Gonzaga rewind: Emmanuel Innocenti, Zags overcome early adversity to pick up fifth WCC win against Santa Clara
Gonzaga didn’t encounter too many pressure situations while mostly bulldozing through a nonconference schedule loaded with high-major foes and top 25 opponents.
The Zags have more than made up for it in West Coast Conference play, navigating troubling starts and early deficits in each of their last three games at McCarthey Athletic Center. Turns out they’re pretty good with their backs against the wall, too.
The Zags improved to 5-0 in West Coast Conference play with Thursday’s 89-77 win over Santa Clara. It looked like another routine victory for Mark Few’s team when Gonzaga extended the lead to 23 points midway through the second half, but that only came after the Zags erased an eight-point deficit in the first half.
“I don’t know if we respond well to adversity or not. It would be nice if we didn’t create our own adversity with the turnovers and things like that,” Few said. “Listen, we’ve got some veteran guys. Santa Clara can bring some adversity, man. The way they pressure the ball, they pick up full court, they basically jam your rebounders so when we get a defensive rebound, they’re right on him and it’s tough to advance the ball and get the break going.
“I just thought we adjusted to that way better in the second half. We got a lot better quality shots in the second half.”
During a three-game home stand, the Zags led at halftime just once and trailed by at least eight points in the first half of all three contests. That included a 13-point deficit against Seattle U, 10-point deficit against LMU and eight-point deficit Thursday against Santa Clara.
Gonzaga’s second halves are a different story. The Zags were a combined plus-41 in the final 20 minutes against the Redhawks, Lions and Broncos and buckled down Thursday against Santa Clara, using a 17-0 run midway through the second half to separate from Herb Sendek’s team, which suffered its first WCC loss at the Kennel.
Players and coaches are still trying to put a finger on why Gonzaga’s had success overcoming adverse situations. The team’s age and overall experience is one possible theory.
“I think it’s definitely some of the veteran leadership,” said senior forward Graham Ike, who had a game-high 34 points in Thursday’s win. “I really think it was the 7 a.m. practices in the summer. It built a callus, we didn’t have a choice and nobody batted an eye or said anything in regard to trying to get out of it. Everybody stood together and said, ‘We’re getting through this,’ and it just built a callus for who we are today.”
Speaking of players getting through things, junior Emmanuel Innocenti overcame individual adversity to spark the Zags in the second half Thursday. He leads this edition of the Gonzaga rewind.
Breakthrough against Broncos
Innocenti doesn’t have many fond memories of December and January wasn’t looking like it would be much better for the junior forward, who hadn’t scored in double figures since posting 15 points against Maryland at the Players Era Festival.
Innocenti scored 30 total points in the 10 games since and just 13 through the team’s first four WCC games while averaging 15.2 minutes.
Early signs Thursday suggested Innocenti’s long-anticipated breakthrough wouldn’t come against Santa Clara. The forward picked up two fouls within 29 seconds of each other early in the first half and was whistled for his third with 8 minutes, 16 seconds to play before halftime.
Innocenti was in GU’s starting lineup, but foul trouble kept him on the bench to open the second half. Innocenti’s first stat after checking in at the first media timeout was a turnover, but he began to settle in shortly thereafter.
The 6-foot-5 forward knocked down a key 3-pointer from the right corner to put Gonzaga up six points, earned numerous trips to the free throw line, had an offensive putback and drove the lane for a dunk that gave the Zags their largest lead, 80-57, with 5 minutes, 44 seconds remaining.
“I knew I picked up three dumb fouls. Coming into the second half I had to be more smart on the ball,” Innocenti said. “Especially being solid and help my teammates, because anytime I picked up a foul, they were in the bonus really quick. … I had to shift my mind, my mindset.”
Innocenti finished as Gonzaga’s second-leading scorer, registering 13 points on 4 of 4 shooting and 4 of 7 from the free throw line. He also had four rebounds and one assist.
“That was tough, he got three fouls early and that kind of put us on our heels with our rotations,” Few said. “I thought he did a good job by playing clean in the second half and then obviously he’s got a nice shot. For whatever reason it was just off there for a couple games. But I think we all have a lot of faith in it when he lets it fly. He did a nice job also of driving, getting to the rim and finishing.”
Turning the turnover column
Two statistical columns stood out from the others when Gonzaga reconvened at halftime Thursday night.
The Zags committed 11 fouls through the first 20 minutes, but equally concerning were the team’s 10 turnovers.
“Definitely those two things were at the top of the list, was taking way, way better care of the ball,” Few said. “We had 10 at half and we did a nice job of that.”
Specifically, the Zags had 10 turnovers through the first 17 minutes of Thursday’s game. Not coincidentally, they didn’t commit a single turnover while making a late 8-0 run over the final 2 minutes, 37 seconds to tie the score at halftime.
Gonzaga continued to prioritize ball security in the second half, committing just three additional turnovers in the final 23 minutes, 39 seconds of game time.
Santa Clara’s first-half turnover problems didn’t improve much in the second. The Broncos had six more after the break to finish with 15 in the game. Gonzaga capitalized, scoring 21 points off Santa Clara’s turnovers.
“We had some crucial turnovers that led to touchdowns down at the other end,” Sendek said. “But I guess most specifically, you know, we just got gapped and didn’t protect the lane and the basket, the paint, the way we needed to in a second half.”