWX, and yours truly spent extra time on Huff and Smith as well as previewing the upcoming West Coast Conference season.
PROVO, Utah – Facing the 10th-ranked men’s college basketball team in the country, Eastern Washington lost its final nonconference game of the regular season, 109-81 on Monday at the Marriott Center.
For the first time this season, Gonzaga didn’t move up in the Associated Press weekly college basketball rankings. The Zags (12-1), who handled Oregon 91-82 on Sunday at the Moda Center in Portland, remained at No. 7 in the media poll.
PORTLAND – Gonzaga can bank on at least two more chances to play in the state of Oregon this season. The Zags are scheduled to return in February for road West Coast Conference games against Portland (Feb. 4) and Oregon State (Feb. 7).
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Idaho guard Kolton Mitchell hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the overtime period to cap his 31-point outing and the Vandals escaped with a win after blowing a 19-point lead in the second half.
To extract expectations from recent history, this Gonzaga basketball team should find huge success come March. Or the world will once again be struck by a global pandemic. Either way there is great promise with this team, and also a hint of mystery around it.
Gonzaga’s loaded nonconference schedule served up a handful of quality opponents and marquee matchups that could’ve knocked Mark Few’s team down on the wrong night.
Gonzaga back-up point guard Braeden Smith outscored Oregon’s four bench players by himself, 21-13. Smith bettered his season high by 10 points this season with a team-leading 21 points and seven assists, guiding the seventh-ranked Zags down Oregon 91-82 Sunday at the Moda Center.
Gonzaga is steadily reversing its 3-point struggles early in the season into a team strength.Steele Venters and Adam Miller led the way Sunday. Venters made 4 of 5 attempts while Miller connected on 3 of 5, all coming in the first half. Gonzaga hit 6 of its first 8 from distance and did most of its damage behind the arc in the opening half.
