Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA was founded in 1887 by Italian-American Joseph Cataldo, who had come in 1865 as a Jesuit missionary to the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. The Jesuits purchased 320 acres in the city's central business district for $936. The Northern Pacific Railway was holding the land in reserve, but Cataldo convinced railroad executive John W. Sprague to allow the sale to build the school. It has an enrollment of 7295, 4852 undergrads.
GU’s official nickname is Bulldogs, but unofficially they are the Zags, a name even used on their basketball jerseys in the 1960's and 70's. Mascot: Spike the Bulldog, Student section: Kennel Club, Fight song: Go Gonzaga! Colors: Navy blue, white and red,
Gonzaga's first intercollegiate teams were the Blue and White, two of the team’s colors. After the start of football in 1892, Gonzaga's teams of the early 1910's were also called 'Fighting Irish,' for their desire to become the Notre Dame of the West. Dr. Henry Luhn, a member of Notre Dame's very first football team, formed the team. Gonzaga's most famous football coach Gus Dorais was also a Notre Dame alumnus. Due to a budget crisis with the stadium and football program, Gonzaga officially dropped football following the 1941 season. Thus, Gonzaga is a basketball school!
Their first basketball season was 1907-08 and they sport an all-time record of 1426-713 (.667). GU was Independent until 1963, then in the Big Sky Conference until 1979, when they joined the West Coast Conference (WCC).
WCC Preseason Poll: 1. St. Mary’s, 2. Gonzaga, 3. USF, 4. LMU, 5. Santa Clara, 6. Portland, 7. Pepperdine, 8. Pacific, 9. USD
Gonzaga has a rich basketball history:
2 NCAA Finals - 2017 (lost to UNC, 2021 lost to Baylor), 2 Final Fours, 6 Elite Eights, 13 Sweet Sixteen’s, 24 NCAA Appearances (44-25, .639).
AP AA’s – 1st team (Dan Dickau 2002, Adam Morrison 2006, Kelly Olynyk 2013, Corey Kispert 2021), 2nd team (Frank Burgess 1961, Blake Stepp 2004, Kyle Wiltjer 2015, Nigel Williams-Goss 2017, Rui Hachimura 2019, Drew Timme 2021/22/23, Jalen Suggs 2021, Chet Holmgren 2022)
20 WCC POY awards, 2 nations leading scorers: 1961 Frank Burgess 32.4 ppg; 2006 Adam Morrison 28.6 ppg, 30 players drafted into NBA (13 in 1st rd!), 9 current NBA players, 5 retired numbers: 3 - Adam Morrison, 12 - John Stockton, 13 - Kelly Olynyk, 21 – Dan Dickau, 44 – Frank Burgess.
Mark Few (25th yr as head coach) has a 693 -136 .836 record and has been WCC COY 14 times. Few and protégé AZ Coach Tommy Lloyd were masters at international player recruiting, and this roster has four: Canadian Nembhard a starter and (Serbia, Croatia and Korea all reserves).
GU was 31-6 last season, losing to UConn in the Elite Eight. This season, No. 11 Gonzaga is 5-1 (wins: Yale, Eastern Oregon, Syracuse, #24 ucla, CSU Bakersfield; loss to #2 Purdue).
GU averages 83.0 ppg (49.6% FG, 30.9% 3FG, 66.7% FT), Rebounds 44.2 rpg (+13.4 margin), 14.5 assists/g, 7.2 steals/g, 3.0 blocks/g, TOs 12.3/g, (-0.6 margin)
SC averages 79.3 ppg (46.7% FG, 38.5 % 3FG, 76.5% FT), Rebounds 37.4 rpg (+1.1 margin), 14.9 assists/g, 6.4 steals/g, 5.9 blocks/g, TOs 13.6/g (-0.5 margin)
GU has 5 players averaging double figures: Anton Watson 15.7 ppg (65.1% FG! 44.4% 3FG, 47.1% FT), Nolan Hickman 13.5 ppg (44.4% FG, 29.6% 3FG, 90% FT), Graham Ike 13.3 (56.4% FG, 44.4% 3FG, 73.7% FT), Ryan Nembhard 13.0 (40.5% FG, 19% 3FG, 77.8% FT) – brother Andrew was a star at Gonzaga and is playing for the Indiana Pacers. Braden Huff 11.5 (62.2% FG, 46.7% 3FG, 54.5% FT).
