Key matchup: Max Mackinnon, fresh from 43-point outing, should test Gonzaga’s defense

PORTLAND – We try to avoid repeating the same key matchup when Gonzaga faces a West Coast Conference foe for the second time.
Max Mackinnon made that much easier after his career night Thursday in Portland’s 92-82 home win over San Diego.
Mackinnon matched the school record with 43 points, including 14 in the final 3 minutes, 42 seconds. He shares the top spot with Matt Houle, who had 43 points against San Francisco on Feb. 13, 1992.
The Gonzaga assistant coach authoring the scouting report for Saturday’s matchup at the Chiles Center likely made a few adjustments after watching Mackinnon top his previous season high of 28 points.
Austin Rapp, the 6-foot-10 forward who leads all WCC freshman in scoring (13.9), was the key matchup prior to Gonzaga’s 81-50 rout over the Pilots at the Arena on Jan. 2. Rapp should be highly motivated for the rematch after scoring just six points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field.
Same goes for Rapp’s fellow Australian Mackinnon, who had just eight points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field in the first meeting. It was the only WCC game Mackinnon hasn’t scored in double figures.
The 6-6, 200-pound Mackinnon was already Portland’s top scorer in conference games at 16.1 points before his 43-point night. That catapulted the junior wing to 19.5 points, third in the conference, just ahead of Gonzaga post Graham Ike’s 19.3.
By nailing 7 of 9 3-pointers against the Toreros, Mackinnon sent his 29.8% accuracy to 37.5% and perhaps made the Zags less inclined to give him space beyond the arc. Or maybe not, since he was just 1 of 9 on 3s in Portland’s previous two games and his season high was three made 3-pointers against Division III Lewis & Clark in the season opener.
Mackinnon usually does most of his damage inside the 3-point line. He’s a career 53.6% shooter inside the arc, including a pair of seasons at Elon, and his 3-point percentage was 28.4% as a freshman and sub-30% this season prior to Thursday.
In addition to his midrange and ability to get to the rim, Mackinnon has been one of the WCC’s and nation’s top free-throw shooters. He had made all 27 of his foul shots in conference play before going 18 of 22 against USD. That dropped his percentage to 89.9, 26th nationally.
The Zags have had issues in conference defending taller guards/wings – see Tyeree Bryan, Adama-Alpha Bal, Nate Kingz, Jaxon Olvera – so it’ll be interesting to see if they go with size (Khalif Battle, Dusty Stromer, Emmanuel Innocenti) or a smaller defender (Nolan Hickman or perhaps Ryan Nembhard).