Gonzaga might be the big dog in the West Coast Conference, but there's no getting around the reality that the WCC is a California-based conference. With seven of the nine campuses located in the Golden State, the literal road to WCC supremacy runs through Cali.
So last week I escaped the snow to venture down to SoCal to see if the struggling Zags men's team could turn the tables against two of the worst squads in the WCC: Pepperdine and San Diego. The Zags ended up winning both with relatively low stress — knocking off Pepperdine 86-61 and blowing out San Diego 105-63.
Here's a collection of observations from two convincing Bulldogs victories.
The Start of Something New
If you've followed Gonzaga hoops for decades, you'll know how extremely rare it is for head coach Mark Few to make changes to his starting rotation mid-season. So it's certainly an indication that he's aware of how off the team has been that he switched up the rotation starting with last Thursday's tilt in Malibu against the Waves.Gonzaga is going big.
Freshman guard Dusty Stromer has been moved to the bench with big man Ben Gregg taking his spot. The Zags are now essentially starting three guys who can play center — Gregg, Graham Ike and Anton Watson — to go with their guards. That's a tough size element for opposing teams — especially WCC squads — to matchup against (and Watson's defensive versatility means that the Zags shouldn't get torched by a smaller foe exploiting being matched up against a bigger, slower defender).
While it's not like Gregg came in and immediately lit things up (5 points, 10 rebounds vs. Pepperdine), it's heartening to see the Zags at least trying something different after seeming to metaphorically ram their heads against the wall for most of the season — doing the exact same thing and expecting different results. That was more evident in the San Diego game as Gregg tallied 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists (despite being in plenty of pain after tweaking his lower back in the first half).
The move is perhaps even more key for Stromer, who might feel some relief without the pressure of being a freshman starter. Coming off the bench, the SoCal native was finally able to find his shot from distance shooting 5-9 from 3-point range on the trip after struggling to find his stoke for most of the season.
But the real biggest win for the Zags with the starting lineup change is it allows Few an actual guard rotation. Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman have both not only been struggling mightily for most of the season, but they've been playing almost every minute of every game because there were no bench guards as a result of injuries to Steele Venters and Luka Krajnovic. As a result, the subpar guard duo has played even worse at the end of games (see: the Santa Clara loss), being visibly gassed at almost every contest (leading to even worse defense and shooting).
The San Diego game laid out a better minutes management blueprint. Sure it's easy to bench them when the game is a 105-63 blowout; But preventing Hickman or Nembhard from topping 30 minutes of playing time (as opposed to their averages of ~34+ minutes per game) would greatly benefit both their play and the team as a whole going forward. (I'll even take a few spare Joe Few minutes, just give the kids a rest sometimes!)
Calm Under Pressure
While box score checking might indicate Gonzaga cruised to two Ws, the Pepperdine game was actually tied at halftime. As the Waves were hitting some extremely tough shots, no GU fan would be faulted if they started to panic a bit.But whatever Few told his team at halftime clearly worked, as the Zags looked as composed as they have all year in the second half in Malibu. Despite a fiery crowd in Pepperdine's extremely tiny gym, the Bulldogs never seemed rattled. It was maybe the first time all year where it looked like the players knew they were more talented and simply focused on executing the simple things to get through any troublesome spots. It was incredibly encouraging after sometimes looking like a chicken with its head cut off during other tense moments this season.
Representation Matters
There aren't a lot of moments that are genuinely cute in college hoops, but one came at the tail end of the Pepperdine game. With the result of the game no longer in doubt in the final few minutes, most of Pepperdine's student section cleared out. But a small pocket of Asian students stuck around until the final whistle. And since their team had no shot of winning at that point, when Jun Seok Yeo checked in for the Zags, they instantly flipped their allegiance.It was honestly adorable watching the kids go crazy rooting for Yeo in the final couple minutes, actually jumping up and down and celebrating when he made his only shot of the game. It was a fun reminder of how much seeing someone who looks anything like you succeed can be completely thrilling when you're in an underrepresented minority.
Tickets Still Available!
