Gonzaga vs BYU Post Game thoughts, analysis, media

[amaronizag]

This team is looking better than the 2017 team. I loved the pace last night. We're not deep, but the talent is scary good. Amazing back court, amazing front court. I'm dreaming about April, and starting to believe, and the team is starting to play like they believe it too. This season is going to be thrilling all the way to the end.

[Reborn]

This is an excellent thread to read after waking up and sipping my morning coffee. Such a positive thread. I like that. Thank you to all of you have contributed to some great reading. I'm looking forward to Saturday's match-up with Pacific. It should be another very good challenge for our boys.

Go Zags!!!

[Hoopaholic]

I agree completely. That lineup should be used for a stretch of every game, but there is no way it should be the starting five, nor can it be used for more than a few minutes at a time.

Was used last night for almost 8 minutes straight and successful but agree cannot be sustained still need double post options for breather and effectiveness

[Goshzagit]

This team is looking better than the 2017 team. I loved the pace last night. We're not deep, but the talent is scary good. Amazing back court, amazing front court. I'm dreaming about April, and starting to believe, and the team is starting to play like they believe it too. This season is going to be thrilling all the way to the end.

I share the optimism yet watch ball screen coverage in 2017 games then this year.

Watch the # of wide open 3's this year...teams in March WON'T miss those

Watch the pick n roll defense in 2017 then this year too.

Hey, in terms of balance, attack from perimeter, versatile play, breaking presses, and buying into team basketball, or halftime adjustments, this year's team is every bit as good.

Then there is the defense. While improved, mainly due to consistent effort, we are getting burnt on switches and pick n rolls and open 3's badly.

Opponents top guards have had their way finding open looks on perimeter or pick n rolls -- this is primarily due to Petrusev and Timme, yet all have been guilty.

We altered a lot of shots, yet watching last night's game, the Kennel Club was a star on defense, as BYU missed wide open looks time and time again.

We can make a run, we have the offensive balance to boat race teams, yet a team like St marys or even BYU featuring better athletes or a legit 2nd big, we are in trouble defensively.

Teams like Pepperdine picked on our pick n roll/ball screen coverage and isolated it, while doubling the bigs.

A good team will pick a part this deficiency, yet good news is, most teams cant stop our offensive tsunami of talent.

[ZagWhoShotLibertyValance]

Yup. I think we’ve seen that look before.



Who rocked it better?

.

I don't know. Seljaas gave off a lot more of a Dirk Diggler vibe to me. That stache was straight out of the 70s....

[SorenTodd45]

This team is looking better than the 2017 team. I loved the pace last night. We're not deep, but the talent is scary good. Amazing back court, amazing front court. I'm dreaming about April, and starting to believe, and the team is starting to play like they believe it too. This season is going to be thrilling all the way to the end.

If Petrol and Tils can stay healthy, then I also believe we will be one of the four teams in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Anything after that is pure gravy, I don't want to count any unhatched chickens.

[RenoZag]

10 Observations - TSSF

LINK: https://www.slipperstillfits.com/202...s-win-over-byu

Gonzaga opted to show hard while defending BYU’s pick-n-roll to take away dribble penetration and the three-point line, which occasionally left them exposed on slips and backdoor cuts. That’s a tradeoff that proved to be worthwhile as BYU struggled to establish any rhythm from long distance while the Zags made enough adjustments to take away some of those passing lanes after getting burned a few times early in the game.

More at the link

[RenoZag]

AP Write Up

LINK: https://gozags.com/news/2020/1/18/me...byu-92-69.aspx

"We played great all weekend," coach Mark Few said. "To hold (BYU) to 69 points is a great statement by our defense."

Gonzaga closed out its sixth consecutive win against BYU without leading scorer Filip Petrusev, who went down hard early in the second half and was helped off the floor. Few said it appears to be an ankle sprain.

It was unclear how long Petrusev might be out.

"It's part of the game," Few said. "We've got to keep playing."

[RenoZag]

S-R: Dan Thompson

Story Link: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...-shrink-in-th/

The Cougars surely could have used their leading scorer, but risking March for mid-January is foolish when a BYU victory in Spokane is not the decent bet it was a few years ago.