Rebounds leader - Watson 8.8 reb/g, Ike 7.7 rpg. Assists - Nembhard 5.3/g, Watson 2.5/g. Steals – Nembhard 1.3/g, Blocks – Ike 1.3/g
SC has the Big 3 averaging double figures: Boogie 22.4 ppg (49.5% FG, 47.5% 3FG, 79.3% FT), Isaiah 17.3 ppg (52.2% FG, 40% 3FG, 73.5% FT), Kobe 13.0 ppg (43.5% FG, 34.5% 3FG, 77.8% FT)
Reb leader – Josh 4.9 rpg, Vince 4.8, Kobe 4.5 rpg, Assists – Collier 4.5 apg, Boogie 3.3 apg, Steals- Kobe 2.7 stpg, Boogie 1.6, Blocks Josh 2.8 bpg, Kobe 1.2 bpg
USC is 2-1 all-time against the Bulldogs, falling in the last meeting in the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, 85-66.
Pregame
This Legends of Basketball Las Vegas Invitational game is the nightcap of a double header which featured Colorado State vs UW in the first game. UW was unable to complete the football - basketball sweep as football beat the Phil Knight ducks 34-31 (Yay!!) in the Pac-12 Championship, but basketball lost to No. 20 CSU 86-81.
Getting out of the Uber at the MGM Grand we see Desmond Farmer getting out of the car in front of us. I hoped that was a good sign. The Grand Garden Arena is literally in the MGM Grand and was a decent venue for the game. When we walked in there was still a smattering of fans from the prior game but as usual the Zag fans always travel well. It was hard to gage how many SC fans were there as we were all scattered and some of the Zag fans wore red, though most wore blue. The arena has a 16,800-seat capacity (8116 announced attendance for this game).
Oh crap, Pac-12 refs! Not a welcome sight! SwaggyP, Nick Young arrives fashionably late with his young daughter and takes a seat next to the team. Props to Nick for always supporting SC.
The Game
GU starts: Ryan Nembhard, Dusty Stromer (Sherman Oaks ND HS), Graham Ike (Wyoming transfer), Nolan Hickman, Anton Watson – they would all play major minutes with only 2 subs in the rotation – Ben Gregg and Braden Huff.
SC continued to start Boogie, Isaiah, Kobe, Josh and DJ, but 5 others were in the rotation.
From the tipoff, I did not like what I was seeing from SC. They were very flat, had no energy and were not ready for primetime against a basketball blueblood. How could they not be hyped for this game? This was very disappointing! They really needed this win for their post-season resume, after losing with key players out to UCI and in a heartbreaker to Oklahoma.
The Zags would start fast going up 15-2 as SC struggled to put the ball in the basket, despite open looks, missing on 7 of their first 8 shots. SC trailed by as many as 14 pts (20-6 at 13:25 mark), before going to the locker room down by 7 (44-37). No halftime entertainment for this one, even in the self-proclaimed Entertainment Capital of the World!
I hoped Enfield’s enforcer Assoc. Head Coach Chris Capko was chewing out the Trojans for their lackluster first half play and the slow start! They needed a kick in the pants to get them fired up for the second half.
Alas, it was more of the same to start the second half – UN-expletive deleted-BELIEVABLE! How can this team not respond better? I just don’t understand.
Gonzaga stretched the 7-pt halftime lead to 15 pts (56-41) in less than 5 minutes. They would have their largest lead of the game at 18 pts at 79-61 and 81-63 at 4:24 and would cruise to an 89-76 victory over the Trojans.
The Zags would outperform their season stats in this one: shooting 52.3% FG, 54.5% 3FG and 75% FT for the game.
Conversely SC would shoot 47% FG, a dismal 27.3% 3FG (6-22) and a pathetic 47.1% FT (8-17 and 1-8 in the 1st half!) – you can’t beat teams shooting like this, especially good teams.
