Zags fall before the Dons
SAN FRANCISCO – There’s no official column in a basketball box score that tracks desire. But coaches know you can get a pretty good post-game read on who wanted it most by simply checking the rebounding numbers.
That’s where Gonzaga’s Mark Few turned to support his assessment of what went wrong in sold-out War Memorial Gymnasium Thursday night as his 11th-ranked Bulldogs fell to San Francisco 73-70 in front of a hostile crowd of 5,300.
“Rebounding is 10 percent technique and 90 percent desire,” he said, pointing to the Dons’ 22 second-chance points and 45-35 advantage on the boards as key elements in an upset loss that snapped GU’s 12-game series winning streak and dropped the Bulldogs (13-4 overall, 3-2 in the West Coast Conference) a half-game behind Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara in the league standings. “They just played a lot harder than we did and had a lot more desire to go get the basketball.”
Actually, the Dons (11-6, 2-2) shot the ball well, too – especially in the first half when they made seven of 18 3-pointers, and knocked the Zags back on their heels with some impressive half-court defensive pressure that made GU labor considerably on every possession.
The Bulldogs were a paltry 1 for 9 from 3-point range in the first half and finished the game shooting just 41 percent.
Spurred on by a career effort from junior forward Jerome Gumbs, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, USF raced to a 42-27 halftime lead, pushed its advantage to 58-39 on a putback bucket by Gumbs with just over 13 minutes left and gamely withstood a late GU comeback to win at home for the ninth time in as many tries.
“Gumbs was fantastic tonight,” Few said of the 6-foot-4, 210-pounder, who pulled down six of USF’s 16 offensive rebounds. “Their guys were hungry, they saw the opportunity and they took advantage of it.”
WCC scoring leader John Cox added 13 points for the Dons, who also got 12 from backup center Johnny Dukes.
Gonzaga, which shot a chilly 34.4 percent in the first half, was paced offensively by Ronny Turiaf and Derek Raivio, who each threw in 18 points. Turiaf also pulled down 10 rebounds to post his 20th career double-double, and Raivio scored 13 of his points in the final 6 minutes to fuel GU’s late run.
But it wasn’t enough to offset the Bulldogs’ lack of passion from the opening tip.
“That last five minutes we started playing with the sense of urgency we needed to start the game with,” Few said. “I’m not sure what it is. We have too many guys who relate everything to offense and aren’t giving us what we need at the other end.
“Some of the younger guys still have trouble attending to details, especially on defense, and that continues to bite us in the rear.”
The Bulldogs were hampered by the absence of starting guard and defensive stopper Erroll Knight, who missed the game after spraining his foot during practice Wednesday afternoon. The 6-foot-7 junior said he expects to play in Saturday’s 4 p.m. matchup against San Diego, however.
And the Zags need him badly.
“For whatever reason, we just don’t seem to play with the intensity without Erroll,” Few said.
On this night, the Bulldogs started quickly, hitting their first three shots. But they followed those with three consecutive trips down the floor in which they hoisted up 3-pointers early in the possession and came up empty.
That gave the Dons a chance to regroup, and they outplayed the Zags the rest of the way – with the exception of the closing minutes when GU pulled to within 72-70 and had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, only to watch Raivio’s long 3-point try from the top of the key bounce long off the back of the rim.
“It seems like we can get up for the big games against Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State,” explained Ravio. “But then against these kind of teams, we come out flat. We started making some big plays and showing a sense of urgency near the end of the game, but by then it was way too late.”
“I thought it was just a heck of a basketball game,” said first-year USF coach Jessie Evans. “The first half, obviously, a lot of things went right for us. And I liked the way we competed early in the second.
“It was kind of a stalemate after that, until the eight-minute mark when Gonzaga showed what they’re all about – very proud, very tradition-rich over the past few years – and made us earn the win.”