NCAA basketball

PULLMAN – Isaiah Watts admits he remembers his biggest misses. His Washington State team counts on him to fill it up on the scoreboard, and as his sophomore season comes to a close, he’s obliged in some of the biggest spots.

PULLMAN – Washington State’s Nate Calmese has already recorded one career victory over Gonzaga. The Washington transfer never saw the floor, but he was part of postgame locker room celebrations when the Huskies pulled off an 78-73 upset over the Zags last season in Seattle.

With four games remaining, the final stretch of the West Coast Conference regular season promises to put Gonzaga to the test.

Last year, as Eastern Washington surged through the Big Sky Conference schedule and played only its second game in the NCAA Tournament, Ella Gallatin mostly watched games from the bench.

For the first time this year, and with only four regular-season games remaining, the West Coast Conference’s Player of the Week honor has been awarded to a Gonzaga player.

Gonzaga is back in the top 10 in the NET rankings, which nearly matches the Zags’ projected seeding in the NCAA Tournament. Yes, that’s a bit unusual.

Lisa Fortier couldn’t quite put her finger on why, but she admitted that Saturday afternoon was emotional for her.

Emmanuel Innocenti made his first appearance Saturday at a Gonzaga post-game media session and it certainly won’t be the last time as he continues to earn more minutes in the rotation. The sophomore guard has made a positive impact while assuming a bigger role over the last three weeks.

Washington State will likely head back to the Pullman happy with the way the first half of a Saturday road trip to Saint Mary’s went in Moraga, California.

Here are three observations from Gonzaga’s 107-55 West Coast Conference win over Pepperdine on Saturday at McCarthey Athletic Center.

Anton Watson’s adjusting well to coastal life in a small town on the Northeast peninsula of the United States, roughly 2,800 miles from his hometown of Spokane.

In a game it absolutely needed to win to preserve hopes of reaching the Big Ten tournament, the Washington men’s basketball team overcame a 13-point deficit and held off Penn State in the final seconds for a gritty 75-73 victory in the first-ever matchup between the two teams.

It was that kind of night for Gonzaga’s offense and Pepperdine’s defense as the Zags cruised to a 107-55 West Coast Conference victory Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

With 33 seconds left, the score tied and both teams huddled during a timeout, Joddie Gleason told the referees that she was prepared to call a timeout once Eastern Washington got the ball back.

There were 7.8 seconds left on the Reese Court clock, and there at the free-throw line was Andrew Cook.

PORTLAND – A furious finish by the Washington State women’s basketball team wasn’t enough to knock off Portland on Saturday during a 84-79 loss in West Coast Conference play at the Chiles Center.

The Whitworth men’s basketball team captured the Northwest Conference regular-season title with a 92-87 win over George Fox on Saturday at Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Maybe it was the emotion from the week and everything that led up Saturday afternoon to the Pink Game, dedicated to cancer awareness.

The first half started with Khalif Battle hitting consecutive 3-pointers and ended with Battle drilling a step-back jumper to beat the buzzer. In between, Gonzaga piled up 19 assists – 10 by Ryan Nembhard in another record-setting performance – and through the first 13-plus minutes had more assists (15) than Pepperdine had points (13). Midway through the half, GU was shooting 75% and led by 20. It was that kind of night for Gonzaga’s offense and Pepperdine’s defense as the Zags cruised to a 107-55 West Coast Conference victory Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.