Zags head to Saint Mary’s
MORAGA, Calif. – The Gonzaga Bulldogs will attempt to keep their West Coast Conference record unblemished and complete a sweep of their difficult Bay Area road tonight when they face Saint Mary’s in McKeon Pavilion.
Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. and a sellout crowd of 3,500 is expected to be on hand to see if the Zags (12-6 overall, 3-0 in the WCC) can maintain the recent dominance over the Gaels (9-9, 1-1), who have lost 21 of the last 22 meetings in the series.
Gonzaga comes in having held off Santa Clara 77-69 on Saturday, the same night Saint Mary’s dismantled visiting Portland 73-57.
Bulldogs coach Mark Few admits the Gaels are a different team without career scoring leader Daniel Kickert, who completed his stellar career last winter, but claims they are still very dangerous – especially on their home court, where they have won 58 of 83 under sixth-year coach Randy Bennett.
“Sure, they lost Kickert,” Few said, “but they still have that senior guard combination of (Brett) Collins and (John) Winston, who have both been in Randy’s system a while, now. And those two kids are the tough, aggressive, hard-nosed types that can give you problems.”
Collins, a 6-foot-5, 225-pounder, is averaging 11.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, while Winston is contributing 4.4 points and a team-high 2.9 assists.
The Gaels are led, however, on both ends of the court by 6-7 sophomore center Diamon Simpson, who is averaging 13.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and two blocks per game.
“Diamon Simpson was the guy who was really coming on for them last year,” Few said. “He’s posted a lot of double-doubles, and they’ve got some really beefy size to go along with him inside.”
Providing most of Saint Mary’s inside muscle is Omar Samhan, a 6-11, 265 freshman, who is averaging 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds. But the Gaels’ strength is on the perimeter, where they boast six guards, all over 6-3 and extremely capable of making their way to the basket under almost any circumstance.
“Their other guards are all dangerous, too,” Few said. “And if any of them come in and get hot, they can present some real problems.”
Gonzaga, which has now won three in a row after suffering consecutive losses to Georgia, Duke, Nevada and Virginia that dropped the Zags out of the Associated Press Top 25, will attempt to counter with a deep – and talented – backcourt of its own, which got a lot better on Saturday night when sophomore Micah Downs made his Bulldogs debut.
The 6-8 shooting guard and Kansas transfer, who had been sidelined by a broken bone in his foot, played 12 minutes in Saturday’s win over Santa Clara and scored five points. He also pulled down a couple of rebounds and defended well near the top of GU’s zone defense.
“It was really a hard situation,” Few said of Downs’ debut, which came against a physical Broncos team and in front of a hostile sellout crowd of 4,500 at the Leavey Center. “I was so leery of throwing him in there when he hasn’t really practiced five-on-five much.
“He did a remarkable job. I don’t know how many kids could have handled that. He’s a player, and the more reps we get him, the more comfortable he’s going to get.”