Postgame Reaction: Wake Forest defeats Gonzaga in the Kennel
by Zach Bell on Dec 5, 2009 5:17 PM PST
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PrintThere is much to be discussed about this game so I don't want to wait to hear some thoughts from you all. Gonzaga lost Wake Forest 77-75 in gut-wrenching, at times embarrassing and just all in all miserable fashion. Here are a few things that stood out for me and are things to take from this game.
-- First, the elephant in the room: Elias Harris made a freshman, bonehead play and did not look like the man he has been in the first part of the season. Chas McFarland gave him a mini-shot to the chin and Elias reacted with a forearm shiver. As we all know, the second guy always gets caught. Chas made a similar play against Kelly Olynyk and got called for it. I understand E's frustration but you can't really classify it as anything but dumb.
-- Wake's two freshmen C.J. Harris and Ari Stewart combined for more points than Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray, 36-34. Gray didn't get on the board until 10:50 in the second half and was outplayed by Mangisto Arop. Manny showed hustle and grit while Steven disappeared until the end...and then missed two of three free throws in the clutch.
-- 21-34 from the free throw line at home.
-- Bol Kong was great on offense and brought Gonzaga back to life. Say what you want about defensive issues, Gonzaga is ran out of the gym with Bol. He was 4-5 from the floor (4-4 from three) and finished with 12 points. He also had a beautiful dish to Matt. His Sudanese teammate Mangisto Arop also showed why he needs more minutes. Manny played his ass off and finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
-- The start of the second half lost the game for Gonzaga. The Zags trailed by one at halftime and let the lead get up to eight by the 15 minute mark of the second half. I expected Matt and Steven to come out in half two and set up the game to be played through them but neither did and the Zags faltered early and lost late.
-- Gonzaga was outrebounded by Wake all day long and it just appeared that they wanted it more. This is the second time this week an opponent came into the Kennel and wanted it more than Gonzaga. Against WSU, they were able to pull out the win, tonight they were not so fortunate.
-- Dino Gaudio is an outstanding coach. From their play out of the time out where Ish Smith connected with Al-Farouq-Aminu on the alley-oop to when they fouled Matt Bouldin when they were down three with time running out. Gaudio make the calls in the clutch and showed what it means it be a great in-game coach. I'm not taking any shot at Mark Few but that was an impressive display by Dino.
-- Piggybacking on the coaching, it appears that the word is out on Demetri Goodson and Rob Sacre. Meech is being defended so that he is allowed to shoot and Rob is being doubled and pressured like crazy. Neither has responded well yet as Meech took some horrible three point attempts in this game early and also let his frustration get the best of him late. I'm VERY concerned about these two and whether they have what it takes to adjust and flourish.
I promise to put up a more detailed and hopefully more positive post later. For now, there's some good football on and as far as I know, the sun will come up tomorrow!
What say you?
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Here's What I Have To Say
Yes. Elias messed up big time. We know it.
But where was Steven Gray? He’s been missing for days now. DAYS.
I feel like we all had the right vibe in the Kennel tonight. There were several, and by several, I mean at least 7, bad calls made by the refs. They gave Bouldin a travel when he was clearly getting hacked. Demetri was barely anywhere in CJ’s area and got called for a block. Kelly took a hard charge and got called for a blocking violation.
Two games in a row now that yes… another team wanted it more… but two games in a row now, where the refs are keeping control of the game and they should just let the guys play.
You don’t see it in March, so why should we see it in December? It’s sickening.
Gray comfortable?
This team is set with Boudin as the leader (brilliant play at the end, even if he missed), but I worry that Gray is uncomfortable as the second. Gray’s never really thrived with the offense running through him, nor as one of the “leaders” – he seems better suited for the third leadership spot. Even with the Meech and Sacre issues, that worries me the most – is the team just too young behind Bouldin, and is Gray too uncomfortable to step in as the second experienced player?
by Jerikantilles on Dec 5, 2009 6:45 PM PST up reply actions
...it just appeared that they wanted it more...
I think this sums up the whole game. Even with the Harris ejection, Gonzaga should’ve still been able to rally back to beat a team with a 2 game losing streak they’re playing in the Kennel.
Two Bad Calls
The over-the-back by Aminu and the intentional foul on Bouldin, at the end of the game, really made a huge difference in the outcome of this game. In addition, Sacre was getting hacked to death when he was inside with the ball in his hands near the end of the game. I know the ref’s aren’t perfect, but each of those non-calls seemed gutless and a conscious attempt to not “interfere” with the last minute of play.
