‘He saved us’: Braeden Smith, bench mates deliver in Gonzaga’s 91-82 win over Oregon
PORTLAND – Gonzaga back-up point guard Braeden Smith outscored Oregon’s four bench players by himself, 21-13.
Smith bettered his season high by 10 points with a team-leading 21 points and seven assists, guiding the seventh-ranked Zags past Oregon 91-82 Sunday at the Moda Center.
Smith’s timing couldn’t have been better. The 6-foot junior from Seattle, who sat out last season at GU after transferring from Colgate, delivered in a big game with starter Mario Saint-Supery battling the effects of a prolonged illness.
Saint-Supery started both halves but missed his only shot attempt and finished with two assists in just 13 minutes. Smith hit 7 of 10 shots, 1 of 2 on 3-pointers and all six of his free throws for his first 20-point game since March 10, 2024, when he had 21 points against Bucknell in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
Asked if people might have forgotten about his scoring ability, Smith smiled and said, “Yeah, it’s been a while, so it was nice making a couple shots.”
The Zags’ bench, led by Smith, Tyon Grant-Foster’s 10 points and four boards and Adam Miller’s nine first-half points, dominated the Ducks’ counterparts 40-13.
“We didn’t get much from the bench,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “We’re going to have to have the bench step up (to help the big three of Nate Bittle, Kwame Evans Jr. and Jackson Shelstad). We got beat there.
“Miller (was) 3 for 5 from 3 (and) Smith coming off the bench and having a career game really made a big difference.”
Correction: A career game at Gonzaga. Smith had five 20-point games as a sophomore at Colgate in 2023-24 and earned Patriot League player of the year. He had five more 20-point efforts as a freshman, including his first collegiate game (20 points, 8 rebounds against Buffalo).
Smith started all 70 games in his two seasons at Colgate and the first four this season with the Zags before Saint-Supery cracked the starting five.
Smith has been great off the bench with a pair of 11-point games and an outstanding assist-to-turnover ratio. He was turnover-free in 26-plus minutes against the Ducks and has just 13 turnovers on the season vs. 59 assists.
“Try to stay ready,” he said about handling his new role. “Whenever I get out there, try to help the team as best I can, make an impact. That’s kind of where my head’s been at ever since the change and just try to continue to have that kind of mentality.”
One of Smith’s few mistakes occurred when he fouled Takai Simpkins on a made 3-pointer. Simpkins’ free throw trimmed GU’s lead to 82-71 with 4:04 remaining. Smith answered by hitting a mid-range jumper on GU’s next possession to boost the lead to 13.
He added two free throws with 1:12 left to give GU an 87-78 advantage.
“Braeden was exceptional,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “Mario has had the flu, or I don’t know what heck is going on, but he hasn’t been able to practice this whole week. He even woke up (Sunday) feeling not as good as we thought he’d be.
“We tried him a little bit and God bless him he couldn’t really function too well out there, so we leaned on B-Smith hard and he responded big time. He saved us and was a huge key to the game.”
Smith had plenty of help off the bench with Miller’s three 3-pointers, Grant-Foster applying foul pressure and cashing in with 5 of 6 at the foul line and Jalen Warley, who was scoreless but contribued defensively.