Gonzaga battles back and defeats Colorado in Maui
by Zach Bell on Nov 23, 2009 3:27 PM PST
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PrintAll summer long we heard about the experienced back court of Gonzaga being the key to the season but after the Zags' near upset in East Lansing, all the attention went to Rob Sacre, Elias Harris, and co. Today's game, however, proved that when the pressure's on, the Zags are still going to go however far this veteran back court can take them. After Colorado came out in the first half and drained 7 of 11 three-pointers and forced Gonzaga into 10 turnovers, it looked as though today would be the day for this young team to come back to reality. The veteran guards of Gonzaga, led by Steven Gray, clawed back from an 11-point first half deficit and were able to outlast the Colorado Buffaloes, 76-72.
There aren't many words to describe the way today's game against Colorado started. We used words like embarrassing and pathetic often in our game thread and that is basically the only way you can label the first twenty minutes of competition. Give all the credit in the world to Colorado. Whatever Jeff Bzdelik and assistant coach Steve McClain are doing in Boulder is working. They ran the Princeton back cut offense to perfection in the first half and their ball movement was just spectacular. They consistently caught the Zags off guard and slow in rotation and made big basket after big basket. Defensively, the Buffs frustrated the heck out of the Bulldogs' big men all game. You had to think that Mark Few's game plan was to feed the post early and often and Colorado had it down pat. Whenever the ball went into the post, the Buffs crashed down on Rob or Elias and their guards went to work trying to strip the ball. They really took Elias out of the game in the first half and forced the Zags into ten first half turnovers.
When the second half began, Gonzaga found itself down 11 points and really struggled to gain any consistent momentum. Whenever they punched CU in the mouth and went on a min-run, Colorado just fought back and made plays. The difference of the game, however, was that Steven Gray was on our side. The smooth shooting junior guard took this team on his back and put together a complete game. Gray was 6-12 from the floor (4-7 from three) and connected on 11-14 free throws. His 27 points was a career high and the Zags needed every bit of it.
continue reading after the jump for more on Gonzaga's narrow victory...
Matt Bouldin's first half was one to forget. Five early points and four rebounds was the senior guard's first half line but he came out to play in the second half. He did exactly what you expect a senior leader to do in the second half and finished with 21 points thanks in large part to his 8-8 effort from the free throw line. He also dished out some great assists and took the reins in the second half to lead the team to a win.
In a game that I thought Rob Sacre would dominate, he struggled. He never really seemed to get into any sort of rhythm. Colorado did a great job of double teaming him in the post and his inexperience really showed up. I thought that he'd flex his muscle the duration of the second half when he came out of the gates scoring five straight but from there on, it was all guards all the time. Elias Harris didn't shoot the ball to well but he really played nicely when it mattered most. He had a huge drive to the basket when the game got tight in the second half and had an enormous block soon after. He only had eight points but his ten rebounds and other small plays really helped the team to victory.
The bench was just okay. This wasn't really a game for guys like Kelly Olynyk and Will Foster. With Colorado's small lineup, Kelly was mostly matched up against the small, quick Marcus Relphorde and was burnt up. He had a nice driving layup which really showed his scoring ability but it wasn't much to write home about for KO. The biggest spark was delivered by GJ Vilarino and Mangisto Arop. For the life of me, I don't really understand why Manny does not play more. Last game he came off the bench and had six rebounds and today he came right in and made a big bucket which tied the game up at 59. GJ Vilarino was quiet but had a nice driving layup which resulted in a foul and two converted lay ups. I like what both Manny and GJ bring off the bench. Both can play good defense are seem to be perfectly fine within their roles. I just hope we see a little more expanded role for each.
We knew there would be some games this season where the Zags would be tested and forced to battle when things aren't going their way. With this many young players, it was pretty clear that the Bulldogs were shocked by the Buffs early on with the way they were defending their post players. Thankfully, the nice first half of Steven Gray was enough to keep it close at halftime before the rest of the squad woke up and displayed a great amount of resilience.
With a performance like this, you just have to take the win and move on. Next up for the Zags is the winner of Arizona and Wisconsin to be played later today. Now that they've been woken up, I expect this team to build on today's comeback victory.
