Gonzaga dismantles Portland, 90-51
by Zach Bell on Dec 28, 2011 8:28 PM PST
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PrintWhile there is a lot of hope and excitement for the West Coast Conference this year, tonight's game is evidence that the conference still has a long, long way to go. The top-heavy trio of Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, and BYU will assuredly make a run at the NCAA Tournament come March but the bottom of the conference is just as bleak as the top is bright. The Zags completely obliterated Portland tonight in Spokane in Gonzaga's first conference game. The Bulldogs were paced once again by freshman point guard Kevin Pangos. Pangos dropped in 19 points in 21 minutes. He was 5-7 from beyond the arc as his confidence continues to blossom in front of our eyes.
Pangos was joined in double figures by a trio of big men. Robert Sacre netted 13 points on 3-5 shooting (7-7 from the line), Sam Dower scored 15 on 5-7 shooting, and Ryan Spangler got 21 minutes of burn and scored an early career high of 11 points. Sam Dower continues to quietly gain confidence and do some great things all over the court. While he only played 18 minutes, Sam was efficient, grabbed some boards, and didn't make mistakes. I am still a firm believer that come March, Sam is going to be one of the biggest keys to this team's success.
One other bright spot in my estimation has to be Guy Landry Edi. While this all has to be taken with a grain of salt because of how bad Portland was, Guy is best described as a strong safety on the basketball court. He is a guy you have to keep your eye on at all times around the court because he is simply always around the ball. In 19 minutes, Guy scored nine points on 3-5 shooting with four boards, and a pair of assists and steals. While he is still settling in to the offense, Guy is simply a force. He brings a ton of energy and athleticism to this team. What has impressed me most is how aggressive he is. Gonzaga's recent junior college transfers Marquise Carter and Ira Brown started off their Gonzaga careers with quite a bit of hesitation. Guy has not been reserved whatsoever and it is pretty incredible to think about how good he will be when he is finally in the flow of the game.
It is so hard to believe that New Years Eve is right around the corner but, for me, this is the night I had circled on my calendar. Not because I am looking forward to getting a bit liquored up but because it is Gonzaga-Xavier. Out of all the games this season, the Zags-Musketeers matchup should be a blast. The two shining stars of non-BCS basketball are both pretty darn loaded and should give fans a game to remember. The big key will be if the Zags can handle how physical Xavier will be on their home court. More to come...
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Nice write up Zach
It was nice to see Eddie Landry make a couple nice moves and throw down a nice dunk
Zags who remind me of former Huskies
Edi Landry is very reminiscent of former Husky Bobby Jones—extremely athletic, tenacious D, potentially a real glue guy, and it’s just a matter of time before he bumps Mike Hart out of the starting five. Spangler, on the other hand, is a presence around the rim, reminiscent of Jon Brockman, but with amazing hands and a better shot.
A happy Zag fan in Oklahoma!
This was a fun game to watch….if you’re a Zag fan. I thought Portland was out-gunned from the start, but Gonzaga played the game like they were suppose to play it and won the way they should have won it IMO. There were a lot of poor playing during the game from the Zags, but I’m sure it was difficult to keep focused when the game started to get out of hand. I certainly loved the way Kevin Pangos performed last night. He is the shooter we’ve been missing here for a while! When he sets his feet and fires, I always assume the ball is going in! Kevin’s shooting is making it much easier for the bigs down low to score and he’s making the whole game easier for the team.
I thought Marquise Carter played an excellent game last night, both offensively and defensively. He took care of the ball, passed it beautifully, and was aggressive on the defensive side. Keep it up MC…..he really makes this team much better when he plays like he did last night!
I was glad to see Ryan Spangler get some substantial minutes last night. Ryan is obviously a gifted rebounder and he did some nice things on the offensive side of the ball. He really needs to be a lot more patient and concentrate on his free throw shooting, because he left a lot of points on the court last night instead of on the scoreboard. Ryan needs to take a lesson from Rob, who makes teams pay for fouling him. Rob did a wonderful job maximizing his productivity last night. He was patient on offensive and shot beautifully at the charity stripe. Rob rebounded very well last night, which surprised me since his hand is still not completely healed.
GBJ had a decent game last night, but I think he’s a barrel of dynamite ready to explode! Gary’s really playing within the framework of the team right now. He does positive things on both sides of the ball. I just think we’re going to see a monster game out of Gary real soon! I’m hoping it will be against Xavier this weekend!