It probably won't register for many, but the clearest indication of how far Gonzaga has fallen off this year could be seen in the stands at San Diego's Jenny Craig Pavilion (aka The Slim Gym). Typically Gonzaga is the driving force behind ticket sales for other WCC schools — most of them won't even sell tickets to the Zags' visit individually, instead forcing folks to buy 3- or 5-game ticket packages at great expense (knowing they can't draw fans for certain random games against low-tier WCC competition). But last Saturday, San Diego's gym wasn't even close to full. At tip-off, it was probably half full, eventually getting to probably two-thirds capacity.That's a long way of saying — this Gonzaga squad isn't a draw. They're not an event. Why pay top-tier prices to see a middling team without clear NBA talent that might not even make the NCAA Tournament?
It's a bummer, but the Zags have to re-earn their status as a must-see hoops attraction.
#FreeHuff
The most frustrating aspect of this year's Zags squad is how tough it can be to watch this team try to score sometimes.Braden Huff is pretty clearly the best scorer on this Gonzaga team.
Here's a thought: Maybe play him?
There's a common denominator in all of GU's non-conference losses (aside from Purdue, when the Zags had to throw all of their bigs at star giant Zach Edey) — Few kept Huff on the bench. Huff only played 12 minutes against UConn, 8 minutes against San Diego State, and 4 minutes against UW. Few might not have thought the redshirt freshman was ready to match up against high level squads, but with how much the Zags struggled in spots in those games, not even trying made zero sense.
Even to start WCC play, Few's benching of a red hot Huff — who was scoring at will — led directly to the loss in Santa Clara. And the frosh big man once again showed his wildly efficient offensive game against Pepperdine and San Diego.
In just 11 minutes against Pepperdine he scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting. He then notched things up against San Diego, scoring 26 on 12-17 shooting, including 18 points in just 12 first-half minutes.
It's just wild that he doesn't play more because he so clearly passes the eye test. He makes quick, explosive decisions when he gets the ball in the post that calls to mind young Drew Timme (an aesthetic joy compared to Ike's very consistent but often molasses-slow post moves) and he's a legit threat from behind the arc.
Still, he's only averaging 16 minutes per game (and those numbers are greatly boosted by blowout time minutes). If this Gonzaga squad is gonna return to the NCAA Tournament and maximize its potential, Huff should be a 20+ minute guy every single night.
But Can You Trust It?
While it's great that Gonzaga got back on the winning track last week, there's still a question of how much we can trust them to play at a high level when it actually counts. With the WCC and the Zags both having a down year, it's hard to properly evaluate results. Apart from the upcoming game at Kentucky, there aren't any more chances for GU to pick up any resume-boosting wins the rest of the year.You know how Gonzaga haters usually think the WCC is trash and the Zags' wins in conference don't mean anything as a result? Well, normally they're wrong. Consistently the WCC ranks as one of — if not the — best hoops conferences outside of the power football conferences.
But this year? The WCC is actually as bad as the haters think.
So rather than get too tied up in the team results, the best way to judge the Zags as we head towards March will probably be focusing on if individual players are stepping up their games.
Will we see Nembhard, Hickman, and Stromer consistently start hitting their 3-point shots? Will Gregg assert a more dominant role as he settles into the starting lineup? Can Huff earn some more minutes to provide some much-needed firepower?
From here on out it's not about the the margins of victories, it's about if the players and coaching staff can actually maximize the talent that inherently exists on the roster. That will ultimately determine if these Bulldogs are a feisty NCAA Tournament team or if they're NIT bound.
NEXT UP
Men
Gonzaga vs. San Francisco • Thur, Jan. 25 at 6 pm • ESPN2Gonzaga at Pacific • Sat, Jan. 27 at 7 pm • Fox | ROOT Sports
Gonzaga vs. Loyala Marymount • Tues, Jan. 30 at 8 pm • ESPN
Women
Gonzaga at Santa Clara • Thur, Jan. 25 at 4 pm • ESPN+Gonzaga at San Francisco • Sat, Jan. 27 at 2 pm • ESPN+
