Day after Wake Forest

A shorter-than-usual day-after post from Gonzaga’s 73-63 road victory over Wake Forest.

First, the links: Game recaps in the S-R , Winston-Salem Journal and A.P .

The latest rankings are out: GU picked up a couple more votes in each poll, but remain outside the Top 25. The Bulldogs received seven points in the A.P. poll and 12 in the coaches’ poll. Saint Mary’s has one more point than Gonzaga in each poll.

As those who follow this blog know, on rare occasions I’ll post NCAA Tournament projections so here’s the latest ones from ESPN.com . GU is projected as an eight seed, to face No. 9 North Carolina in Cleveland. Saint Mary’s (a 10 seed) and Portland (13) also are projected to make the field.

Read on.

—More important than NCAA projections is monitoring GU’s non-conference foes. Some are helping the Zags’ cause: Notre Dame splitting against two Top-10 Big East foes, a big win for Illinois, San Diego State. Some aren’t: Baylor, defeating 2-9 Texas Southern by 8, and WSU, dropping its first two Pac-10 games. Kansas State is holding steady until two of its top players return from suspension.

—This was one of those wins that doesn’t ‘wow’ the NCAA selection committee or poll voters, but it would have been problematic for Gonzaga on Selection Sunday if it had lost. Wake Forest has a losing record and appears bound for a long season in the ACC. A setback would have erased some of the heavy lifting GU has done to rebound from a 4-5 start.

Still, there is value with the victory. It came over a traditional power from one of the top conferences on Wake’s home floor. The latter tends to impress the selection committee – the willingness to play true road games against name opponents, instead of just 2-3 tough tournament games on neutral courts.

—Steven Gray isn’t 100 percent, that was apparent when he stole the ball and went for an awkward, breakaway layup instead of a dunk, but he’s getting closer. Gray delivered 18 points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals in GU’s win over Wake Forest . He hit 3 of 7 3-pointers, another sign that his perimeter shooting accuracy is returning. He was just 5 of 13 from the floor, but he made a couple of crucial 3s in the second half.

Gray didn’t shoot in his return from back spasms against Lafayette and he was just 4 of 10 vs. Oklahoma State .

“That kid is as tough as they come,” Few said in a post-game TV interview. “He’s not 100 percent yet, but he’s battling his tail off, as is Rob (Sacre).”

Gray told the same interviewer that he’d been feeling great the last couple days. “It’s back to normal, I think,” said Gray, which roughly translates to “I’m getting there.”

—Gonzaga turned in another quality defensive effort, limiting Wake Forest to 33.9 percent shooting. Guard C.J. Harris and wing Ari Stewart, who combined for 36 points and 6-of-7 3s in the Demon Deacons’ win over GU last year, were held to 10 points and 0-of-4 on 3s. Freshman forward Travis McKie had 16 points, but just one point in the final 20 minutes when Wake Forest took jumper after jumper.

Gonzaga juggled defenders throughout, inside and out, as five players picked up two fouls in the first half. That led to some unusual combinations, but the Bulldogs still managed to defend effectively and shoot 50 percent from the field.

“We had massive foul trouble,” Few said. “We had some really crazy lineups, really young lineups and some thin-bodied weak lineups. They have big athletic guards. We were able to get Goodson, Gray, Keita, Manny out there and I think that helped. And obviously with Rob in there, our defense is much different.”

STATS OF NOTE

—GU still has two more non-conference games: vs. Memphis on Feb. 5 and vs. Cal State-Bakersfield on Feb. 28.

—Gonzaga scored on 9 of 10 possessions late in the first half.

—One-third of Wake’s 63 points came at the foul line.

—Nine of GU’s 19 turnovers were committed by Sacre and Harris.

—The bench wasn’t as productive as it has been the last 2-3 weeks, but Olynyk and Dower still chipped in seven points, five boards and three assists in 20 combined minutes.

—Along with Oklahoma State and Notre Dame, Sunday was another solid effort by the ‘Big Three’ (Gray, Harris and Sacre). They’ve been in double figures in four other games this season (Southern, Illinois , Oklahoma State and Notre Dame). Sunday, they had 44 points, 22 boards. They had 53 points and 13 boards vs. Notre Dame. They had 48 and 21 against OSU.

—Gonzaga attempted just nine 3-pointers, the third time this season they’ve attempted less than 10 and they’ve all been in recent games (Baylor, Xavier and Wake Forest ). Part of that has been Gray’s health issues, but mostly it’s a product of feeding the ball inside to Sacre and Harris.

QUOTES

Few on quick turnaround from Friday night to Sunday: “I really put them behind the 8-ball. This was a scheduling brain fart for me, to make your team do this, especially when the game time is 10 a.m. (Pacific). It didn’t affect them at all.”

Gray on entering WCC play: “With the non-conference schedule we’ve had, we’re well-tested and looking forward to going into league.”

Few on Keita: “He’s a fighter is what he is. … He really played big for us versus Xavier, and he played good again today.”

Few: “We haven’t been healthy yet. Elias was hurt the first month, then Steven got hurt. We’re almost healthy now. These guys have really battled. I put them through some really difficult situations with travel and games, but they’ve held up well.”