GU guards feed off each other
PHOENIX– John Stockton and Jeff Condill. Geoff Goss and John Rillie. Matt Santangelo and Quintin Hall, Dan Dickau and Blake Stepp.
Gonzaga University has had its share of exceptional backcourt combinations through the years.
But as impressive as the aforementioned list might be, it is probably time to consider where Derek Raivio and Jeremy Pargo fit in – especially in the wake of the considerable contributions they have made to the Bulldogs’ surprising 8-1 start this season.
Raivio, a 6-foot-3 senior from Vancouver, Wash., and Pargo, a 6-2 sophomore from Chicago, combined for 45 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals Saturday afternoon in leading the Zags to an 87-77 win over Texas in the opening game of the Hall of Fame Challenge doubleheader in the US Airways Center.
Raivio finished with a team-high 27 points on 7-for-14 shooting from beyond the 3-point line, while Pargo made 6 of 8 basket tries in adding 18 points.
It marked the sixth straight game in which Raivio has scored 20 or more points, and boosted Pargo’s scoring average into double figures for the first time in his college career.
Factor in the contributions of junior Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes and freshman Matt Bouldin, who combined for an additional 13 points and seven assists as part of the three- and four-guard looks GU gave to the Longhorns, and one might legitimately suggest that this year’s talented stable of guards is the best the Bulldogs have ever produced.
Coach Mark Few wouldn’t bite, however, when posed with such a notion following Saturday’s impressive win.
“Who knows?” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to make a statement like that after only seven or eight games.”
But Raivio, who raised his season’s scoring average to 19.7 with his outburst against Texas, had no problem weighing in with his assessment.
“We’re one of the top backcourts in the country,” he said. “We’re really versatile. We’ve got big guards and small guards. Pargo can go inside and get a bucket and still knock down that jumper and, with me, people still don’t understand my shot, so that opens up all kinds of opportunities.
“And Bouldin (at 6-5 and 214 pounds) is so big and P-Mac is so fast that it’s tough to match up against us. You kind of have to pick your poison, because on any given night one of us – or maybe even a couple of guys – can go off for 15 or 20.”
Texas coach Rick Barnes liked plenty of things about GU’s deep and talented backcourt.
“I like it when they play four guards, too,” he said. “They do a good job of playing off each other. I like Bouldin a lot, because he’s a blue (collar) kind of guy who can create some real matchup problems.”
Raivio is in his third season as a starter, and Altidor-Cespedes started 31 of 33 games as a sophomore last season. But it is the sudden emergence of Pargo, who averaged just a little over 17 minutes a game as a freshman, that has had, perhaps, the biggest impact on the play of GU’s backcourt.