Analysis: No. 11 Gonzaga gets ‘frustrations out’ against No. 18 Kentucky, administers 94-59 beatdown in Nashville

NASHVILLE – Nine days after being on the wrong end of a beatdown, 11th-ranked Gonzaga managed to do about the only thing that would’ve felt satisfactory on Friday night.

Administer one of its own.

“It’s no fun for anybody, those practices (after Michigan) were not fun,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said after his team’s 94-59 thumping of Kentucky at Bridgestone Arena. “… I think everybody got their frustrations out.”

If fans were wondering how Gonzaga would bounce back from last week’s loss at the Players Era Festival, the first possession of Friday’s game served as the first of many tells. After controlling the opening tip, Gonzaga worked the ball inside to Braden Huff, who backed Kam Williams down, went to his reliable turnaround hook shot and effortlessly flipped it into the hoop.

Kentucky fans looking to see how the Wildcats would respond from a one-possession loss to North Carolina on Tuesday also got some early clues, just not the kind they were hoping for. UK’s first shot attempt was a Kam Williams 3-pointer that ricocheted off the rim. Collin Chandler tried the deep ball again on their next trip down. Clank.

By the midway point of the first half, a missed 3 off the rim may have actually qualified as a good possession for Kentucky. The Wildcats had 15 straight trips result in missed shots or turnovers, including a few attempts that either fell short of hitting anything or sailed over the basket entirely. They didn’t make a field goal for 8 minutes, 56 seconds to open the game, finally changing that when Denzel Aberdeen converted a 3-ball from the right corner.

The Zags were already leading 19-3 before Aberdeen’s shot fell and probably lamenting the close-range shots they missed in the opening minutes – looks that could’ve made a wire-to-wire rout even more lopsided at an earlier point Friday.

Gonzaga’s final cushion was more than sufficient, of course. According to CBS Sports, the Zags became the first team to lose to a ranked team by at least 30 points and beat a ranked team by 30 or more the following game. It was Gonzaga’s second-largest win over a ranked opponent in program history and simultaneously the second-largest defeat Kentucky’s sustained against a Top 25 team, per ESPN.

“I think it was just a big reset for us,” Huff said. “We just kind of went back and watched the film of that last game we played and just looked at things we needed to improve on. So, I think it was good for us. We needed to kind of get back to how we were playing prior to that.

“Ten days is a long time, so we were excited to get back on the floor and compete tonight.”

Huff and frontcourt mate Graham Ike were the sources of most Kentucky headaches on Friday. They combined for 48 points – more than half of GU’s team total – and had more field goals as a duo (20) than Kentucky did as a team (16)

Individually, Ike was coming off his worst offensive outing in a Gonzaga uniform, scoring just one point on 0 of 9 shooting from the field against Michigan. The senior responded and then some.

Before Friday, the only other time Ike scored at least 28 points as a Zag came last season against the very same Kentucky team during an overtime loss in Seattle. Ike matched that with 28 in regulation Friday night, finishing 11 of 18 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free throw line while also pulling down 10 rebounds.

The forward’s running total against Kentucky after three games: 79 points and 26 rebounds.

“We’re resilient, man. This team fights back, as you saw tonight,” Ike said. “We look forward to adversity. We knew adversity would hit, maybe not the way it did or that early, but we knew it would come eventually and we responded.

“We’re not going to change our standard but we realize we have to hit our standard every single night and that’s what it’s about. But when things hit the fan, are you still a fan?”

Huff was efficient, making 9 of 11 shots from the field while scoring in double digits for the ninth time in as many games. Adam Miller and Braeden Smith both gave the Zags a jolt off the bench, scoring 11 points apiece. Smith, who was called on early when starting point guard Mario Saint-Supery picked up his second foul, also had six rebounds and six assists.

Kentucky’s sputtering offense was limited to 16 of 60 (26%) from the field and 7 of 34 (20%) from the 3-point line in its lowest-scoring game of the year. The Wildcats have just 20 assists in their last two games after recording 12 Friday and finished the week shooting 8 of 47 (17%) from the 3-point line after making 1 of 13 against UNC.

Otega Oweh finished with a team-high 16 points for the Wildcats, but scored nine of those from the free throw line. Aberdeen, UK’s leading scorer entering Friday, finished 3 of 12 from the field and scored just eight points.

Gonzaga finished 36 of 63 (57%) from the field, 9 of 18 (50%) from the 3-point line and had a 46-18 advantage in paint points.

“We have great young men and we’re in a bad spot right now,” UK coach Mark Pope said. “I know these guys will dig our way out of it.”