Boogie was the only one who came to play and produced. He played 39 min, scored a team-high 28 pts (12-21 FG, 4-9 3FGs), had 7 rebs, 4 assists, 2 steals and only 1 TO. He did not have a single TO in the 2 games in San Diego.
Collier had 14 pts (6-14 FG, 0-1 3FG, 2-6 FT), 4 rebs, 6 assists, 3 TO and a steal. He always plays all out and at times resorts to bullying his way to the basket. When he did this, he was always met by 2 Zags who were very physical with him, but obvious hacks were not being whistled. He’s a frosh and is figuring it out. I still wouldn’t trade him for any FR in the country. He has cut his TOs the last 2 games increasing his assists/turnover ratio. His shots were off today, but he has been consistently good all season and I expect a quick turnaround.
Kobe had a bad day, he was out of sync with 2 quick fouls and in 29 min scored only 7 pts (3-10 FG, 1-6 3FG - most were open looks). He had 3 rebs and an assist, a steal and a block.
Vince had 6 pts, DJ 5, Josh 5, Harry 2 and Oziyah and Kijani did not score in their 5 mins. The best supporting performance by a non-member of the Big 3 goes to ---envelope please ---Arrinten Page who had his career highs of 22 min, 9 pts and 4 rebounds. He is very athletic and has the most upside of any of our bigs, except for maybe Vince.
The Zags had balanced scoring, their lowest scorer being Anton Watson with 9, he came in as their top scorer. Nembhard and Stromer had 15 each, Ike and Gregg 14, Huff 12 and Hickman 10. Their 2-man bench scored 26 pts compared to 17 for our 5-man bench.
This game, although close a few times, was really a blowout for the Zags as they beat SC 89-76.
The No. 11 Zags move to 6-1, SC falls to 5-3.
Although most prognosticators picked SC second behind Arizona, there are many Pac-12 teams playing better ball than the Trojans at this point. How will they respond? Having Bronny will help, but the whole team needs to look in the mirror and step up. The Big 3 can only do so much! They need help from the rest of the players. The young guys need to grow up quickly, the team needs to play better defense (heretofore a hallmark of Enfield teams) and they need to play with a sense of urgency, because the Pac-12 is not going to be an easy conference to win or even finish in the upper half.
We need to do better SC!
Fight on! Beat the Beach!
GU’s official nickname is Bulldogs, but unofficially they are the Zags, a name even used on their basketball jerseys in the 1960's and 70's. Mascot: Spike the Bulldog, Student section: Kennel Club, Fight song: Go Gonzaga! Colors: Navy blue, white and red,
Gonzaga's first intercollegiate teams were the Blue and White, two of the team’s colors. After the start of football in 1892, Gonzaga's teams of the early 1910's were also called 'Fighting Irish,' for their desire to become the Notre Dame of the West. Dr. Henry Luhn, a member of Notre Dame's very first football team, formed the team. Gonzaga's most famous football coach Gus Dorais was also a Notre Dame alumnus. Due to a budget crisis with the stadium and football program, Gonzaga officially dropped football following the 1941 season. Thus, Gonzaga is a basketball school!
Their first basketball season was 1907-08 and they sport an all-time record of 1426-713 (.667). GU was Independent until 1963, then in the Big Sky Conference until 1979, when they joined the West Coast Conference (WCC).
WCC Preseason Poll: 1. St. Mary’s, 2. Gonzaga, 3. USF, 4. LMU, 5. Santa Clara, 6. Portland, 7. Pepperdine, 8. Pacific, 9. USD
Gonzaga has a rich basketball history:
2 NCAA Finals - 2017 (lost to UNC, 2021 lost to Baylor), 2 Final Fours, 6 Elite Eights, 13 Sweet Sixteen’s, 24 NCAA Appearances (44-25, .639).
