‘It’s all right in front of us.’ Gonzaga begins WCC play against Pepperdine with new hope

It’s a new year and the list of resolutions for Gonzaga’s basketball team is longer than usual.

Coming out of a nonconference schedule that delivered four losses, and perhaps of more significance no resume-boosting wins, the Zags enter the next phase of their 2023-24 schedule without the same margin of error they’ve had in the past.

“You’re going to lose some games, but we’re going to be right back next game,” senior forward Anton Watson said after Friday’s 84-74 loss to San Diego State at McCarthey Athletic Center. “We’ve got to come out 120%, bring that energy and I don’t think we’re trying to lose the rest of the year so we’re locked in.”

Because they can’t control the number of Quad 1 opportunities they have moving forward, or make a midseason addition to their razor-thin backcourt, the Zags will have to work with what they have – on the schedule and the roster – as they dive into a 16-game conference schedule that begins Thursday against Pepperdine (7-8) at the Spokane Arena.

The West Coast Conference opener also doubles as a fundraiser for the Community Cancer Fund. As of Wednesday afternoon, select tickets in the lower and upper bowls were still available on TicketsWest.com.

Coming off Friday’s loss to San Diego State, it should be reassuring for fans to know the Bulldogs have never lost a conference opener under Mark Few (24-0), haven’t dropped consecutive games since 2018-19 and haven’t lost to Pepperdine since 2002, giving them a 45-game win streak against the Waves.

Gonzaga’s second-longest win streak against a WCC member is 27 against San Francisco.

It would be more reassuring – for fans and those inside the walls of Gonzaga’s locker room – if the Bulldogs used Thursday as an opportunity to bust out of an extended 3-point-shooting slump, limit their turnovers after a sloppy second half against the Aztecs and make progress on the defensive end.

Opponents have averaged 78.6 points against Gonzaga in the team’s past three games. The Bulldogs conceded 46 points to the Aztecs in the second half on Friday, one game after giving up a season-high 47 to Jackson State.

How will the Zags approach things from a defensive standpoint?

“Just being locked in on every possession, having great attention to detail each possession and just being connected and purposeful,” junior forward Graham Ike said. “Staying on the same accord, there’s going to be highs and lows of the game but just got to stay connected as a team, which we do. Just attack practices and get better, attack these games especially in conference and get better.

“It’s all right in front of us, just keep going up.”

This should be a good test to see how the Zags have improved on that end of things over the course of six days.

Pepperdine hasn’t been particularly competitive from a win-loss standpoint under sixth-year coach Lorenzo Romar, who has a 112-145 record at the school, but the Waves have consistently produced potent offensive teams.

In four of the past five seasons, Pepperdine has ranked in the top three in the WCC in scoring offense, averaging between 76 to 78 points per game. The 2023-24 Waves are a tick below that, averaging 72.1 ppg, but return two players – guard Houston Mallette and forward Jevon Porter – who received preseason all-conference recognition and also have the conference’s top individual scorer, junior college transfer Michael Ajayi.

Behind Ajayi’s 17.3 ppg, Mallette is second in the conference, averaging 16.7.

Most of Pepperdine’s opponents haven’t had to plan for Porter, who’s still on a minute restriction while recovering from injury, but the younger brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. came off the bench to play 22 minutes against NAIA Westcliff and could see an uptick in playing time against GU.

Porter had four 20-point games as a freshman in 2022-23, including a season-high 30-point performance during a 92-80 win over BYU.

“The slate is clean and we’re going to start over,” Romar said after the Westcliff game. “We’ve made some improvements on the defensive end. I think we have a little more firepower scoring-wise, we have more guys that can rebound the basketball. So we go in just feeling like we’re a different team (than) say three, four weeks ago.”