Welcome Back to Reality: Zags Struggle in Victory over Hoosiers

The scheduling of Indiana before games with Washington State and Arizona may have been a blessing in disguise for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. In case the Big 10 Network announcers didn't make it clear enough throughout the game, Indiana is young, inexperienced, and just not that talented. In all honesty, it looked like the Zags completely overlooked this team and Indiana punched them in the mouth. Luckily for Gonzaga, their depth was just way too much for Indiana and they were able to escape Indianapolis with a misleading 16 points victory. There aren't many times when depth alone wins games but today it did because the team that wanted it more was not wearing blue. It is a win though and their were some good individual performances but you have to think that Washington State is licking their chops because if Gonzaga plays the way they did today against the Cougs...they won't be able to escape with a W.

Here are a couple negatives we saw from the game...

Gonzaga: The smallest big team in the nation. As we have mentioned in previous posts, Gonzaga seems to be struggling with an identity. They seem to be forgetting that they are the team with size. You'd never guess that we are loaded with guys that are 6'10'' or above based on the amount of shots we are taking from the outside. Austin Daye, Micah Downs, and Matt Bouldin are all decent outside shooters but the strength of their basketball abilities are in other areas. Austin took six three point attempts this afternoon and did not make a single one. He has such a rare ability to get to the basket and make shots with his length but he just does not seem to want to dominate in the post. It had to be one of Austin's worst games in a Gonzaga uniform. His stat line is absolutely befuddling. The worst stat for him today was his rebounding. I thought he would be a double double machine this year but he only had one rebound in the game. I don't mean to pick on Austin and I'm sure no one is more upset than him today. I'm sure we have not seen him at his best yet and I do think that he is taking some time getting back into the flow of the game. Injuries like the one he suffered this summer have as much mental effect as they do physical.

Are bad habits becoming trends? My biggest worry for this team is in the rebounding category and this all ties in with the fact that we don't want to play tough sometimes. In today's game, Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray out rebounded Josh Heytvelt and Austin Daye, 9-7. If this continues, Gonzaga will continue to sputter because guards getting rebounds slows the pace down and against a Big 10 team or Washington State, you have to push the pace and get them out of their comfort zone. The Zags got punished on the boards against Tennessee as well and it will be interesting to see if this poor rebounding continues. The most uncharacteristic trend for this team is their free throw shooting. I keep waiting for them to turn it on but it seems to be getting worse. The Bulldogs shot 59% from the line today and some of the misses have been head scratching. I hold out confidence that they can turn it around before it starts becoming a major problem but we're six games into the season and there has been no improvement.

Here's a visually amusing look at the stat sheet for the Gonzaga Bulldogs....

Stats by StatSheet.com

It wasn't all negative for Gonzaga today, they had to do something right to win the game...

Jeremy Pargo continues to play beautiful basketball. He shot 5-8 from the field today and didn't force anything. He made some beautiful assists and was two away from notching a double double. He finished with 13 points and 8 assists and is really embracing his role as distributor for this team. It was a perfect game for him because their were points in the game where he had to take over and drive to the hoop and he did. I'm really confident that with him at the point, this team will never be out of control because he can always take over at any point because of his strength and quickness. If there are any doubters about Jeremy Pargo and what he means to this team, this game should really make it clear that without him, this team would fall apart.

Josh Heytvelt is becoming borderline unstoppable. The big man from Clarkston, Washington finished with 17 points on 6-12 shooting and 6 rebounds. It feels like he is right on the brink of becoming one of the best centers in the nation. His versatility presents so many match up problems for opposing teams. He seems to be getting very comfortable away from the basket and his mid-range jumper is becoming a thing of beauty. He does everything so effortlessly and his on court demeanor has to make any Gonzaga fan smile. He has the look of a guy that wants to put everyone on his back and carry a team to a title.

Some other game notes...

--Mark Few had a quick trigger with Steven Gray today. Gray struggled once again from three-point land, shooting 1-4. He only played 14 minutes in the game as the majority of his minutes went to freshman Demetri Goodson who has just been superb.

--The mob squad (still waiting for a better nickname) of Goodson, Rob Sacre, and Ira Brown had a nice collective game today. Sacre was ridiculously efficient in his 11 minutes. The sophomore center had 6 points and 6 boards today and seems to be close to 100% after his injury.

--Matt Bouldin and Micah Downs had great games defensively today. Downs only finished with 5 points but had a couple of assists and really did an outstanding job using his length to frustrate the Hoosiers. Bouldin had four steals before you could even blink and has really improved his defensive play this season. Matt had a quiet 13 points and continues his solid play.

