Zags brush off Eastern
Gonzaga coach Mark Few confessed to being a bit apprehensive heading into Friday night’s men’s basketball opener against Eastern Washington, and with good reason.
His Bulldogs had not looked particularly sharp – especially in the early going – in either of their two lopsided exhibition wins earlier this month, and Few was concerned they might not be able to survive another sluggish start against the Eagles.
But his apprehension dissipated quickly as the Zags blindsided Eastern with a determined 19-4 run midway through the first half and breezed to a 90-75 win that delighted another sellout crowd of 6,000 in the McCarthey Atheltic Center, where GU is now 41-0.
Sophomore forward Josh Heytvelt and senior guard Derek Raivio combined for 43 points and fueled a 55-point first-half clinic that buried the wide-eyed and careless Eagles.
“I thought our guys came out tonight with a great edge about them and played some really good stretches – better than we’ve played in practice and better than we played in any of the exhibitions,” Few said. “And we needed to, so that was a good sign.”
Heytvelt, who finished with a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds, energized his team with a couple of early dunks, one of which he finished on a lob pass from David Pendergraft on the break and in traffic. And Raivio added 21 points on 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range and a crowd-charging first-half scoring burst that saw him score 10 points in just over 2 minutes.
“I thought Derek came out like he should – like a senior on his own floor in his first game of the year,” Few said of Raivio, the Bulldogs’ leading returning scorer, who managed only two points in a 97-52 exhibition win over Warner Pacific last Saturday.
“It was all about business tonight,” explained Raivio, a former point guard who is playing primarily at the off-guard position this year. “The coaches were a little antsy and on edge because we were playing Eastern, but we came out tonight and played like they wanted us to.”
The Bulldogs, who shot 53.3 percent (22-36) from the field, were patient, selective and efficient on offense, and did a terrific job of defending and frustrating Eastern’s super sophomore Rodney Stuckey, who finished with 18 hard-earned points after averaging 24.2 per game as a freshman last season.
“For a first game, I thought they did a very good job of moving the ball, and our defense, around,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said of the Zags. “They did the things we hoped we would do in that regard, so I think you’ve got to take your hat off to them.”
Eastern severely damaged its hopes of upsetting the Bulldogs with some sloppy first-half ball-handling that led to 15 turnovers, several of which resulted in run-out buckets for GU.
“The first half, it was Murphy’s Law,” lamented Burns. “I mean, if we dribbled it, we would dribble it off our foot. If we passed it, we would pass it off one of their heads. It was one of those things where we didn’t take care of the basketball, and that’s something we have to do.
“Not to take credit away from Gonzaga, but a lot of our turnovers were unforced, and we just have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball.”
The Eagles shored things up in the second half, outscoring the Zags 39-35 and committing only five turnovers. But it wasn’t nearly enough to erase the 55-36 hole they dug for themselves in the opening 20 minutes.
GU defended Stuckey with a variety of different players and schemes, limiting the Big Sky Conference’s reigning MVP to just three shots and holding him scoreless over the last 15 minutes, 53 seconds of the game.
“He’s a good player,” Few said of Stuckey, who finished 6 of 13 from the floor. “We’ve played a lot of great players, though, so we put a lot of different guys on him and gave him a lot of different looks – kind of like we always do.
“And, for the most part, I thought our guys did a nice job.”
Stuckey placed most of the blame on himself.
“It wasn’t them,” he said of the Bulldogs, “it was me trying to get my teammates the ball more and have them step up and hit open shots, which happened at some points. But I take my fault for not being more aggressive in the second half and getting to the basket and the free-throw line.”
Both teams return to action on Tuesday, with Gonzaga staying close to home to face Rice in the opening round of the NIT Tip-Off Classic at the Arena and Eastern traveling to Las Vegas to take on UNLV.