Dishing on the Dons: Bay Area reporter sizes up Gonzaga-San Francisco matchup

The preliminaries are pretty much over for Gonzaga.

The Zags begin a pivotal six-game stretch to close the regular season, featuring two Quad 2 contests and three Quad 1s, according to current NET rankings.

It’s Gonzaga’s chance to prove it should wear white uniforms as the higher seed in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round. Or perhaps tiptoe into March Madness as a double-digit seed for the first time since 2016. Or perhaps miss the Big Dance for the first time since 1999.

So yes, there’s a lot to play for over the next three weeks. It begins with San Francisco (20-6, 10-3) visiting the McCarthey Athletic Center on Thursday in a battle for second place in the West Coast Conference. The Dons are No. 60 in the NET, so Thursday qualifies as a Quad 2 game for the Zags while the March 1 rematch at the Chase Center projects as a Quad 1.

We keep Steve Kroner on speed dial for the lowdown when GU faces Bay Area opponents. Kroner covered Bay Area college basketball for the San Francisco Chronicle for two decades. He works for Saint Mary’s as a broadcaster and a writer and still covers the other Bay Area schools as a freelancer for the Chronicle.

Here’s our Q&A with Kroner.

Q: San Francisco broke through last week for its first win over Saint Mary’s in six years. That had to do wonders for the team’s mindset, particularly as USF prepares to face Gonzaga, which has won 30 straight in the series.

How did the Dons pull off a second-half rally to hand the Gaels their first West Coast Conference loss?

SK: Well, the Dons lead the WCC in 3-point field-goal-percentage defense (28.7 through Saturday) and they held SMC to 3 for 23 from beyond the arc. So, maybe someone could have seen that coming. What really was surprising was that USF owned a 38-35 edge on the glass. Through Sunday, Saint Mary’s was fourth in the nation in rebounding margin (plus-10 per game), but the Dons were the more aggressive team, certainly over the final 10 minutes.

And yet, if Mikey Lewis hits an open 3-point try in the final five seconds, SMC still would be unbeaten in conference play.

Q: It should be a great backcourt matchup on Thursday. USF’s starting backcourt of Malik Thomas and Marcus Williams averages 33.6 points and reserve guard Ryan Beasley has averaged 14 points over the last four games. Gonzaga counters with national assists leader Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman, a 44.3% 3-pointer shooter. How much does USF lean on the backcourt and what makes those guards so effective?

SK: USF leans on its backcourt quite a bit. Head coach Chris Gerlufsen has said he gives Thomas and Williams a lot of leeway in how they play. Williams, Thomas and Beasley all are fearless going to the basket. Thomas and Williams are much better outside shooters than Beasley, but all three of them are quick and handle the ball pretty well.

Q: Conversely, the Zags seemingly have an edge in the frontcourt with Graham Ike, Braden Huff, Ben Gregg and Michael Ajayi. The Dons have certainly missed senior forward Ndewedo Newbury, sidelined since mid-December with a leg injury, but they still rank second in the WCC in scoring defense. How deep might the Dons go in the defensive playbook to try to limit GU’s bigs?

SK: I think that’s the key to the game. Carlton Linguard Jr. is a 7-foot center, but he’s not the prototypical rim protector. Starting forward Junjie (Barry) Wang and reserve forward James O’Donnell are each 6-9, but they could have problems with Ike, Huff and Co. The best hope for the Dons might be to force enough turnovers to mitigate the inside edge Gonzaga appears to have; through Saturday, USF led the WCC in turnovers forced per game at 13.2 (Gonzaga was second at 13.0).

Q: San Francisco is 15-0 at home, but just 3-4 in road games. Most teams typically play much better at home, but what have been the biggest issues for the Dons on the road?

SK: The biggest issue for USF on the road might be the quality of the competition. Its road losses came to Bradley (No. 83 in Tuesday’s NET rankings), Washington State (100), Santa Clara (54) and Saint Mary’s (21). The Dons did beat those last three teams on the Hilltop, but a lot of USF’s nonconference home schedule featured less-than-stellar opponents. What’s more significant, I think, for the Dons: They’ve lost 35 straight in Spokane. Their last win in Spokane was a 67-64 decision in 1989.