For the third game, Steven has shown that he is by no means a clutch player. He has missed several huge late-game three’s that would have drastically changed our fortune, in addition to the two free-throws near the end of the game. What happened to the Steven Gray we saw two years ago against Santa Clara?
Not having Elias for the game really lost it for us. We were out rebounded on both ends of the court. While Manny was able to compensate for his absence a little bit, we really missed his strength and athleticism against Wake’s players in the paint. What he did was stupid and selfish, but I’m sure it’s a mistake he’ll only make once. Also, look at our record from the free-throw line. That statistic was UNACCEPTABLE for a team playing at home, or on the road. I hope Few sets every player up on the line for practice, and makes them each shoot for hours. That was the real difference in the game—the inability to capitalize on the freebie points that easily would have won it for us.
Zagnificent - GU Class of 2011
Elias knows now he can't do that
He won’t make that mistake again. I missed his aggressiveness in the first half – both he and Sacre weren’t doing much. Put it all on Bouldin to do everything. Free throw misses were the difference.
Chalk this up to a huge learning experience in many ways. Keep remembering this is a YOUNG team that will make mistakes. Gray needs to step up, Matt can’t do it all himself!
Our grit and hustle showed up too late.
With Matt, Gray, Kelly, Manny, and Bol on the floor earlier, we would have won. But this rotation didn’t come in till much later. We were lacking fire and hustle the first 30 minutes of the game (not counting E and Matt). While Gray needs to get his confidence back (did he pull a Raivio and break up with his girlfriend last week?), he contributes a lot on the floor and I am glad he stayed in. However, the two misses (and the second was NOT intentional) on the 3 pt foul are inexcusable. In fact, missed free throws are one of the biggest reasons we lost this game, but that’s stating the obvious. Sacre… started the season like Batista, currently playing like Mallon. WTF dude, get your head straight. SSF, don’t pull punches with Few, he gets outcoached every time by the big BCS teams. Dino did a super job tonight. The foul by E was hard, but I don’t think it was as bad as it looked. E was spinning in to box out, caught the guy with the elbow. I’m okay with the ejection, but that’s as much punishment as he should get. I like how our young guys looked, fighting to get more playing time. Other than Matt and E, our other starters need to take the lead of the freshmen. Maybe this loss now will help the guys for later in the season. Oh, and outside of the Kennel Club, the fans are pathetic. Get out of your seats and make some noise, don’t wait for the screen to tell you to cheer.
by BW2020 on Dec 5, 2009 5:55 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
I'll agree with you a bit on Few
in one respect: I rarely, and I mean rarely see this team come out of timeouts late in games with any confidence. Tonight we called a TO, passed it in to Matt, he stopped his dribble and Few called another TO. Late in games this is inexcusable. These guys should know their role in the play call and run exactly the way the coach drew it up. I imagine Coach Few said “matt, get the ball and everyone clear out”. Dino’s play call was a thing of beauty. Still love Few but that late game stuff is pretty blaring.
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by Zach Bell on Dec 5, 2009 6:10 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
On the other hand
There was also a TO late in the game that resulted in a sweet Bouldin layup.
Saying Few is/was outcoached is awfully simplistic, especially when considering the fact that he was having to spend most of the second half trying to find a combination that worked because 60% of the starting lineup didn’t show up.
Nice Post
I agree with everything you said. I don’t normally go to the “blame few” bandwagon but when Wake came out of the timeout and threw the Oop I said out loud “wow Few you just got outcoached bad”
As for the crowd, for the couple Zags games I have been to the crowd wasn’t very good. Back 2 years ago I single handedly tried to get the Gonzaga crowd to start cheering when they played Uconn in Boston. It took me at least 3 possessions to get noticed and there were still many Zags fans not cheering. Not to mention they only did 1 chant the entire second half, “defense, defense, defense” time after time after time. Of course this was on the road across the country so it’s not the best example since it doesn’t come close to the Kennel Crazies. I notice it a lot at Uconn football games as well, outside of the Student Section and the few crazy people (like myself) there are a lot of older people and families there to “just watch the game and have a good time”. Unfortunately this happens in college sports and it hurts because the atmosphere could be so much better.
by coltinjespersen on Dec 5, 2009 6:15 PM PST up reply actions
We will learn from this
It was tough watching this game. I couldn’t shake the feeling that one play lost the game for us, even though we had plenty of opportunities to win it.