AP AA’s – 1st team (Dan Dickau 2002, Adam Morrison 2006, Kelly Olynyk 2013, Corey Kispert 2021), 2nd team (Frank Burgess 1961, Blake Stepp 2004, Kyle Wiltjer 2015, Nigel Williams-Goss 2017, Rui Hachimura 2019, Drew Timme 2021/22/23, Jalen Suggs 2021, Chet Holmgren 2022)
20 WCC POY awards, 2 nations leading scorers: 1961 Frank Burgess 32.4 ppg; 2006 Adam Morrison 28.6 ppg, 30 players drafted into NBA (13 in 1st rd!), 9 current NBA players, 5 retired numbers: 3 - Adam Morrison, 12 - John Stockton, 13 - Kelly Olynyk, 21 – Dan Dickau, 44 – Frank Burgess.
Mark Few (25th yr as head coach) has a 693 -136 .836 record and has been WCC COY 14 times. Few and protégé AZ Coach Tommy Lloyd were masters at international player recruiting, and this roster has four: Canadian Nembhard a starter and (Serbia, Croatia and Korea all reserves).
GU was 31-6 last season, losing to UConn in the Elite Eight. This season, No. 11 Gonzaga is 5-1 (wins: Yale, Eastern Oregon, Syracuse, #24 ucla, CSU Bakersfield; loss to #2 Purdue).
GU averages 83.0 ppg (49.6% FG, 30.9% 3FG, 66.7% FT), Rebounds 44.2 rpg (+13.4 margin), 14.5 assists/g, 7.2 steals/g, 3.0 blocks/g, TOs 12.3/g, (-0.6 margin)
SC averages 79.3 ppg (46.7% FG, 38.5 % 3FG, 76.5% FT), Rebounds 37.4 rpg (+1.1 margin), 14.9 assists/g, 6.4 steals/g, 5.9 blocks/g, TOs 13.6/g (-0.5 margin)
GU has 5 players averaging double figures: Anton Watson 15.7 ppg (65.1% FG! 44.4% 3FG, 47.1% FT), Nolan Hickman 13.5 ppg (44.4% FG, 29.6% 3FG, 90% FT), Graham Ike 13.3 (56.4% FG, 44.4% 3FG, 73.7% FT), Ryan Nembhard 13.0 (40.5% FG, 19% 3FG, 77.8% FT) – brother Andrew was a star at Gonzaga and is playing for the Indiana Pacers. Braden Huff 11.5 (62.2% FG, 46.7% 3FG, 54.5% FT).
Rebounds leader - Watson 8.8 reb/g, Ike 7.7 rpg. Assists - Nembhard 5.3/g, Watson 2.5/g. Steals – Nembhard 1.3/g, Blocks – Ike 1.3/g
SC has the Big 3 averaging double figures: Boogie 22.4 ppg (49.5% FG, 47.5% 3FG, 79.3% FT), Isaiah 17.3 ppg (52.2% FG, 40% 3FG, 73.5% FT), Kobe 13.0 ppg (43.5% FG, 34.5% 3FG, 77.8% FT)
Reb leader – Josh 4.9 rpg, Vince 4.8, Kobe 4.5 rpg, Assists – Collier 4.5 apg, Boogie 3.3 apg, Steals- Kobe 2.7 stpg, Boogie 1.6, Blocks Josh 2.8 bpg, Kobe 1.2 bpg
USC is 2-1 all-time against the Bulldogs, falling in the last meeting in the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, 85-66.
Pregame
This Legends of Basketball Las Vegas Invitational game is the nightcap of a double header which featured Colorado State vs UW in the first game. UW was unable to complete the football - basketball sweep as football beat the Phil Knight ducks 34-31 (Yay!!) in the Pac-12 Championship, but basketball lost to No. 20 CSU 86-81.
Getting out of the Uber at the MGM Grand we see Desmond Farmer getting out of the car in front of us. I hoped that was a good sign. The Grand Garden Arena is literally in the MGM Grand and was a decent venue for the game. When we walked in there was still a smattering of fans from the prior game but as usual the Zag fans always travel well. It was hard to gage how many SC fans were there as we were all scattered and some of the Zag fans wore red, though most wore blue. The arena has a 16,800-seat capacity (8116 announced attendance for this game).
Oh crap, Pac-12 refs! Not a welcome sight! SwaggyP, Nick Young arrives fashionably late with his young daughter and takes a seat next to the team. Props to Nick for always supporting SC.
