Day after Illinois

We’ll start out with the links. Here’s my game story that ran in Sunday’s S-R (a longer version can be found in my previous post), former S-R colleague Dave Boling’s column for the Tacoma paper, a gamer in the Seattle Times, and another in the Chicago Tribune . Here are A.P. game photos .

Onward. My game-day post is below. It’s a long one. Read on for more.

—Watched a replay of the first half late last night (OK, actually early early Sunday morning) and watched the second half later this morning so I could chart Illinois ’ 3-point barrage. As Mark Few said in the first two seconds of his post-game remarks “That was the ball game.”

Here’s the rundown: In all, Illinois made 11 of 13 over an 11:10 stretch, initiated by Brandon Paul’s two treys to close out the first half. On Paul’s first, he shot over a mild contest from Steven Gray. On Paul’s second, Gray and Elias Harris switched on a screen out front and Harris failed to challenge the shot.

In the second half, 7-footer Mike Tisdale hit two quick 3s, both off the double high screen that gave GU fits all game. On his first, Harris sagged too far into the paint and couldn’t close out in time. On the second, Harris again dropped too deep.

D.J. Richardson missed a wide-open 3 on an inbounds play (Demetri Goodson appeared to get lost on the play).

Richardson then hit a 3 on a scramble play after an offensive rebound (Gray didn’t recover and locate him after the rebound).

Tisdale struck again as GU tried to double McCamey on the wing. The guard dribbled out of pressure and two quick passes found Tisdale wide open.

Then it was Bill Cole for two straight 3s. The first saw Harris get pinned behind Tisdale’s down screen and Cole was wide open. On the second, Cole made a contested shot from the corner over Mathis Mönninghoff.

The second miss during Illinois ’ shooting clinic was by Tisdale. His shot rattled in and out, but he was alone out front after a poorly executed switch by Rob Sacre and Goodson.

McCamey converted an open 3, created in transition by dumping the ball inside then quickly back out to the perimeter.

Richardson hit a 3 over a mild Gray contest and McCamey capped it with a 3 when Kelly Olynyk unnecessarily tried to help on a drive and couldn’t recover on McCamey.

“They were pretty open 3s, I think we have good shooters,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “When we hunt them (shots), that’s when we struggle.”

Said Harris: “That broke our necks; that’s what lost us the game. It was just their 5-10 minute streak of shooting 3s like crazy. We need to do a lot better job of recovering after the ball screen.”

Said Sacre: “Just communicate a little better. That’s on us, we can’t blame coaches on that. It’s frustrating but we just have to learn from it.”

Said Gray: “I was thinking probably the same thing everyone else was thinking, We were thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ We have to figure out where it’s coming from and make an adjustment that we failed to do. That’s what ended up costing us. … It’s something we have to clean up, our talk. That’s what killed us in our losses, just stretches of mental lapses we have on our part and giving other teams good looks.”

As I mentioned in the game story, GU has had past issues defending 3s.

“For some reason, almost every team we play just hits 3s on us,” Goodson said. Asked if it reminded him of previous games, Goodson said, “Definitely.”

—OK, moving on. Much like the Marquette game, Harris got off to a quick start, even though he didn’t start against Illinois . Against the Golden Eagles, Harris had 15 of his 19 points in the first half. Against Illinois , Harris had 12 points in just 13 first-half minutes. He didn’t score in the second half.

“That’s a good question,” Harris responded, when asked if the games had a similar feel. “I just need to stay aggressive the whole game and not just be happy with what I did in the first half.”

Harris has only practiced perhaps 7-10 times this season. He was sidelined early because of a shoulder injury and the last three weeks off and on by his Achilles tendon.

Despite sitting out so many practices, Harris said he’s done quite a bit of cardiovascular work and feels like he’s in good shape. Still, after his initial stint in the game – 6-plus minutes, with at least one media timeout – Harris tugged on his jersey, asking for a sub.

He started the second half and played 11 minutes.

“He’s just not used to the defenses and all were doing on offense,” Few said. “That’s the hard thing. He’s only practiced maybe a week where everyone else has practiced 10 weeks. I think it’s just going to take time so he’s totally comfortable.

“We were trying to get him in and out, but we had foul trouble. My plan was play him 3-4 minutes, get him out, then 3-4 minutes, but a couple of their runs got pretty lengthy.”

Harris said his Achilles was a little sore afterward, but he was able to loosen it up over the last few days leading into the game. He pointed out that an acupuncture session “helped out.” He also had his Achilles wrapped in compression tape to keep it warm.

Harris had a couple of acrobatic follow jams on Goodson misses. Harris also scored on a nice post-up, a drive from the left elbow (jumping high off his right Achilles) and a nifty pull-up from 7 feet.

—Gonzaga, with Sacre and Harris doing most of the damage, had a 36-20 edge in points in the paint. With the Illini focused on containing Steven Gray, Sacre usually faced one defender in the lane and he converted five field goals and 5 of 6 free throws.

