It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Gonzaga Bulldogs are looking for ways to win ball games. Zags thwarted his team of cheerful Portland pilots who were looking for an upset in front of a very Gonzaga crowd at their building.
Following Drew Timm’s career-best scoring performance, Julian Strother had a night of his own, posting 40 points (14-21 FG, 8-12 3-point FG), 6 rebounds and 2 steals in a spectacular manner. It was the Zags’ first 40-point or better performance since Kyle Willger’s 45-point away win against the Pacific on February 19, 2015. Steal with another box score stuffing performance.
The struggle continues for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Zags said he had six days to regroup after last weekend’s debacle and only had the benefit of facing a team he trailed 40 points two weeks ago. This game was not that reprise.
Portland’s defense looks much tighter than the sieve Gonzaga encountered two weeks ago, with the pilots jamming inside and trying to push the ball out of the hands of Drew Timm (8 points, 3-7 FG). I promised. Strother was a major beneficiary, making sure to take advantage of all the sunshine Portland gave him. The junior forward went 5-7 from the three-point line in the first half and helped Gonzaga maintain a slight lead at the break. Watson was a consistent player as usual, but even with his three other starters combined, he scored just 14 points in the game.
On the other side of the court, Gonzaga’s defense “held” Portland to just 29 points in the first half, but it’s hard to say that Gonzaga’s defense has recovered. On the contrary, many of the issues we saw in the last few weeks still existed. Portland have found themselves coming into the game with big changes since they last faced Gonzaga, but they haven’t taken full advantage of the struggling Gonzaga side against his side. .
Portland pushed Gonzaga to the limit in the second half. Also, I can’t believe this is an actual sentence he just typed after the game the two teams played 14 days before him. Gonzaga’s opponent smells blood in the water. At the moment, in the last 25 years he is the WCC’s most successful team, and is very capable of beating.
Things don’t come easy for the Zags, but they still know what it takes to finish the game and are able to maintain their composure enough to perform in tough moments. , that is the only separation between Zag and its WCC opponents.
Zag doesn’t play perfect basketball, but he still does enough to fight and win every game. I have a lot to say about that. Strother in particular was exceptional as he combined a barrage from long range with a series of floaters to stop Portland’s run multiple times. Hopefully Strawther can combine a few more performances like this to ease the pressure on Timme and Watson’s interior his duo. Gonzaga needs it.