That being said, Steven Gray needs to show up consistently for this team to beat good teams. I was happy to see Manny and Bol show what they are capable of, and considering that we had three freshmen on the floor for most of the game I think we have a very bright future ahead of us.
Wake is a very athletic team and shot lights out in the minutes leading up to Harris’ ejection and from there on out. It is tough to beat any team who plays like that, unfortunately I think we handed wake many easy baskets and ultimately couldn’t play lock down D when we needed to. Boards were a huge issue as well, we need to be aggressive without punching people in the throat in the process. Regardless, we will get another shot at the ACC in a couple weeks, and if we can put it together for a full game similar to the way we played in the first half of this game, we will have a good shot at beating Duke.
A necessary learning experience
This team is young and just got beat by a Wake Forest team that played an excellent game and made some big shots tonight. Elias Harris made a bad mistake tonight and it was costly to the team. It seemed like that ejection resulted in a long period of compensation by the Zags and, by that time,we had dug quite a hole for ourselves. I was extremely proud of the team for making a valiant comeback and getting so close late in the game. One or two shots dropping and we would have won. I was very impressedwith Manny tonight. He played with great desire tonight on both ends of the court. Bol Kong also carried the team for a while with his superb shooting. He’s an impressive player that will get better and better. Although Steven’s shot wasn’t falling, he attacked the basket consistently and got some valuable points at the charity line. Matt played his usual good game and Kelly played his heart out, too. I believe losses like this, although painful, will just make us that much better when WCC play starts and in the NCAA tournament in March.
Rebounding
Coming out of the half with a 22-12 rebounding margin (including an 11-1 on the offensive boards!) – Game is a lot more wide open at the half if Wake shoots any better.
I thought this game turned on one play...
and it wasn’t the Elias bonehead foul. It was the play after it when we had our heads down, feeling sorry for ourselves and let them get an easy score. We keep our heads up, play some D and stuff it down their throats maybe the rest of the game go’s different. JMO.
Of course
if someone wanted to mention the rebounding or free throw shooting they might have a point as well.
When you lose by two
There are a million things you can point to as being “the difference”, and they’re all technically correct.
Bottom line, for me anyway: Not many teams can win against that level of competition when 80% of the starting lineup lays an egg.
freaking awesome.
grant seems like a team-first guy. I’m glad they have augustana next and not some game where they have to travel far. hopefully we can minimize any sort of emotional hangover and start fresh.
anyone see this WSU score? getting run out of the gym by K-state. The big 12 is just dominant in bball this year.
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It was only an hour ago
I’m sure they’ve been looking at the film and/or talking about it, so I think this is just more than a flip response.
The GU Board is melting down right now, and isn’t doing a great job of representin’ imo. MacFarland got under Harris’ and apparently all of GU Nation’s skin, and is now laughing on his way back to North Carolina.
lots of good posters over at Gu Board
but whenever they lose, all the idiots come out and troll around for responses. No one feels worse than Elias right now. Frustration happens, I’m over it.
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Harris Ejection
I’ve been a Gonzaga basketball fan for many years. I watched the ESPN video of the violation ad infinitum, as I’m sure everyone did. There is no favorable spin on it. It was deliberate and the ejection was appropriate. It did not reflect behavior thatI believe to be acceptable to Mark Few or to Gonzaga University (I’m not a grad, but I have tremendous respect for the school and for Coach Few). There is “tough physical play,” and there is dirty play. I’ve seen several cases in which I felt that Mr. Harris was pushing the edge. Coach Few needs to take firm control of this. A slap on the wrist will not do. The message must be unequivocal: The coach, the university, the community, and the fans do not accept this type of behavior in the sports environment. A weak response serves notice that such behavior is tolerated and accepted.
Curious
I respect your views and I think many Gonzaga fans/alums/students probably feel the same but I’m curious as to what other examples you have of Elias pushing the edge?
Welcome to the site, hope you stick around and continue to post.
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Has there been any official or unofficial response from Coach Few regarding this? I don’t, of course, know this player, but it seems that the ejection and agreement from Few that that is not how we do a block out should be sufficient. Doesn’t seem like he plays mean, just aggressive, and physical (which we have been complimenting him on up to this point!)
I'm curious as well
What I’ve seen from Elias this year is tough, physical but fair play. Until this afternoon nothing "dirty " or “pushing the edge”. His ejection from the game was appropriate but I look forward to seeing him in uniform on wednesday.
