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Gonzaga Basketball

Defense, late-game struggles offensively contribute to another narrow Gonzaga loss

CORVALLIS, Ore. – As suboptimal combinations go, yielding baskets and 3-pointers, putting a good free-throw shooting team on the line and failing to follow the scouting report isn’t ideal – as Gonzaga found out Thursday night.

Those were among a long list of items that went wrong on defense in the 16th-ranked Bulldogs’ 97-89 overtime loss to Oregon State at Gill Coliseum.

Troubling signs came early – guard Nate Kingz, who entered the game at 49.3% on 3-pointers and exited at 50.7% – nailed the first of his three 3s on the Beavers’ first possession and they didn’t miss a shot in the first 5 minutes and 20 seconds.

Later, Kingz was left alone in front of GU’s bench for another 3 after a breakdown in the Zags’ zone defense.

Oregon State shot 58.5% from the field, easily the highest by a Gonzaga opponent this season. The previous high was 53.3% by Washington State last Saturday, though that was a bit skewed with the Cougars connecting on five straight shots late after falling behind by 21 points.

“I thought we were solid in that second half against WSU,” point guard Ryan Nembhard said. “This game as a whole we weren’t very good (executing) the scouting report. We knew guys drove right, we let them drive right. We just let guys penetrate all game and get to whatever they wanted.

“It’s tough to win games when you play like that.”

OSU held a nine-point edge on Gonzaga after connecting on 29 of 37 free throws to the Zags’ 20 of 25.

“We fouled a lot, we fouled off the ball, on the ball,” Zags head coach Mark Few said. “They were able to get critical free throws when they were in the bonus. You just can’t do that.”

Kingz scored 17 points without missing a shot in the opening half. OSU point guard Damarco Minor scored 11 of his 15 points after halftime.

Beavers forward Michael Rataj took over late in regulation and throughout overtime, scoring a career-high 29 points.

“It was our defense,” Few said. “We played really good offensively, we just could not get consistent stops for longer stretches. We came out in the second half and played with a little bit of energy and little bit more intensity on the defensive end, and they were still able to hit some tough shots.

“They hit some real back-breakers there. The (Rataj) banked 3, contested 3, so even when we did play good defense they were able to knock in some really tough shots.

“But you almost have to play perfect on offense when you’re playing defense like that.”

Gonzaga’s offense was solid while building a 76-71 lead inside the 6-minute mark, but the Zags sputtered down the stretch in another tight game before Ben Gregg and Graham Ike hit big 3-pointers in the final 21 seconds of regulation to force overtime.

Between Gregg’s putback with 6:40 left and 3-pointer with 21 seconds remaining, Gonzaga didn’t have a field goal for 6 minutes and 19 seconds, missing five straight shots and committing three turnovers.

GU made 2 of 4 free throws in that span before Gregg’s 3 ended a scoreless stretch of 3:47.

GU’s offensive and defensive struggles continued in overtime. While OSU missed one shot in the extra session – 3 of 4 from field, including Rataj’s 2 of 2 on 3s, and 6 of 6 free throws – the Zags had three turnovers, made four free throws and shot just 1 of 8 from the field.