Strong tournament debuts for Gonzaga trio helps Zags find way past Kennesaw State | Three takeaways

Three takeaways at the buzzer from Gonzaga’s 73-64 win over 14th-seeded Kennesaw State on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Moda Center in Portland.

Slow start, strong finish

Graham Ike was essentially Gonzaga’s offense for most of the first half. After 13-plus minutes, Ike was 4 of 7 from the field and the rest of the Zags were a combined 1 of 15.

But late in a mostly forgettable first half, Gonzaga stitched together a 10-0 run over the final 1:39 – with Ike on the bench with two fouls – to erase Kennesaw State’s 27-23 lead.

Jalen Warley started it by weaving down the lane for a layup. Freshman Davis Fogle took a pass from fellow freshman Mario Saint-Supery and tallied an and-one layup on the break.

Emmanuel Innocenti made a pair of free throws before Fogle hit Gonzaga’s lone 3-pointer of the half after eight misses for a 33-27 lead at the break.

Saint-Supery assisted on four of GU’s last five field goals.

Prior to the late flurry, Gonzaga was on a point-per-minute pace at the 13-minute mark, and that was before committing four turnovers in an 85-second span.

Strong opening acts

It wasn’t the smoothest outing for three Zags making their March Madness debuts, but they had a lot of company in that regard in a game where points were often hard to come by for both squads.

Still, Fogle, Saint-Supery and Warley made timely contributions throughout Gonzaga’s 17th consecutive first-round tournament victory.

The Zags misfired on 10 straight shot attempts in the second half when the Owls went to a trapping 1-3-1 zone. Innocenti broke the drought with a 3-pointer and Saint-Supery, who missed his first five attempts from distance, hit a contested triple.

Fogle connected on a pull-up jumper in the lane and later dunked home a lob pass from Saint-Supery on a designed play out of a timeout. A pair of Warley free throws helped Gonzaga extend its lead to 60-46 with 6:36 remaining.

Warley fed Fogle for a dunk to hike GU’s lead to 67-56 with 3:30 left. The 6-foot-7 Warley was in the right spot to scoop up a loose ball and convert inside to bump Gonzaga’s lead to 69-62.

Warley stepped in at point guard when Saint-Supery fouled out with 1:45 remaining.

Warley put up a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. He added five assists and three steals. Fogle added 16 points and five boards. Saint-Supery was just 2 of 11 from the field, but had seven points, eight assists and four rebounds.

Defense shines again

The best way to survive numerous offensive dry spells? Lean on the defense, which has increasingly become Gonzaga’s mode of operation, particularly after Braden Huff’s knee injury.

GU’s field-goal accuracy was hovering in the low 30s before a hot streak in the closing two minutes of the first half. The Zags’ defense didn’t waver, holding KSU to 27 first-half points on just 32% shooting.

Kennesaw State, after falling behind by 14 points, warmed up somewhat in the final 12 minutes and kept it interesting to the final buzzer.

The Owls hit just 36.2% from the field but were ice cold on 3s (3 of 17). Their repeated isolation drives into the paint resulted in frequent trips to the foul line (19 of 26). KSU managed just seven assists compared to Gonzaga’s 17.