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It wasn't fun to watch
but I’m happy things happened the way they did. I admit, even with all the talent on last years team I really didn’t have too much faith that they could come from behind to beat a team. Portland State comes to mind as a game we should have come back and won, but didn’t.
Even though we should have destroyed these guys, it is nice to know that it IS possible to come back and win with this team.
My son loved it
What a great way to spend an afternoon with my 5 year old boys cuddled on the couch. He was cheering jumping and going crazy— ahhh the way Gonzaga brings families together…..
Must improve Passing
I love the fight and grit that got us the victory, the team showed some nice poise and maturity in key moments.
But the coaches need to find a way to improve the passing on this team, particularly passing out of the post. Some of our past big men, particularly J.P. had under appreciated ability to sense defensive pressure and pass out of the post to a shooter. Right now E and Rob are forcing the action every time they get the ball. And when they do get off a pass, it is hurried, to a bad spot on the floor forcing us to restart the offense.
Our perimeter passing hasn’t been that great either. We haven’t really swung and penetrated effectively with our perimeter ball movement. Nor are we penetrating the lane and dishing to shooters when defenders collapse. My hope that this is a result of a young team with relatively little chemistry together, and not because of a lack of ability.
We were really spoiled with guys like Dickau, Stepp, and Raivio, who really understood how to move with and without the ball around the 3 point line.
I agree 100%
That’s one thing that struck me as well. Colorado did a good job doubling Rob and Elias in the post, but too many times, they weren’t able to kick the ball back out and turned it over. When they did get it out, instead of swinging the ball around the arc to get an open three, the player that got the pass would hold the ball until the defense recovered … and then they swung it.
That was ugly.
-The Zags seem too inclined to go into long offensive lulls. When this happens they either need to feed the post like crazy or use the bench better. Why not bring in Bol when nothing is clicking offensively? Couldn’t hurt.
-As I’ve said probably a million times, I hate how the Zags guard the 3. Amazingly after almost going down insurmountably because of this, the Zags actually sured up their 3 point D in the 2nd half. Very encouraging…now do it all game. Look, almost every upset comes via the 3 point line. Stop the scoring out there and win those games.
-Is it just me or is this team horrible at running the high screen? It seems every time it results in the ballhandler running into the defender with their head down and the screener not coming off quick. Ugly, ugly play right now. Can we get a certain member of David Stockton’s family to come in and show them how it’s done?
-Few needs to post up Matt more, he’s only done so 2 times this season. It’s worked both times.
-The team really came out flat. Up to this point the most encouraging thing about the team had been it’s hustle. It was nowhere to be found 1st half.
-The officials were awful both ways in the 2nd half. It became a boring FT contest for a while there. Let the kids play.
Another thought...
It really worries me how so many of our guys aren’t fast enough to stay in front of their guy on defense. We essentially couldn’t use Kelly, Grant, Bol, and Will because of this and Matt isn’t exactly fleet-footed either.
GRADES! Watched twice, JMO
Front court/Bigs……C Matt/Steven……B Meech……D+ GJ……C KO……D+ Manny……B-Grant…..C- Will…..not enough to grade Coaching…..C-. Some players should not have been played today and it showed but I guess you can argue the point for experience. They will be better next game. We’ll take the win.
It's clear we all watched the same game
I think the inexperience really showed itself in the first half. It felt as if everyone panicked after each bad play, which in turn led to another bad play. Things seemed to settle down once Coach Few had them switch to zone on defense.
One point about Sacre: Did he force some shots here and there? No doubt. However, I think most of his shots were good shots, and I liked his aggressiveness in the low block. Unfortunately, those shots didn’t drop, but I’d like to see him keep taking them, and I hope he can correct his accuracy, just like Gray has been able to shoot better since the Michigan St. game.
Oh, and one more thing...
Catch the ball!! I can’t believe how many passes and rebounds went right through guys’ hands today.
Play seemed to stop
whenever the ball was passed to Sacre. Everything froze as if they were holding their breath. There was no movement without the ball and that got Sacre trapped in the post with no one to accept his pass at least once. The only action was the double team on Sacre which they picked up every time he got the ball. The great thing was that Sacre used his athleticism and body control to get off good shots. The bad thing was that he missed most of them. But I think Few was right going inside on this team. Sacre and Harris got their shots off but they just didn’t drop.
