Day after UConn

Stuck in Seattle because of the latest round of storms, so we’ll get the day after Connecticut post up.

The links: First, the S-R game story and John Blanchette’s column . As you will see in both articles and the other links below, Jeremy Pargo, as always, answers all post-game questions (win or lose) and minces no words. After tough defeats, that doesn’t always happen with professional athletes, let alone college ones.

More in the Seattle Times here and here , Tacoma News Tribune here and here , the Hartford Courant and also here and here , and Seattle P-I here .

—A few more things. As the game went on Saturday, the obstacles kept stacking. First, Pargo started cramping up, initially when he scored on a post-up move at the outset of the second half. Then, the foul trouble hit.

“That kind of slowed him down and kind of impacted the way the second half was going,” GU coach Mark Few said. “Then Steve (Gray) took over and started making some plays. There was a lot of adversity going on with the fouls (Micah Downs, Matt Bouldin and Austin Daye eventually fouled out and Josh Heytvelt finished with four) and Jeremy’s situation, but our guys put themselves in position to win.”

Specifically of Pargo, Few said, “He wasn’t quite physically there. Against them you have to stay in attack mode because they start climbing up into you. You have to punch it in there and penetrate. That takes a lot of courage, but there’s some risk in that also. He got Micah a huge 3 late.

“We had some silly turnovers, but not nearly enough to overshadow the courage and toughness we played with all night, especially as physically overmatched as we were.”

—Steven Gray made 10 of 16 shots (9 of 11 from inside the 3-point arc) to finish with his career-high 23 points. He also had seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and no turnovers in 39 minutes. Gray scored on numerous drives to the basket, finishing at the rim or with short pullups.

“The coaches did a great job with the scouting report,” he said. Those reports noted “if you come off the ball screens they have trouble defending it, and that’s going to be wide open, so you have to give a lot of credit to the coaches. I’m known for the jump shot, but I just think (the drives) were just the preparation (from the coaches).”

Added Few: “He plays good in big games … We needed to try to get him in maybe a couple more situations at the end, but it’s hard when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.”

—Matt Bouldin missed a couple of shots early, including one layup. He finished with six points, making 1 of 6 shots.

“UConn can really defend and they have some great athletes,” Few said. “Matt missed a couple little cheap ones early that he usually makes. If he gets those, it probably gets him going a little bit. He was playing 4 (power forward) for stretches for us. He did a nice job holding his own under the glass.”

—Foul problems forced Gonzaga to use numerous odd combinations. Austin Daye and Will Foster, who didn’t play in four of the previous six games, logged minutes at the 5. At one point, when Demetri Goodson was fouled and shaken up after driving to the bucket, walk-on Andrew Sorenson was at the scorer’s table, ready to shoot Goodson’s free throws, but the freshman guard shook it off and went to the line.

Foster played four minutes and had a rebound and blocked shot. He redirected another UConn shot. Ira Brown played six minutes, finishing with two boards and a blocked shot.

—After a quick start, Connecticut cooled off when Gonzaga went to a zone defense. The Huskies made 5 of 7 field goals early, then just 15 of their next 40. They heated up again late to finish 26 of 61 (42.6 percent). Center Hasheem Thabeet had nine points in 19 minutes, but he only attempted five shots.

“It really worked well for us,” Downs said, “but other guys stepped up for them and made big shots.”

—Asked if GU became a little too reliant on 3-point shooting, Few said: “There were a couple that were tough, that were early in the clock, but that was in the middle stretches of the game. That’s what this team is: We’re not a power team, we’re a skill team right now. We move it around and share it and try to get each other shots. That’s what was working and put us position to win the game.”

—Gonzaga elected not to foul when UConn had possession late and was looking for the tying 3-pointer. Craig Austrie missed from the corner, but A.J. Price connected with nine seconds left on a difficult, contested 3 over Pargo. The Bulldogs have practiced the situation, but Few elects not to foul in those situations.

“All the pundits go back and forth on that,” he said. “We played great defense and the guy hit an incredible 3. They had the ball with 23 seconds left, we played the possession out and then they got a rebound. (At that point) we couldn’t call timeout and set up a foul situation. People forget how many games are won when teams miss 3s at the end and they just focus on the ones that are made.”

—Price on GU’s zone: “A lot of teams the last couple years have played zone because of our size and because of (7-3 center Hasheem) Thabeet. Once we started attacking it, stopped being so passive and getting into the cracks, that’s what really helped us out.”

—Price on UConn trailing by 11 near the midpoint of the second half: “That was the make-or-break point. We were either going to step up and do something right there or we were on pace to probably get run out of the gym. That’s the sign of a tough team. We made plays from that point on. It was an uphill battle and we fought our way through.