Gonzaga rewind: Jalen Warley’s production, WSU’s turnovers play roles in latest battle between Zags, Cougars
PULLMAN – Braden Huff positioned himself at the far end of the playing surface at Beasley Coliseum. As Gonzaga players filed off the floor Thursday night, each passed right by Huff, who offered high fives, congratulatory handshakes and hugs before embarking on a slow trek via crutches to the visitor’s locker room.
Everyone in Mark Few’s rotation will have to do a little more as the ninth-ranked Zags adapt and adjust to life without one of the nation’s most efficient low-post scorers, who was converting 2-pointers at a 70% clip while providing reliable double-digit scoring in his 25.4 minutes per game. Huff had at least 10 points in 20 of 21 games since moving into the starting lineup late last season, but 20-point outings were becoming more of the norm for the Illinois native before he suffered a left knee injury at practice earlier this week.
With Huff sidelined four to eight weeks, a significant share of the responsibility will fall to Jalen Warley, who was the most logical option to replace the junior forward in Gonzaga’s starting lineup and filled in admirably Thursday night as the Zags dispatched the Cougars 86-65, winning their 11th straight game while staying unbeaten in West Coast Conference play.
It’s unlikely Warley will match Huff’s impact on the offensive end, but the senior wing gives the Zags a different dimension on defense, applying on-ball pressure that can often lead to quick turnovers. Warley created havoc from the opening tip on Thursday, tallying three steals and two blocks inside the first six minutes.
“He got us off to a great start. I mean, that was just vintage Jalen,” Few said. “We needed that start. I think that kind of sent a message like, ‘Hey, we’re here, we’re going to be all right.’ ”
Warley has delivered in different spots for the Zags this season, most notably scoring 22 points with 14 rebounds, five assists and three steals in a 99-93 victory at San Diego. The veteran wing didn’t produce the same counting stats on Thursday, but was still one of the most assertive players on the floor, scoring 11 points to go with four rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks.
Warley’s impact was just one facet of Thursday’s rivalry battle on the Palouse. We review a few others in this edition of the Gonzaga rewind.
Turnovers piling up once again for WSU
Across the first handful of WSU games, it looked like the Cougars had solved the turnover problems that bit last season’s team . WSU lost only six turnovers in a season-opening loss to Idaho, seven in a home setback to rival Washington, then only seven in a home victory over Southern Utah. The Cougs weren’t off to a great start in the win/loss column, but if they could keep their turnovers to a minimum, maybe they could turn things around.
At least that’s how the thinking went. In Thursday’s game, the Cougs coughed up 17 turnovers, which led to 27 Zag points. For the season, WSU is now averaging 13.7 turnovers per game, which is only three-tenths of a turnover off from dead last in the West Coast Conference. Nationally, that ranks No. 318 of 350 teams. Against Gonzaga, forward Eemeli Yalaho committed four turnovers and three Cougs lost three apiece: guard Ace Glass and forwards Emmanuel Ugbo and ND Okafor, the last of whom fouled out in only 11 minutes.
The turnovers came in all kinds of ways for Washington State. Sometimes players tried cross-court passes that GU defenders intercepted. Sometimes the Cougs were too careless with entry passes, which the Zags poked away. Then the Bulldogs were off to the races, making things even harder on a WSU team that was already overmatched.
“That’s what they do. They force a lot of turnovers,” said forward Simon Hildebrandt, who netted four triples for a season-best 16 points. “But at the end of the day, I still think a lot of that’s on us. Our coaches have been on us all year about trying to get into the paint and play off two feet and throw ball fakes. We knew going into the game that they’re a very good shot-blocking team when we get in the paint, and we knew they were gonna try to speed us up.”
The proof was in the numbers for GU, which totaled 14 steals: four from wing Warley and two each from four Bulldogs, including Braeden Smith, Emmanuel Innocenti, Graham Ike and Adam Miller.
Tightening the screws
Gonzaga was all over the map defensively in the first half. The Zags gave up five straight points to open the game, then held the Cougars scoreless for more than six minutes. Hildebrandt broke the seal, making three straight shots from behind the arc – a nine-point flurry that took all of 55 seconds – and the Cougars scored 20 points over the next six minutes to take a five-point lead.
WSU made 8 of 11 shots from 3-point range, capitalizing on Gonzaga’s post doubles that routinely left Cougar players open on the perimeter.
“We were great, we were great (defending) the 2-pointers,” Few said. “Going in, we thought we undersized so we were worried about them posting us up and we just didn’t do a great job with our rotations out of our doubles there and weren’t very smart. A couple times we weren’t supposed to be in a double and did it anyway and gave up 3s. But Hildebrandt did a great job finding those things. Obviously we knew Ace Glass can do that.”
With WSU’s ND Okafor in foul trouble much of the first half and long stretches of the second, Gonzaga didn’t have to worry as much about the Cougars’ interior scoring, allowing the Zags to commit more bodies to Hildebrandt, Glass and other perimeter players.
The Cougars’ 3-point shooting numbers started to decline – WSU hit 5 of its last 17 attempts from 3-point distance – and David Riley’s team posted a lower percentage from inside the arc, where it converted just 8 of 24 (33%) shot attempts.
“We weathered that storm and just that little barrage there,” Few said. “I think without that by and large we really guarded pretty darn well.”
Cougars dominated in physicality department
Pick your favorite way to measure physicality. Rebounds? Gonzaga won that battle, 43-29, including 17-10 on the offensive glass. Points in the paint? The Zags torched the Cougars there too, to the tune of a 52-12 advantage. How about this stat? For the entire game, the Cougs managed only eight two-pointers, signaling GU’s strong rim protection (and the hosts’ hot 3-point shooting, to be fair).
“It just seemed like we were a step slow and a little timid in way too much of that game,” Riley said. “You can see that when you’re a half-second late on a block out, you’re a half-second late on a rotation, and we’re kind of going up sideways instead of going vertical, and we’re kind of going up off-balance to go get a rebound rather than going and pursuing the ball at the rim.”
Part of this problem was out of the Cougs’ hands, at least in some ways. Okafor played only 11 minutes because of foul trouble. He picked up his third foul with about seven minutes left in the first half, prompting Riley to sit him the remainder of the period. Not a full minute into the second half, Okafor was called for an offensive foul, his fourth foul of the game. By the time he checked back in eight minutes of game time later, Gonzaga had built a 63-44 advantage.
In that way, Washington State just didn’t have the horses to compete with Gonzaga’s size and aggressiveness, especially without two other starters, Tomas Thrastarson and Ri Vavers, both of whom are injured. Still, Riley felt like his group could have done more around the basket, which is where the Zags have thrived this season.
On offense, Riley liked the way his team passed out of the post to generate open looks from beyond the arc, where the Cougs splashed 13 of 28 shots.
“And then we started doing a little too much,” Riley said. “Started over-penetrating and trying to make the home run play, rather than just making the swing-swing pass. We gotta stick with what we do. I thought we got a little outside of ourselves. It’s not like we were playing scared or anything. We’re playing with the right kind of idea, and we’re doing the right stuff. We just gotta do it a little more aggressively.”