Harris Ejection
I haven’t been keeping a record of observations of pushing the edge. I have observed a pattern in which I was uneasy with the roughness that Harris was displaying. Before the WSU game, I was chatting with a friend about the team, and I shared my observation that I felt that Harris was probably overdoing the roughness and that it might get him in trouble. I’ve been watching basketball a long time (I’m old enough to remember Frank Burgess), and I understand physical play. That’s fine when it’s about asserting your position or your space. Harris seems to want to do that and “make ’em pay,” too. Tonight was the most clearly egregious example. I don’t see that with the rest of the team, and I can’t recall seeing it in past teams.
Bol Kong!
He’s got a long way to go on defense to get consistent minutes. Right now he is a liability on the defensive end. Loved the offensive output though, so smooth and natural.
Matt came to play, evidently so did Manny and Bol.
Considering the circumstances, Matt played very well. Manny should be playing much more and Bol was a very good substitution tonight. I don’t think it’s important to browbeat the rest. I also think Coach Few was as shell shocked with the play that changed the game as the young players were. I guess I would ask the question to all of the defenders of that bonehead play as everyone seems to call it, how many other Zags can you name that played with that type of violence or play? Would love to see the list you come with. Thats it on that subject. JMO
McFarland deserves an Acadamy Award. Olynk was eating elbows all night and so was Elias until he got tossed. The refs should have thrown him out!
The guy was laying there like he was dead, all the time smiling. Maybe you noticed the surprise on Eliase’s face? Well, that went away when he realized he had been HAD!
Amazing how McFarland healed up instantly went the whistle blew. Elias did nothing wrong. He was boxing out, he put up a high elbow that loooked higher because McFarland rolled and flopped. It was no where near like it looked. No karate chop…what a joke!
Proud of the young Zags who nearly pulled it off with out him for most of the game.
Grey needs some pine time. Missing open shots and free throws killed us at the end. I like Grey, but he is not consistent. Give it up for GJ and and more time for Arop & Bol.
Teams are not respecting Goodson’s shot. Because he does not have one. They are leaving him alone and doubling up elsewhere. Its a huge weakness.
Thats my take….GO ZAGS!!~
Wake Forest
Stopping by to say good game Zags! It was a very physical game. The refs were inconsistent throughout. They allowed very physical play from both teams with no-calls in the paint but then called techs when things got chippy. I thought the call against Harris was appropriate but I’m not sure I agree with the NCAA rule. In these cases I believe that the refs should be able to assess a flagrant foul without an ejection while reserving ejections for punches etc. Harris’ foul was flagrant but not enough to be ejected. While I’m happy with any win I really would like to see Wake play with more intensity. I really admire the tenacity that Gonzaga plays with. It’s early and you guys definitely have a squad that will be there come tourney time. Rematch in the second/third round? Good luck the rest of the way Zags!!
Meech?
We’re looking at some important problems the team has to face in order to really compete at the level that their talent deserves. HOWEVER I was personally hoping that the issue of attitude was resolved with Austin getting drafted…Meech’s technical today is one a lot of people seem reticent to bring up for obvious reasons – it takes zero practice to ensure that we never give up free points like that. I’d like to see less condemnation of Elias (playing too rough certainly, but presumably with the intent of playing) and more of a condemnation for the kind of “flagrant foul” which Goodson committed – totally unnecessary and a poor representation of the team.
Whether or not people think the refs are out to get us (I feel like the last two games were poorly officiated, a WSU student thought the refs were wearing Zag jerseys at one point) it’s pretty unacceptable to have that kind of reaction. If you want to complain, lose the jersey and get in the stands with the rest of the kennel. Or get first-round drafted in the NBA I guess.
Not taking anything away from
Wake Forest, but I think Gonzaga lost the game at the free throw line, and partially on the boards.
It was Gonzaga’s game to lose. After they were emotionaly crushed by Harris’ ejection it took the better part of the second half to recover. By then it was too late.
WF gained huge momentum going into halftime and continued in the second half. But the amazing part is that Gonzaga did battle back with a spark off the bench – tremendous shooting from Bol Kong, and had a chance, with 8 seconds left, to tie and at least send it to overtime. Gray missed those clutch free throws.
That’s called the “it” factor. The mark of a poised team is when they need “it” they get “it”. The Zags needed “it”, three free throws, and did not get “it”.
But, with the knowledge that this is a scrappy, well coached team I htink that they will bounce back and go into the next two games building momentum for the Duke match in NY. (I hope so because I have tickets to the Battle in Seattle next Saturday.)
Tom117
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