Few thought GU could have worked the ball inside even more.

“We knew they were going to be up into Steve,” Few said. “We had a nice advantage with our post players. We just needed a little more conviction to stick with it. I think we looked (inside) early in the clock, but kind of got away from it. Rob was certainly effective in there and Elias was in the first half.”

After watching the replay, I’m guessing Sacre, who worked his tail off, will be ticked at himself for not getting 20-22 points and failing to finish couple of times within an arm’s length of the hoop. Same thing with Harris, who missed an ally-oop layup and a pair of free throws in the second half.

—Gray had a tough afternoon against a well-crafted Illini defense. He rarely got open looks against Richardson , he was doubled at times and when he put the ball on the floor, the Illini were quick with help.

“I don’t think we ever let him get in rhythm,” Weber said.“D.J.’s our stopper, there’s no doubt.”

Gray hit a 3 and two free throws in a 35-second span in the second half to account for half of his 10 points. The points helped GU pull within 10. Sacre missed a jump hook from close range that could have made it a single-digit deficit with roughly 5 minutes remaining.

The game was reminiscent of the Gray-centered defenses he encountered against Kansas State and Marquette (though he scorched the latter with 3s in the first half). In those games, Gray had 35 hard-earned points on 12 of 32 shooting.

“There was just a lot of help,” Gray said. “When I got my hands on the ball, I saw a lot of eyes (of defenders). Coach has been on me not to force it. I tried to get it inside, we had 1 on 1 in the post. Just a lot of help and one guy in my hip pocket.”

—Lost in the rubble of Illinois ’ 3-point show, GU did have success in a couple of areas. The Zags’ transition defense was pretty solid against a team that is deep and has shown it can run the floor. GU cleaned up on the glass (40-27), including 16 offensive rebounds.

And though it came after the Illini had opened up a big lead, Few was pleasantly surprised with how his players handled an adjustment to switch on every ball screen. That thwarted Illinois ’ 3-point looks.

“We didn’t think this team could maybe handle that, but we did a good job there and it got us back in the game,” Few said.

—Goodson decided against staying over in Seattle to watch his brother, Mike, a running back with the Carolina Panthers, who face the Seahawks at Qwest Field today. He didn’t like the prospect of the five-hour drive home.

Goodson did hook up with his brother for burgers on Friday. The Zags and Panthers stayed in hotels within walking distance of each other.

“It was cool to be in the same town at the same time,” Goodson said. “I went to Charlotte for Thanksgiving to see him and my mom, little brother and sister.”

Goodson jammed his left thumb in practice earlier this week and had it taped. He said it wasn’t anything serious.

STATS OF NOTE

—Gray logged all 40 minutes for the second time this season and he’s averaged 38.3 minutes against GU’s three ranked opponents ( San Diego State , Kansas State and Illinois ).

— Illinois had five players make at least two 3s. Of the five, Demetri McCamey (51.6 percent), D.J. Richardson (51.4) and Brandon Paul (39.3) are accomplished 3-point shooters. Bill Cole (5 of 20 entering the game) and Mike Tisdale (2 of 7) had done little from beyond the arc.

—GU entered the game tied with Long Island for 186 (out of 334 ranked teams) in 3-point percentage defense (34.2 percent)

—Gonzaga won the rebounding battle 40-27, including a 16-8 edge on the offensive boards. However, that only translated into 13 second-chance points. San Diego State scored 24 points on its 18 offensive rebounds vs. Gonzaga.

—Sacre, with 15 points and 10 boards, had his second double-double of his career, both this season.

—GU got little production when it went to backup point guards David Stockton and Marquise Carter. The two played 12 scoreless minutes with one assist and one turnover.

—GU is 4-4 at the Battle in Seattle . The Zags won the first three, but they’ve drpped four of the last five.

—Another subtle difference in the game: GU had seven first-half turnovers and finished with 11. Illinois had just six turnovers and a 17-8 edge in points of TOs. Illinois converted GU’s four second-half turnovers into eight points.

QUOTES

Weber, on GU switching on all ball screens for the last 10-11 minutes: “To their credit, they started switching … and then all our guys wanted to dribble and beat their big guy (Sacre).”

Weber on beating North Carolina and GU in the same week: “It’s pretty good, it even adds a nice touch when Carolina beat Kentucky today, but there’s a long way to go. … We’ve beaten Carolina , Maryland and now for us we have a nice mark on our resume for later on because Gonzaga is going to win a bunch of games.”

Few, on whether his players are losing confidence with an 0-3 mark vs. ranked teams: “I talk to them all the time, I tell them these are opportunities. We could have easily scheduled our way to 7-0 if we chose to, but that’s not why they came to Gonzaga. My tendency is to look at each game as an opportunity. I think they’re still listening to that.”

Gray, on the team’s confidence level: “It’s human nature to get shook up a little bit, but we have to understand were in these games and right there. If we take out those lapses, the outcome could be different.”