Zags Wake Up in the Second Half; Defeat Oklahoma State

It was ugly, but it will do. In the first half, my head was scrambling with all the negatives I was seeing out of Gonzaga. The Zags came out flat, looking like they had just finished Thanksgiving dinner during the Maryland game. However, they came out in the second half and dominated the last 10 minutes of play to get an 83-71 victory. The game changing performance goes to Ira Brown. The kid has a flat out nose for the ball and is getting very comfortable around the basket. I thought his season ended after he landed hard after a missed dunk, but he came out and played like a 26 year old and led this team to a win when it looked like nobody else wanted to. Don't let Ira's line mislead you. His six points were enormous and although he only had three boards, he should have had 3 more assisted rebounds because he is such a great leaper and tips it out to teammates easily.

It was a very gritty performance by this team tonight and they showed some toughness with their backs to the wall. I loved the second half. It was back and forth and both offenses played great. Give tons of credit to Oklahoma State, Coach Travis Ford did a great job tonight and they really did live by the three point shot. Micah Downs had some struggles in the first half but finished with a nice double double of 17 points and 13 boards. He hit some crucial three point baskets as well. There is no doubting how much Micah means to this team. His ability to make huge shots is something Gonzaga will need down the wire. He struggled around the rim early on but he hit a three in the corner that made my jaw drop. Pargo drove under the hoop and bounced it to Micah in the corner and before you could blink, the ball was in the hoop. There is little this kid can't do on the court.

Jeremy Pargo played beautifully. He had some ill-advised shots in the first half but so did the rest of the team. He finished with a line of 15 points, 5 boards, and 6 assists. He's going to get a triple double sometime this season, no doubt. He managed the game well overall. I laughed looking at the box score because seeing Matt Bouldin and Jeremy Pargo shoot the most times out of anyone was probably the last thing I wanted to see. They both made key buckets in the second half even though their first half's were less than impressive.

Big Kudos to Rob Sacre. I thought he looked nice down low for this being his first game back and he ate up some minutes out there. He should be getting in the groove soon and could become a real threat to spell Josh.

Austin was good. He got hit with some early fouls as well but shot 4-7 even though I think the three shots he missed were halfway down. He had seven boards which was third on the team behind Micah and Matt. I love his length. He had a huge steal off the inbounds pass which really helped Gonzaga secure victory and his shot is so smooth.

The first negative I want to get out of the way was the officiating. They had some very quick whistles but honestly, I think it favored Gonzaga more than Oklahoma State so that can just be put aside pretty quickly.

There are a number of Gonzaga-related things that made me queasy about this game. Not just because of the way we were playing but because I had seen this kind of performance so many times before. I'm a Mark Few fanatic but some choices he made tonight were a little head-scratching. Some of the lineups that were put on the floor made it seemed like he was trying to test Gonzaga to find someone that wanted to score. With 13:54 in the second half, the Zags were going back and forth with the Cowboys and our only solid source of scoring on the floor was Micah Downs. I know Josh and Austin were in foul trouble but in that kind of game, we need scorers. Gonzaga stumbled up until around the ten minute mark and then Ira and Bouldin showed up and made some big shots. Another coaching error which I didn't understand was the guard rotation. Matt was off in the first half, he came back strong in the second but his first half was one of the worst he has had at Gonzaga. Demetri Goodson, on the other hand, looked completely at ease out there and was making some nice plays. Meech was used sparingly while Gray and Bouldin were out there consistently in the first half. By the way, how great is the Meech and Pargo combination? Absolutely exhilarating.

I understand that Matt and Steven have experience but good teams ride the hot lineup and we seemed to always want to sub for guys that were playing great. This leads into my next point and that is Steven Gray. I'm praying it is just a slump but I see no enthusiasm in his eyes recently. He was expected to be one of the leading players for this team but he has looked lazy. He's getting burned on defense and his dribbling has been sloppy. I don't think his shooting is going to be a long-term issue. Great shooters have slumps and make no mistake, Gray is a great shooter. He's got to fire it up a little bit and get hot. One great game will build his confidence so high and Steven Gray is a guy that Gonzaga needs if they are going to be a final four team.

Josh Heytvelt was saddled with some fouls throughout the game which really made him uncomfortable in the post in the latter parts. We say the "Heytvelt Drift" way too much. A big key for this team is for Josh to camp out in the post and stay there. We have enough three point shooters on this team. While I disagreed with some of the calls, Josh did not have his best night. He had a few great bank shots but only had 3 rebounds which is unacceptable. I think this had to do a lot with the zone being played. Josh had some great blocked shots but never could get into a groove with the early fouls. I also think Oklahoma State was playing great defense (sometimes illegally) against Josh, so give credit to them.