Good luck, Zags, against Xavier! Let’s bring in 2012 with a bang!
BYU/SMC should provide some insight onto the league direction.
Some other good matchups tonight. On another note: As Zach provided the stats in his post………………………why wouldn’t a coach want 9 pts 4 boards 2 assists and 2 steals from a player that is 1) more athletic, quicker to the rim, better shot, better defender, better ball handler, better passer and more natural on the floor than an 0 for whatever, slow footed, lunging out of position defensive player with limited BB skills other than great hustle an desire but a nice kid?
Can any of you imagine substituting Harts minutes to Spangler since the Eastern Washington game? I wonder what 20 minutes of experience whould have done per game for Spangler leading up to now? Oh well those 200 minutes of development are gone forever! So, any bets on if Edi starts instead of MH at Xavier?
Hart/Edi
I would be happy to see Edi start, like you said Mike he is more of the complete player..when we play Xavier we will need his skillset and athleticism.
I dont see him starting though,Few seems to be in love with him. I like Hart; do I think he should continue to start….no, I would like to see him come off the bench and give some good minutes and provide the continuous intensity that we need but time will tell!
JSH
Interesting question on the start for Xavier
Glad the Portland game was under control early. Guy started out pretty rough – turnovers, missing open shot, foul. Both he and Sam seemed to have problems keeping their feet under them (slippery floor?). Glad Few let him stay on the floor and work into the offense with a couple of in-bounds plays for dunks. Didn’t get a feel for his overall defense, I get too caught up in enjoying the game. Guy’s got to be getting close to getting the start or at least a very early sub.
So what do you think for the Xavier game – Bell matching up on Holloway, Pangos on Lyons? And when Pangos gets a breather, I’m really concerned about Stockton on the defensive end against some of the best guards in the country (though I think DS is better than last year).
At forward their starting small forward is 6’4", but after that they look to have some beef at forward and center. Unless Xavier goes with a 3 guard line up I think we would be hard pressed to use 3 guards ourselves.
Also really curious about the officiating at this game. Would hate to see another incident like the Harris elbow of two years ago. I noticed early in the season that Pangos seemed to be getting under the skin of opposing guards and creating some confrontation (haven’t seen it recently), but don’t think the refs are going to just let them play in this game.
We won last year...
Xavier came into the Kennel and I think we had a 10 or 15 point victory. Pretty much the same Xavier team…we are missing Gray and Goodson from our lineup from last year. Obviousy a tougher game on the road and Xavier really needs to get back on track…they will have all starters back.
It will be tough to see how we guard Holloway and Lyons, both are very quick and explosive, and we had our 2 best defenders last year on them (Gray and Goodson)…I say Bell on Holloway, not sure about Lyons…he’s very aggressive will definately challenge our young guards. I do think our frontcourt in much better, I dont think Frease is all hes cracked up to be, he did jack against us last year.
JSH
Gray...
did not play in that game last year…and this years version of X is very good.
If you don't like my fire then don't come around...
Stockton was quite good defensively last year vs X
I didn’t remember that after the game but after rewatching it, it was definitely true. He baited their guards into charges drove them nuts when he was in.
Best starting five for Gonzaga
Sacre-C
Harris-PF-
Edi-SF
Bell jr-SG
Pango-PG
this five could play and beat anyone in NCAA
Bulldog Bench (no particular order):
Stockton PG
Dower C
Hart- PF,SF
Carter SG,PG
Manninghoff SF
Spangler PF
these six could beat any team in the WCC
yeah,yeah,yeah... seen this everywhere you keep posting it. I think we get it.
And it had been posted waaay before….by me. (the starting 5)
Final 4 or Bust!!~
What's all the fuss?!
Xavier is over-rated. We got this by 8-10 points.
1. Our guards are a little bigger, hit more threes, and hit a higher % of them.
2. Our front court will destroy Xaviers. They absolutely cannot match up w/ Sacre & Harris.
It will come down to Sacre fouling out half of Xaviers team, because they cannot stop him, and IF our young guards can hit threes, it could be an easy win.
We have had a much tougher non conf sched {our SOS is way better, Xavier is still a little “off” from the suspensions, and like previously mentioned, their students are on Xmas break so the home court will not faze our newbies as much.
So, don’t sweat it………….WE GOT THIS! GOOOOOOOOOOOO ZAGS!!~
*One thing, this would be a nice game to have Meech as a back up plan to get Holloway off of us, lol.
Final 4 or Bust!!~
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