Tom117
Also---
Sacre got fouled – alot! The bad thing is that he couldn’t sink the free throws. That alone would have made a big difference in the score gap, and some folks back hope breathe better.
Tom117
I don't know whether Rob was forcing shots or not...
but he sure wasn’t showing that soft touch that he had against MSU. And as Tom pointed out he wasn’t making his free throws either. I call this game “growing pains”. Elias certainly struggled but showed some serious cajones down the stretch (it’s hard after only 4 games to remember that he is a true freshman). I saw no reason for Will to play in this game (and maybe even KO – although he did have a nice drive for a layup) – I would have much rather seen more GJ and Manny instead. As EDZ pointed out – I also am at a loss as to why we aren’t seeing more Manny. He has a nice stroke, is a strong defender and geez, can the guy rebound! While Matt struggled in the first half he showed what a quality player he is down the stretch.And Meech – did Tomlinson really think he could run by him? That play was huge. Anyway that’s my ramble… it was a win. We’ll take it and move on.
ooops
I almost forgot – Steven was pretty good too.
Just a note
I realize there are bigger things to be concerned about right now but just something I noticed in both the MSU and COL game about meech. If he wants to go in and play with the big boys and take the ball to the hoop he HAS to learn how to finish. I’m sick of him getting rejected or losing the ball when he gets around the hoop. Also GJ should’ve come in for Gray if anyone at all. With the way this game was played GJ and Meech should’ve been on the court together IMO.
I guess you can say we’ve seen both ends of the spectrum. Through 4 games we know how good this team can be but then we also saw today what we are all afraid of.
by coltinjespersen on Nov 23, 2009 6:43 PM PST reply actions
Where to begin?
Reading with interest the comments on the individual players. Noting with greater interest the lack of talk about the Coaching staffs overall performance in this game.
Two games in a row, clearly a smaller lineup should’ve been predominant the entire game rather than mostly the last 10 minutes as in this one particular. Meech is struggling and it’s obvious. We have a post player who doesn’t pass well. The first guy off the bench is a slow lumbering 6’11" 19 year old with very poor defensive fundementals. We have a better point than Meech sitting on the bench. We have a better rebounder, defender and scorer than KO sitting on the bench and we have 7 Freshmen and 2 Soph’s with Zippo playng time in D-1. Finally we have 2 Vet guards who are trying to hold these factions together on the floor and a Coaching staff that somehow manages to always sub players at the WORST possible times breaking up the flow of the game. After all I’ve described, we’re 3-1? There’s lots to critique. I see where some have chosen to say that this game showed our weakness and youth. I totally disagree! This win today from 15 down shows me the heart of this young, inexperienced great bunch of kids. The Coaching staff and the fans should be proud. I certainly am! Go Zags JMO
Coaching Staff
Today I saw something that I haven’t seen in all my years of watching GU basketball… a half-time adjustment (though it really didn’t happen until about 10 minutes left in the game). The only reason Colorado was up at half was because they we were late guarding the 3, which is a pretty common problem for GU basketball over the last few years. But Few actually went to a small lineup for awhile to get some better perimeter speed on defense and it showed. In the past I have seen us get beat by the same thing play after play, so it was a pleasant surprise to see (or not see) the big bench players out of the game in the second half. I hope that someone on the coaching staff makes note of this and we at least try going small for a bit in the future. I think it really stretching the floor and clears room for the post up guy (Sacre or Harris) that is on the floor with the little guys. Also this would give us a chance to utilize bouldin’s post up skills. I agree lets give Manny some run and see what this kid has. He may not be ready for the bigger role, but we won’t know until we give him a chance (he can’t possibly bring less to the table then Gibbs who doesn’t seem to impact the game at all when he is on the court).