The free throw shooting was a little bit mind-blowing. Not only because we missed so many (13/26) but because our veterans were missing them. Matt missed two, Josh missed three, and Jeremy missed two. The biggest surprise miss was Austin Daye, I didn't even realize he knew how to miss free throws. I really think that nerves were a huge part of it. Matt is still a great free throw shooter, as are Josh and Austin. Jeremy has never been great at the line but will pick it up. The best part was the Rob Sacre, cold as ice and sidelined for so long, comes in and drains two free throws with ease.

Great game by Oklahoma State, if you are a Cowboy fan, you have to like what Travis Ford is doing. I thought they played great in the post for being totally undersized. And good lord do they shoot that three ball well. Every time Gonzaga made a big bucket, a Cowboy got loose in the corner and drilled a three...until Ira Brown came in.

Next up is the Maryland Terrapins who looked impressive in their surprising rout of sixth-ranked Michigan State. The game tips off at 2:30 PST in Orlando. This is going to be a big test as Maryland looked excellent tonight. In the other half of the bracket, Georgetown prevailed but not very impressively. Tennessee rolled through a very disappointing Siena team. Many thought Siena could pull the upset but the Volunteer defense was swarming.

Taking Care of Business: Gonzaga Moves to 1-0 on the Season

After extinguishing the hot hand of Montana State-Billings guard Michael Hall, the Gonzaga Bulldogs cruised to a nice 83-52 victory over the Yellowjackets. Hall frustrated the Gonzaga faithful at the end of the first half as he simply could not be stopped and he capitalized on the Zags constantly settling for the outside shot. He scored 14 consecutive, unanswered points to end the half. At halftime Gonzaga was only up five points and their was an odd silence throughout the McCarthey Athletic Center when both teams headed to the locker room.

The Zags soon realized who they were and who they were playing and opened it up in the second half. Here are some quick points for discussion regarding the game last night...

• I was excited to see the amount of time Will Foster got and it appears that the staff may still not be confident enough in him to play him in excess. Ira Brown got 17 minutes and played great in the post. I wonder if this will stick for the year.
• The rebounding was perfect. The Zags dominated the glass and the leading rebounders were Austin Daye and Josh Heytvelt. These two have to continue owning the boards if this team is going to dominate. No more guards leading the team in rebounds.
• Gonzaga held Michael Hall to five points in the second half. The kid jacked up 17 shots including 12 three point attempts.
• Thankfully Gonzaga attempted five less three point attempts in the second half and that included two by fan favorite Andrew Sorenson. Aside from Steven Gray, I'm much more confident in everyone getting to the basket and scoring. Bouldin's shot looked excellent last night but aside from that, Gonzaga was ice cold from beyond the arc.
• Jeremy Pargo and Matt Bouldin have impressed me so much in two games. They are not forcing the action to go their way and Pargo is getting the ball to the playmakers when he didn't have a look. Pargo didn't shoot as well as you'd like but he had 10 assists and Bouldin was 5-9 from the field.
• Steven Gray never really seemed comfortable out there. He was 1-5 from three-point land last night and hasn't shot the ball particularly well in the two games this season. The season is still very young so it's not time to start worrying but he's got to be that "lights out" shooter for this team to reach the top.
  

The end of the first half was frustrating but I don't think it was anything more than a hot hand surprising the Zags. The game was just about to get blown open by the time Michael Hall showed up with his Stephen Curry like performance. The last made basket for Gonzaga in the first half came at the 3:38 mark when Josh Heytvelt drained a jumper. After that, the Zags had four turnovers, a number of missed outside shots and some bad fouls. I was screaming to call a timeout at some point and get it figured out but Mark Few opted to let the barrage continue. It wasn't the best sequence of events for the Bulldogs but once Hall cooled down, Montana State-Billings was dead in the water.

All is well in Zag-land this morning after the solid performance and this team appears to be ready to live up to the high expectations that have been placed upon them. It's always nice to see the teams that get embarrassed (Kentucky and Washington) in their opening games at home and know that our guys take care of business. This team is so solid that I didn't even mention guys like Demetri Goodson and Micah Downs until right now, who by the way, were excellent.

Gonzaga has a few days off before taking on the Idaho Vandals on Tuesday, November 18th at the McCarthey Athletic Center.