Balanced scoring helps No. 12 Gonzaga build 39-point lead, cruise past Washington State | Analysis
Gonzaga’s starters had established an eight-point lead Tuesday night against Washington State by the time Mark Few made personnel changes at the second media timeout.
Five substitutes replaced five starters – not that anyone would’ve been able to tell looking up at the scoreboard a handful of minutes later.
When play resumed, backup point guard Mario Saint-Supery scored on consecutive possessions, nailing a midrange jumper before converting a driving layup on the next trip down. Davis Fogle knocked down a smooth jump shot and Tyon Grant-Foster followed with a transition layup, capping an eight-point Gonzaga run orchestrated exclusively by bench players.
The starters set the tone, the reserves extended the lead and almost everyone wearing a Gonzaga uniform contributed as Few’s team built a game-high 39-point lead and cruised to a comfortable 83-53 victory over Washington State.
Just about everybody who played was a viable scoring option for the 12th-ranked Zags, who had eight players score and four finish in double figures.
Gonzaga was predictably paced by Graham Ike, who’s led the team in scoring the last seven games he’s played in and has at least 20 points in six straight games. Ike finished with a game-high 20 on 8 of 10 shooting and 4 of 4 from the free throw line.
It wasn’t all Ike all the time, though. That was the theme that had been unfolding for Gonzaga in recent games, with second and third scoring options failing to emerge around the senior and Ike reliably scoring between 23 and 35 points for Few’s team.
Ike had four points at the first media timeout, but Adam Miller and Braeden Smith also had four each. The Zags were able to score effectively when Ike was on the floor, but more than managed when he went to the bench.
Fogle scored 17 points off the bench for the Zags while Miller and Saint-Supery added 11 apiece for a team that finished with a 50-20 advantage in points in the paint and made 63% of its looks from 2-point range.
“It was great, we did a nice job with our cuts,” Few said. “Especially early, I thought they were forceful with them and very timely.”
When WSU brought two bodies to front Ike in the post, the senior forward successfully kicked out to open teammates or dumped off to cutters. Ike had three assists and Gonzaga finished with 15 as a team.
“He did a really good job dicing up those double teams early and we didn’t go with the right kind of force,” WSU coach David Riley said. “I think that’s something we’ve got to look at. He was able to survey the floor, hit cutters. They had a really good game plan from where they were bringing cutters from against our trap and at the end of the day (Ike) was comfortable.
“We’ve got to make sure he’s off-balanced making those passes or he’s got a hand in his face making those passes, but he was making them untouched.”
With a large cushion most of the game, the Zags were able to keep Ike’s minutes down and subbed the All-American candidate out with 8 minutes, 18 seconds to play. The senior forward registered just 23 minutes against WSU, playing his lowest total since a Dec. 30 game at San Diego.
The Cougars made life easy on the Zags, turning the ball over 21 times. Gonzaga capitalized with a 31-8 advantage in points off turnovers and committed only eight turnovers itself.
The Zags controlled a number of other statistical categories including rebounding (37-21), bench points (33-7) and fastbreak points (19-8).
The Cougars had three players finish in double figures, but made just 18 of 46 (39%) from the field and 5 of 24 (20%) from the 3-point line.
Jerone Morton had a team-high 15 pints for WSU, Ri Vavers had 14 and Ace Glass added 12 for David Riley’s team, which absorbed its fourth straight loss to Gonzaga since joining the WCC as an affiliate member last season.
Gonzaga’s next game could go a long way in shaping the WCC regular-season race. The Zags (24-2, 12-1) visit Santa Clara (12-1, 21-5) Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) tipoff at the Leavey Center. The Broncos play one more game Wednesday against Santa Clara before Saturday’s matchup between the top two teams in the WCC standings.
With Braden Huff on the floor, the Zags won the first meeting between the teams, edging Santa Clara 89-77 on Jan. 8 at the Kennel. Ike and Huff combined to score 46 points for Gonzaga.
Huff returned home to the Chicago area shortly after injuring his left knee, but was back with the team Tuesday for the first time since the last WSU-Gonzaga game on Jan. 15.