Gonzaga wins with defense? What?

[CDC84]

I don't know if Zag teams in recent years could've won a game like tonight. If their offense stunk and they were playing a good opponent (especially on the road), they had little chance to win because of their poor defense.

It was an ugly game in a hostile atmosphere. Martelli did the same thing that Red Sweater did: he clogged the middle, dared GU to shoot from the perimeter, and tempted Pargo/Bouldin into doing too much. Gonzaga's offense just looked absolutely terrible at times. But no matter what, GU defended. Maybe not brilliantly, but they did defend with effort.

The defense and the complete domination of the boards in the 2nd half is what won this game. Pargo/Bouldin/Downs had 21 boards between them.

Boy, it would be a nice thing to beat UConn on Saturday and sweep the roadtrip....but I just don't know. But I like GU's chances of doing it a lot more now because they won the first game. The atmosphere in Boston on Saturday won't be anything like it was tonight.

[kitzbuel]

I would still like to see TOs contained a little more, but Pargo with only two was a good way to sustain his effort from the VT game.

[zagster318]

I don't know if Zag teams in recent years could've won a game like tonight. If their offense stunk and they were playing a good opponent (especially on the road), they had little chance to win because of their poor defense.

It was an ugly game in a hostile atmosphere. Martelli did the same thing that Red Sweater did: he clogged the middle, dared GU to shoot from the perimeter, and tempted Pargo/Bouldin into doing too much. Gonzaga's offense just looked absolutely terrible at times. But no matter what, GU defended. Maybe not brilliantly, but they did defend with effort.

The defense and the complete domination of the boards in the 2nd half is what won this game. Pargo/Bouldin/Downs had 21 boards between them.

Boy, it would be a nice thing to beat UConn on Saturday and sweep the roadtrip....but I just don't know. But I like GU's chances of doing it a lot more now because they won the first game. The atmosphere in Boston on Saturday won't be anything like it was tonight.

CDC,

Are you encouraged by the defense, or discouraged by the offense?

[thickman1]

This game got off to a great start but oh that black hole that spanned the end of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half was painful.

Micah seemed to be out of sorts tonight. One call in the first half soured his mood with the referees and he's lucky it didn't cost the team the game.

I cannot figure out why everyone is so high on Kuso playing on the block. Sure when he's wide open things look pretty easy but a few times tonight the ball went in and instead of kicking out of the double-team he tried to force something and lost the ball. I love his defense and rebounding but I just don't think he is a great low post scorer.

Bouldin came through tonight. Like everyone else he disappeared during the aforementioned cosmic event but reappeared with gusto near the end of regulation.

Final thought, I love Pendo - I wish he'd shoot more. He passed up a few wide open looks notably in the corner and on the wing from 3.

A win is a win is a win. Time to go out and put the hammer onto UConn.

[zag69]

Dear Santa:

Please give Coach G whatever he wants for Christmas.

Thanks,
Zag69

[MDABE80]

One thing a team can ALWAYS control is their Defense. Bad offensive efforts will happen and usually are precdictable. Nobody could predict this Zag team would shoot under 40% like tonight. SO it befell to the Zags that their defense had to be tough. It happened. NOT great defense mind you but enough to hold St Joes to 31% shooting. It won this game.

I suppose this could have happened with the past teams but it usually hasn't.
Tonight what we saw was a very good defensive effort. I hope this continues. Something tells me we're going to need hard defense to win the WCC not to mention the NCAA Tournament.

[CDC84]

Are you encouraged by the defense, or discouraged by the offense?

The offense is simply not going to get better until Heytvelt and Gray come back. I felt that to start the year, and it's being confirmed in every single game that I've seen. Gonzaga has nobody that can score in the paint, and they don't have a playmaking guard who can consistently hit a 3 pointer. Moreover, Few is presently unable to take advantage of some of the offensive lineups that he will later on that could cause matchup nightmares for the opponent....like having Josh and Austin on the floor at the same time. But that's just the way it is. Until those two guys get back, the guards need to do a better job of protecting the basketball because they cannot afford to give away possessions.

The defense is very encouraging because if they didn't play it, Gonzaga would be sitting with 2 more losses right now. You would like to think that if they can keep playing defense like they are, and then add Gray's 3 point shot and Heytvelt's presence in the middle, that GU could really take off. But frankly, that depends on Josh and Steven showing the same level of commitment to defense as the rest of the players are right now.

I wish to emphasize here that Gonzaga isn't playing great defense, but they are defending better than they have in recent years. It's still a work in progress, but there is progress.

[VinnyZag]

the difference

between this year and previous years is the athletes. Pargo, Downs, Gurganious, Daye, Sacre ... Even if they get beat, or they aren't in precisely the right position defensively, they're athletic enough to make up for it. Most of our past teams - with guys like Gourde, Raivio, Mallon, even Morrison - once they were beat, there was no recovering.

[Zag79]

i actually disagree with you thickman. kuso seems to me to be the main reason we lose the intensity. when he got his 2nd fould against st joes, we lost all momentum and ability to go down low with kuso on teh bench. same thing against TT. sacre is going to be really good, but for the time being im not impressed with his ability to finish or creat like kuso and with josh out thats what we have. kuso in, zags winning. kuso out, zags struggle majorly.

[J-Mac Zag Forever]

The fact that Kuso is wide open and getting ez shots is not exactly an accident! He moves around in the paint and is very sneaky. The ball moves to one side and suddenly he has his position and seals off, gets the ball and shoots his bunny. Last night they forced the ball inside to him, he was double teamed and forced the shot. He needs to relearn what coach Few told him up in Alaska. "Take the shot on your own terms." Give Kuso his due for getting open on the post and having the opportunity to shoot those bunnies. He is a very good post player. Stop and THINK why is Kuso the only post player to find himself open so frequently?