No questions against BYU as Gonzaga wins, 79-65

The Gonzaga Bulldogs starting five made sure they advance into the WCC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, defeating BYU 79-65 to finish the year as the WCC regular season champions.

Although BYU closed the gap a couple of times, Gonzaga grabbed the lead early on and never relinquished. A balanced attack fueled the win, with the starting five contributing 67 points, and only Rui Hachimura contributing anything off the bench with 12 points.

It is the fourth-straight win in Provo for Gonzaga, and a sweet revenge. After BYU has ruined Senior Night in Spokane two out of the past three years, Gonzaga repaid the favor on “Junior Night” in Provo.

The defense in the second-half was the difference maker in the game. Gonzaga held BYU to 26.9% from the field in the second-half.

Yoeli Childs showed why he is one of the better players in the WCC, finishing with 19 points. Unfortunately, it was the rest of the offense that couldn’t show up. TJ Haws only finished with six points.

Johnathan Williams led the Zags with 16 points. Zach Norvell finished with 15, Josh Perkins with 14, Silas Melson with 12, and Killian Tillie with 10 points. The Zags shot 55 percent from the floor, and outside of a rough shooting night for Norvell, the offense was humming the entire time. Gonzaga finished with 18 assists as a team, Perkins with seven of them, and it appears that the Zags shook out any demons they had lingering from the San Diego struggles.

With the win, the Gonzaga Bulldogs won the regular season outright, and rather importantly will enter the WCC Tournament as the No. 1 seed. That means that Saint Mary’s and BYU will see each other on the same side of the bracket. Although the Zags could use another RPI boost of BYU, the easier the path to the automatic bid the better.