BYU didn’t need a win tonight; it needed a healthy Childs come the West Coast Conference Tournament.

In any case, the decoy didn’t work.

“I knew it was a fake,” Gonzaga senior forward Killian Tillie said after the game. “I did that before.”

Surely, though, it’s not going to be hard for teams to identify a way to exploit Gonzaga’s short bench: Attack the basket.

You can bet, too, the Zags will be ready for it and will be judicious with their fouls.

“You gotta be smart on the risks you take, especially on defense, because we just can’t afford to lose another guy to foul trouble or injury,” Kispert said.

Watson’s 14.8 minutes per game can be divvied up. The Zags want him on the court, but as their eighth man, they don’t need him on it the way, say, BYU needs its first man, Childs.

But with Petrusev – Gonzaga’s first man, at least in scoring – now down for an unknown length of time, replacing his and Watson’s combined scoring output of 21 points per game is a task more fraught.

[RenoZag]

S-R: Jim Meehan -- "Another Painful Victory"

LINK: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...kle-injury-st/

The Zags reached the 20-win mark for the 23rd straight season and they’re the first to 20 nationally this season. They also extended the longest active home-court winning streak to 34.

Gonzaga posted its sixth straight win over BYU (14-6, 3-2) in surprisingly easy fashion after Petrusev’s exit. The 6-foot-11 Serbian native leads Gonzaga in scoring, rebounding and blocks.

“For us to hold that team, in a high-paced game, to 69 points is a very good statement by our defense,” Few said. “That’s an excellent offensive team that runs a variety of stuff at you. It’s always something different, and if you guard it one way they’re adjusting, and they can really make you look silly.

“Another excellent effort on the offensive end. BYU’s defense has been pretty stout this year. To get 92 (points) and shoot 56 (percent) is really good.”

[RenoZag]

Deseret News Sports Coverage

Story Link: https://www.deseret.com/sports/2020/...childs-tj-haws

“Hey, we got punched in the mouth tonight,” said guard TJ Haws, who scored a team-high 17 points to go along with six assists. “They’re a great team. They made shots, they got stops. That’s what they do. They run in transition. And if you let them get going, they’re very capable of making big runs like that.”

BYU Coach Mark Pope:

“They ate offensive rebounds in the first half. They made all their shots in the second half so there wasn’t many offensive rebounds to be had,” he said. “We just have to guard. Twenty-three percent of their possessions were in transition. We did a great job in the first half and then we fell to pieces in the second half. That’s on me. I’ve got to fix that and we will. They picked up the pace in the second half in how they were running their offense. And we didn’t respond. We let them get downhill and it just unraveled.”

[RenoZag]

Salt Lake Tribune

LINK: https://www.sltrib.com/sports/byu-co...eating-up-san/

“There were moments of stretches in the game where we just trusted each other and trusted the offense to actually help us to get something good,” Pope said. “And those moments were good, and the moments where we didn’t trust and just said, ‘We’re going to try and do this ourselves,’ we were terrible. So, I guess you take that as a positive, right? We’ve got to just shift the percentages and we’ve got to believe and that’s all stuff we can do. I know we can do it.”

[JPtheBeasta]

Yup. I think we’ve seen that look before.


Who rocked it better?

I'll go with the Zag every time, and especially the All-American co-Player of the Year

(Admittedly, I like the BYU guys's hair better)

[RenoZag]

WCC notes the 33 game conference win streak, via twitter:

https://twitter.com/WCChoops/status/1218765128201465856

[CdAZagFan]

I share the optimism yet watch ball screen coverage in 2017 games then this year.

Watch the # of wide open 3's this year...teams in March WON'T miss those

Watch the pick n roll defense in 2017 then this year too.

I do agree with this... Numerous times you watch the Zags miscommunication on the defensive switches leaving one guy wide open (although be it briefly). That being said, it does seem to be getting better as the season progresses, IMO. That is part of the fun of this team - watching them grow and improve in these areas. Hopefully by March they have that D tighter than a drum...