Matt/Steven
I’m really having a hard time trying to find fault with their game today! Based on some of the comments on the live blog today of the game. Between them they were 19-22 from the freethrow line. They scored roughly the last 15 points in the game. They shot over 50%. They had 48 pts., 9Reb, 5 assists, 4stl’s and 5 to’s between them. They were on the floor for 38 min each! They won the game! I’m not sure anybody can be critical of either of these 2 today. Yeah, they had some lapses, so? I hope we get those #‘s every time and I’ll take the lapses in stride. Also thought the difference in the game was in the second half when Few went small on “D” and moved to the various zone looks in their scheme, benched the “Bigs” except Elias then pushed the ball and took it out of Meech’s hands and put it into Matts. Manny should flat out be playing and be the first off the bench. 38-34 14:00 to go in the half/ Wisconsin up 4. Heading to the rack, hope we play Arizona, I guess we’ll see.
Zona wins Foul Fest
Arizona looked just horrible in a game that had more fouls called than I can remember in recent history. Zona is very athletic and lousy shots. They do make a living at the Free throw line.
Tomorrow’s game will likely be forgettable from the stand point of quality play. Expect a brawl with a lot of free throws being shot.
mjc
mjc
Are you sure?
yahoo sports says that Wisconsin won…
by DanielwMathews on Nov 23, 2009 11:38 PM PST reply actions
I am sure
Zona did win the foul fest. They just did not win the game. A distinction I should have emphasized.
mjc
battling back
It was nice to see this young team battle back… this is such a young team, we are going to have games like this once in a while. It was also great to see Gray make shots under pressure, and to put the team on his back. Also, the boys shot well from the line for the first time since Raivio. This is going to be a fun season, that’s for sure.
No pressure at all.
Just my impression. It didn’t look like Gray was feeling any pressure at all. He was just out playing ball and having a good time. This guy is in remarkably good shape. Didn’t seem tired at all — played a lot of minutes. Even the missed free throw at the end of the game didn’t phase him.
Bouldin was pressing at times — you could tell.
mjc
mjc
by quidveritas on Nov 24, 2009 12:40 PM PST up reply actions
The PG
I enjoy reading everyone’s posts and opinions and there are alot of them. My major concern after watching the games this year is at the point. Meech has struggled against major programs. I don’t question is ability to defend nor do I question his ability to push the ball up the court. But I do question his ability to score. We saw his shot get swatted away time and time again against MSU when trying to get to finish in the lane. He did score against IPFW. But against the Buffs he didn’t even LOOK at the basket. At this point I am more confident in GJ’s shot. We desperately need 8 – 10 points out of a point guard to compliment Gray and Bouldin. JMO
Disagree
If we are scoring 80-85 points a game and playing pretty good defense, we are going to win games. Doesn’t matter who is doing the scoring.
If Meech is ignored, he will get his shots and will be scoring your 8-10 a game. But there’s no need to force the issue, if he creates opportunities for others that result in 8-10 points a game, that’s just as good.
mjc
I agree somewhat!
I think your right about Meech’s play but QV may be right about the points. I’m not worried about his points. It’s his play that concerns me. Especially his penitration with no purpose of play. His timing and push to the middle gets him caught in the air and totally out of place. This causes some of the confusion you see on the floor in their sets. I think GJ is under more control. They’re both very good “D” wise! This is why the ball is in Matt and Stevens hands!!!!!!JMO
I kind of agree
I said it in my post earlier in this thread. If Meech wants to take it to the hole he has to finish. I dont know if we can really rely on him for 8-10 points or expect that from him but we certainly can’t have him around the lane and playing with the big boys if he can’t finish.
by coltinjespersen on Nov 24, 2009 5:43 PM PST up reply actions
Meech vs. GJ
My opinion is similar to what everyone has already said. GJ seems much more controlled and he is a better outside shooter meaning that he might be a better fit for this group. But I think the main reason I am lobbying for the GJ in the starting lineup group is that I believe Meech’s game is perfect for coming off the bench. He comes with a ton of energy and he plays with that energy and speed that can ignite the team if they start slow. My belief that he should move to the bench is not because I think Meech can not succeed in the starting role, but because I believe he can provide a great asset to the bench with his speed. You could come in with a small lineup that pushes the ball if the game seems to be a slow down slugfest. The minute distribution wouldn’t really have to change, so I would hope if Few did this it wouldn’t come off as a demotion. This change of pace could be a game changer. But that being said the kid has only started four games so I doubt we have really seen what kind of player he can be. Tonight will be a good test, we will see if Meech can shut down Trevon Hughes or if we end up going to Steve to guard him.
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