‘Red-hot’ Santa Clara hosts Gonzaga with WCC seeding, NCAA Tournament ramifications on the line
Word of Santa Clara’s 3-point shooting clinic at Washington State traveled quickly up U.S. Highway 195 on Saturday afternoon.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few had already caught wind by the time his team tipped off against Saint Mary’s on Senior Night, possibly needing a double take when he heard Santa Clara drained 15 3s while building a 61-33 first-half lead in Pullman.
At some point after delivering postgame messages to a somber locker room following Gonzaga’s 74-67 loss, Few would dig up a final box score to see the Broncos finished with 23 3-pointers, making West Coast Conference history without their leading scorer in a dominant 109-79 victory.
It confirmed what Few and the Zags already knew about their next opponent: The first stop on a crucial two-game Bay Area swing to close the regular season will rank as one of the toughest challenges of the season, particularly when taking into account GU’s most recent game against Santa Clara, a 103-99 loss at the Kennel, and the team’s last result against the Broncos at Leavey Pavilion, when Few’s team lost 77-76 during Steve Nash’s jersey retirement.
“We play a team that’s red-hot,” Few said. “I saw the stats from the first half against the Cougs. They made 15 3s in the first half, so we’ve got our work cut out for us. We just need to focus on that one, we don’t need to worry about the one on Saturday (against San Francisco). We just need to focus on that one, get back right and not dwell on this one and go out and compete. It’s the beauty of college athletics.
“God grants us another opportunity to go out and compete.”
Gonzaga’s NCAA Tournament resume is in short supply of “Quad 1” victories, but the Zags (21-8, 12-4) could double up in that column by winning twice this week, against Santa Clara (19-10, 11-5) at 8 p.m. (CBSSN) on Tuesday at the Leavey Center and against San Francisco (22-7, 12-4) at 8 p.m. (ESPN) on Saturday in a regular-season finale at the Chase Center.
The ramifications and storylines this week are endless, with WCC Tournament seeding implications and NCAA Tournament at-large hopes both hanging over the next two games, not to mention Ryan Nembhard’s pursuit of Emmett Naar’s single-season WCC assists record.
Gonzaga will be in a strong position regarding all three if it manages to sweep the Broncos and Dons, but both teams present unique challenges, with Santa Clara potentially posing a more difficult overall one to this specific GU team.
A trigger-happy Santa Clara made 18 3s on 47.4% shooting in last month’s win at Gonzaga. Tyeree Bryan made seven 3s for a career-high 35 points and all-conference wing Adama-Alpha Bal had four more triples to register 20 points. Bal, who’s led Santa Clara at 13.1 points per game, hasn’t played since limping off the court against LMU after suffering a noncontact injury, and his status remains uncertain entering Tuesday’s game against the Zags.
The absence of Santa Clara’s top scorer didn’t seem to impact the Broncos on Saturday. Their 23 3-pointers were tied for the most by any team in a road win in NCAA Division I history, according to former ESPN statistician Jared Berson.
“Obviously we shot the ball at a crazy level and you can’t count on that all the time,” Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek said on the team’s postgame radio broadcast. “What I told the guys was, we gave ourselves a chance for those kind of opportunities because we were playing the right way.”
Gonzaga is trying to avoid consecutive losses to Santa Clara for the first time since 1996. The Bulldogs haven’t been swept by multiple WCC opponents in the regular season since 1995, when Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s each won two games against Gonzaga over a 10-day stretch.
Few was asked Saturday what it would take to flush the emotions of a Senior Night rivalry loss to Saint Mary’s, which clinched a WCC regular-season title on Gonzaga’s home floor.
“That’s a great question,” Few said. “It’s a quick turnaround and obviously you’ve got some guys that are heartbroken in there and so I’ve already started addressing that and you’ve got to let it go. Just got to let it go and we’ve got an extremely quick turnaround and ending with two on the road.”