There's not much we can take from tonight's dominant Gonzaga victory except for the fact that Matt Bouldin was knocked out of the game with an apparent head injury. He banged heads with an Augustana defender early in the game and hit the floor hard and wound up never checking back in. Matt looked fine and stayed on the bench as the game went on but it was definitely scary moment as you never want your star to get hurt in a game where Gonzaga's bench could have started and routed the Vikings of Augustana.
The final score of the game was 79-40 tonight in the McCarthey Athletic Center and it was a pretty underwhelming performance overall. By no means was the game ever in question but the same ugly flaws for Gonzaga came out tonight. The Zags shot 56% from the free throw line (17-30) and only outrebounded the Vikings by four, unofficially. The free throws are an especially hideous stat considering this game was played at home in front of a silent crowd. It was mostly the young guys contributing to these misses with guys like Grant Gibbs and GJ Vilarino missing their fair share but both those guys will probably be pretty solid contributors by years end.
I shouldn't harp on the play of Grant Gibbs tonight as I, once again, thought that he was tremendous for Gonzaga. The guy literally does a little bit of everything and has really started to get into a groove on the floor. Grant had eight points, four assists, three rebounds, and two steals tonight. He's obviously filling up the stat sheet in a number of ways and is making his mark on the team. He's never going to give fans the wow factor but when good things happen on the court you can expect #10 to be hanging around.
The best lineup of the night was at the end of the first half when it was (I believe) GJ Vilarino, Steven Gray, Grant Gibbs, Bol Kong, and Kelly Olynyk. This glimpse into the future really extended Gonzaga's lead to the 40-14 halftime mark and produced some great plays. Bol Kong really isn't fond of hitting anything but net on his shots. He made some nice drives to the rack as well and showed how he can really force the issue if he wants. Steven Gray facilitated the evening's actions and looked confident out there. He was 5-8 from the floor, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds. He struggled with stupid turnovers again tonight but at least his offensive game appeared to turn a corner. GJ Vilarino had an off shooting night but drove well to the hoop and Mangisto Arop, who subbed in early and often did what Manny does. He hit the boards, worked hard on D, and took what the D gave him on offense.
We're not really going to overanalyze this game because it is not really deserving of it. Gonzaga playing Augustana at this point in the season is just a tune up for the mid-to-end of December. Next up for Gonzaga is Davidson on Saturday for the Battle in Seattle. The Wildcats have returned back to Earth after Stephen Curry's departure but will still give the Zags a decent test.