College Station After Action Report from TZF
What a memorable trip!!!
It was my first trip to College Station, aka Aggieland. I've never seen so much maroon in my life. Kudos to Bob Finn and the Houston Chapter for arranging the pregame social. There must have been at least 50 in attendance...a really good showing. That's two years in a row, as the Creighton pregame festivities was also well attended. Joining me in the traveling party were my wife, youngest son and of course, my grandson "Big D".
Reed Arena has a capacity of just under 13,000, and the announced attendance was just under 9,000. There were a few factors that may have dampened enthusiasm for the game. Their last home game was the following day, and the mood was dampened by the 20th anniversary of the bonfire tragedy. Still, it was by far their best crowd of the young season (their first two games were against cupcakes).
We had really good seats, in the section across from the Zag bench, about 15 rows up. The fans in attendance were into it at the beginning, and maintained a good level of intensity throughout.
Our struggles during the first five minutes were what you might expect from the first road game of the season. Our three players from Texas had dozens of family members and friends in the stands, a fantastic show of support...and a great introduction to the family nature of Zag basketball.
From the 11 minute mark of the first half to the 2 minute mark, we simply ripped out their collective hearts. The rebounding edge in the first half was 26-12, and they missed 16 of their first 17 3 point attempts.
I challenge any of our future opponents to find an answer to the challenges posed by Joel Ayayi. The young man was everywhere, and was usually in the right place at the right time. It was a joy to see him in action, I think I've been waiting to see this level of play since he committed to GU. I'll never forget the day he signed...I'd never heard of him, but he was well known to my son and his buddies at high school. Gonzaga became a brand at Coppell High School that day.
IMO, the Aggies' offensive woes can be laid at their excessive tendency to dribble the ball. There was relatively no ball movement, just dribbling the ball around until there was only a few seconds left on the clock. Despite our turnovers, I was blown away at our ball movement, the passing, the sharing the ball, looking for and finding the open man...this, from a team that featured several new players in the rotation.
I thought our second half was pretty sloppy, nothing to write home about. However, the lead was extended to 30 by the closing buzzer, and the Aggies never made a serious attempt to close the gap. Their response to the physicality of Power 5 basketball was a challenge they easily handled. Except for a couple of teams, we won't see this when we enter conference play. It took nearly 11 minutes before a foul was called on the Aggies in the second half, but it didn't cause a ripple. The bumps and bruises we endured have been discussed already, so I won't belabor it.
I'm liking this team, and like bart, I'm drinking the Kool Aid. Our 3 guard rotation is going to cause havoc for opposing teams with their quickness and agility. Our bigs are young, but very talented. My prayer is that Killian returns to full health, enough for an NBA team to draft him next spring. Corey will bounce back, it was a good game to get rid of his bad one for the year.
We went into the belly of a beast of a university that has over 65,000 students, and millions of fans and alumni. Gonzaga left its mark on College Station, one they won't soon forget.
IIRC, Drew Timme chose us, and his second choice was Texas A&M. It was easy to see the advantages posed by A&M: it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from his home, it's a great university with resources far beyond what GU can offer, and he'd be playing in a power conference and all that entails. Instead, he chose Gonzaga and he's loving every minute of it, as are his parents.
Ok, time to move on to the post game festivities...
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Originally Posted by TexasZagFan
