The Zags travel well. Despite the 1,042 miles separating Spokane from Las Vegas, the Orleans Arena was packed with loyal Gonzaga fans last night for the West Coast Conference Tournament’s semifinal showdown between the Zags and the Dons.
Thanks to a tenacious second half effort from Graham Ike and another appearance from The Good Khalif Battle, the Zags put away the Dons 85-76, extending their win streak over San Francisco to 33 games and putting the series at 57-4 since 2000.
It was yet another classic WCC whistle-fest down the stretch, with both teams reaching double bonus with 7 minutes remaining in the second half. However, repeatedly fouling one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the nation proved not to be a recipe for success for USF.
Despite another rough night from the perimeter (4-17 from three), the deep shots the Zags did connect on were timely back-breakers that repeatedly took the wind out of San Francisco’s sails at crucial moments. Gonzaga has certainly played in a lot of tight games this season, but last night’s win over USF provides plenty of reasons for optimism about their ability to close at this crucial stage of the season.
First Half
The Dons were once again without second-leading scorer Marcus Williams, sidelined due to ominous eligibility concerns. The university has explicitly stated it will not comment further, leaving one of college basketball’s most entertaining facets, wild speculation, to fill the void.
Gonzaga’s offense looked sharp in the first 20 minutes, while its defense hovered somewhere between fine and slightly better than fine. The low post defense looked solid but the Zags continued to struggle in protecting the three-point line, allowing the Dons to stay competitive behind the deep ball while remaining committed to scoring inside on the other end.
USF’s Ryan Beasley, fresh off his 29-point outburst against Washington State, remained a handful once again for Gonzaga’s guards. His vision, ball handling, perimeter passing, and off-ball movement were primary reasons the Dons kept finding clean looks outside and although he was more or less totally contained in the second half, his first half performance is what kept the Dons competitive despite Gonzaga’s up-tempo offensive attack.
USF’s guards excel at creating space by stepping behind ball screens and launching deep jumpers before the defense can commit to the switch. In fact, they took exactly that shot roughly 10 times in the game’s opening half. To their credit, Khalif Battle and Ryan Nembhard fought over the tops of screens and maintained tighter coverage than they have in past matchups, but USF’s shooters stayed hot, finishing the half 8-15 from deep.
With Ben Gregg in some early foul trouble—a lot of it dubious—the Zags turned to Michael Ajayi for key first half minutes. He delivered all 9 of his points before halftime, got to the line 3 times, and played tenacious (if chaotic) defense, especially in the press. USF had no answer for his motor and physicality down low. When Ajayi is aggressive around the rim, the Zags frontcourt is borderline unstoppable, and his ability to draw contact along the way has been a very effective strategy for the Zags as of late. The challenge remains in consistently integrating him into the flow of the offense when Gregg takes a breather.
San Francisco took a 37-35 lead into the locker room in thanks to their hot shooting, but the Zags controlled the pace and execution throughout.
Second Half
The Zags came out determined to dominate inside, letting Graham Ike go to work on USF’s overmatched bigs. After a relatively quiet first half (if 10 points can be considered quiet), Grahambo drew First through Third Blood and finished with a team-high 27 points on 9-13 shooting and 9-11 from the line. 17 of those points came in the second half alone, marking one of his most dominant 20-minute stretches of the season.
Ike’s shown tremendous growth in the latter part of the season in his ability to get to his shot quickly, pass out of double coverage, and fight through contact against rangier bigs. He single-handedly fouled out USF’s Carlton Linguard Jr. and accounted for over one-third of the 24 total fouls called on the Dons. Having a big man who can apply that level of foul pressure while shooting nearly 80% from the line is an unbelievable luxury for the Zags, especially when his backup, Braden Huff, averages 10.6 points in just 15.4 minutes off the bench. The college basketball media apparatus still has yet to catch on to just how efficient Gonzaga’s frontcourt has actually been this season.
The Dons managed to keep things interesting for a while, largely thanks to Malik Thomas’ unstoppable performance. He finished with a team-high 27 points on 9-18 shooting, including 5-8 from three. Unfortunately, San Francisco’s foul trouble took over from there and in the final 7 minutes of the second half, things slipped away from the Dons.
Battle went 8-9 from the free-throw line and finished with 21 points on just 5-11 shooting. Scoring 20+ points on just 5 field goals highlights how much more dangerous Gonzaga is when he gets to the line. As a team, the Zags shot 78% from the stripe, with free throws accounting for 29% of their total points.
Another Officiating Takeover
As can probably be guessed, officiating dictated much of the game’s rhythm, as it always seems to do when these two teams meet.
There were 42 total fouls—24 on USF, 18 on Gonzaga. In their last three matchups, these teams have averaged 38.6 combined fouls per game, nearly 1 per minute of game play.
The WCC officiating consortium seems to have doubled down on their love for calling ticky-tack fouls away from the ball or on contested rebounds while showing inconsistency (to be generous) on heavy contact near the rim. Battle shot nine free throws. Ike shot 13. Both should have had more. The box score paints a clear picture of how much officiating influenced the game and I’m certain San Francisco fans have a lot to say about the sheer disparity in last night’s free throw margin. In the words of broadcaster Dave Flemming, the game featured a whole lot of “now what?” calls; fouls away from the action that it would seem nobody but the referee saw.
Final Thoughts
Gonzaga has had no answer for Thomas all season and last night he played like the All-Conference First Team member he absolutely is. Thomas played his best game in months, putting up 27 points, his highest point total since January, but Gonzaga’s dominance in the paint (42 points to USF’s 26) and the game’s uneven officiating (14 free throws attempted as opposed to Gonzaga’s 32) just made it too tough for San Francisco to sustain momentum.
Williams’ absence left a hole in USF’s lineup, undoubtedly, and it’s tough to say how this game could have played out differently with their second leading scorer in the mix, but Gonzaga was able to close out another gritty win against a hot team who kept things close all night, something we’ve seen woefully little of this season.
Now it’s time for Saint Mary’s, the main event. The Gaels enter the tournament’s championship game riding an absolute shellacking of the once-hot Pepperdine Waves, a game in which they out-rebounded the Waves 45-22 and led by as many as 28 points. Gonzaga fans have had this seemingly inevitable end-of-season rematch circled for weeks. The turnaround for the players is quick, and physical recovery will be just as critical as tactical adjustments.
Both teams have already locked up NCAA Tournament bids. The only thing left to settle is who is the West Coast Conference current top dog.
