Jan. 7—It happens more often during the arduous segments on Gonzaga’s nonconference schedules, but the latest edition of the game before The Game arrives Wednesday for the Bulldogs.
No. 18 GU entertains San Diego, which is No. 311 in the NET out of 364 teams, before lining up Saturday against Washington State for the first time since 2015 with a lot on the line in the West Coast Conference pecking order.
Saturday’s matchup promises to be intense against the Cougars, No. 66 in the NET, with the Kennel Club returning from holiday break. Gonzaga, WSU and Saint Mary’s are 3-0 in conference and heavy favorites to be 4-0 as the Gaels face Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, GU-USD on Wednesday and WSU meeting visiting Pacific on Thursday.
But first things first as the Zags return to the McCarthey Athletic Center for the first time since an 86-65 win over Bucknell on Dec. 21.
The Zags (12-4 overall) not only want to zero in on the Toreros (4-12, 1-2) before shifting focus to their 509 neighbors, they want to continue a couple of promising trends in their undefeated WCC start.
Gonzaga handled Portland and LMU by a combined 59 points with solid efforts at both ends of the floor. In their conference opener, the Zags cruised to an 18-point halftime lead before handing on for an 89-82 road win when their defense slipped in the closing half against Pepperdine.
Only Long Beach State (41) has scored fewer points against the Zags than Portland (50) this season. Gonzaga doubled up the Lions 44-22 by late in the first half and limited LMU to 38% shooting overall.
“It wasn’t nothing about our offense,” Gonzaga senior guard Khalif Battle said after Saturday’s win. “I think just defensively we disrupted, that was the game plan. If we do that every single night, we’re going to be tough to beat.”
The same applies when senior post Graham Ike dominates in the key and the squad is connecting from behind the 3-point line. Ike torched the Lions for 27 points with decisive, powerful moves and wasn’t bothered by taller defenders or traffic around the rim.
“I don’t think it was out of body or anything, it was vintage, solid Graham,” coach Mark Few said. “I told him that. If we get that every night, that’s such an advantage for us to get that out of the ‘5’ spot. And defensively he was terrific, too. He was active, rebounding, contesting shots.”
The Zags hit 18 of 40 3-pointers (45%) in their past two games after a rough 2-of-15 showing versus Pepperdine. GU made a higher percentage on 3-point attempts than shots inside the arc against the Pilots.
Point guard Ryan Nembhard, followed by Ike, has been the most consistent Zag. It’s been hit or miss at times for the next six in the rotation.
“It’s been hard,” Few said. “Sometimes we get one up, one down and it’s kind of a juggling act.”
The Toreros have been competitive in most of their games but fell 81-54 to Oregon State on Saturday. San Diego’s WCC win came against Pacific (75-65) before a heartbreaking 81-80 home loss to Santa Clara.
Junior guard Kjay Bradley Jr. leads the Toreros in scoring at 15.4 points per game. Former Gonzaga walk-on Colby Brooks has played 64 minutes in 10 appearances in his first season with USD. The redshirt senior forward averages 3.2 points and 1.7 rebounds and scored a season-high 10 points in 15 minutes against Fresno State.
Head coach Steve Lavin led USD to an 18-15 record last season. He’s 33-47 in his third year with the Toreros. Lavin was 145-78 in seven seasons at UCLA and 92-72 in five years at St. John’s with a combined eight trips to the NCAA Tournament. After seven years as a college basketball analyst on television, Lavin returned to coaching at San Diego in 2022.
USD has struggled to score, ranking in the 300s nationally in scoring (66.7), field-goal percentage (40.7) and 3-point percentage (26.7). Twelve players have started at least one game and nobody has started all 16.
In games against common opponents, USD lost to Arizona State by 37, San Diego State by 17 and Long Beach State by six.
The Zags beat ASU by eight, SDSU by 13 and LBSU by 43.