The Game
GU starts: Ryan Nembhard, Dusty Stromer (Sherman Oaks ND HS), Graham Ike (Wyoming transfer), Nolan Hickman, Anton Watson – they would all play major minutes with only 2 subs in the rotation – Ben Gregg and Braden Huff.
SC continued to start Boogie, Isaiah, Kobe, Josh and DJ, but 5 others were in the rotation.
From the tipoff, I did not like what I was seeing from SC. They were very flat, had no energy and were not ready for primetime against a basketball blueblood. How could they not be hyped for this game? This was very disappointing! They really needed this win for their post-season resume, after losing with key players out to UCI and in a heartbreaker to Oklahoma.
The Zags would start fast going up 15-2 as SC struggled to put the ball in the basket, despite open looks, missing on 7 of their first 8 shots. SC trailed by as many as 14 pts (20-6 at 13:25 mark), before going to the locker room down by 7 (44-37). No halftime entertainment for this one, even in the self-proclaimed Entertainment Capital of the World!
I hoped Enfield’s enforcer Assoc. Head Coach Chris Capko was chewing out the Trojans for their lackluster first half play and the slow start! They needed a kick in the pants to get them fired up for the second half.
Alas, it was more of the same to start the second half – UN-expletive deleted-BELIEVABLE! How can this team not respond better? I just don’t understand.
Gonzaga stretched the 7-pt halftime lead to 15 pts (56-41) in less than 5 minutes. They would have their largest lead of the game at 18 pts at 79-61 and 81-63 at 4:24 and would cruise to an 89-76 victory over the Trojans.
The Zags would outperform their season stats in this one: shooting 52.3% FG, 54.5% 3FG and 75% FT for the game.
Conversely SC would shoot 47% FG, a dismal 27.3% 3FG (6-22) and a pathetic 47.1% FT (8-17 and 1-8 in the 1st half!) – you can’t beat teams shooting like this, especially good teams.
Boogie was the only one who came to play and produced. He played 39 min, scored a team-high 28 pts (12-21 FG, 4-9 3FGs), had 7 rebs, 4 assists, 2 steals and only 1 TO. He did not have a single TO in the 2 games in San Diego.
Collier had 14 pts (6-14 FG, 0-1 3FG, 2-6 FT), 4 rebs, 6 assists, 3 TO and a steal. He always plays all out and at times resorts to bullying his way to the basket. When he did this, he was always met by 2 Zags who were very physical with him, but obvious hacks were not being whistled. He’s a frosh and is figuring it out. I still wouldn’t trade him for any FR in the country. He has cut his TOs the last 2 games increasing his assists/turnover ratio. His shots were off today, but he has been consistently good all season and I expect a quick turnaround.
Kobe had a bad day, he was out of sync with 2 quick fouls and in 29 min scored only 7 pts (3-10 FG, 1-6 3FG - most were open looks). He had 3 rebs and an assist, a steal and a block.
Vince had 6 pts, DJ 5, Josh 5, Harry 2 and Oziyah and Kijani did not score in their 5 mins. The best supporting performance by a non-member of the Big 3 goes to ---envelope please ---Arrinten Page who had his career highs of 22 min, 9 pts and 4 rebounds. He is very athletic and has the most upside of any of our bigs, except for maybe Vince.
The Zags had balanced scoring, their lowest scorer being Anton Watson with 9, he came in as their top scorer. Nembhard and Stromer had 15 each, Ike and Gregg 14, Huff 12 and Hickman 10. Their 2-man bench scored 26 pts compared to 17 for our 5-man bench.
This game, although close a few times, was really a blowout for the Zags as they beat SC 89-76.
The No. 11 Zags move to 6-1, SC falls to 5-3.
Although most prognosticators picked SC second behind Arizona, there are many Pac-12 teams playing better ball than the Trojans at this point. How will they respond? Having Bronny will help, but the whole team needs to look in the mirror and step up. The Big 3 can only do so much! They need help from the rest of the players. The young guys need to grow up quickly, the team needs to play better defense (heretofore a hallmark of Enfield teams) and they need to play with a sense of urgency, because the Pac-12 is not going to be an easy conference to win or even finish in the upper half.
We need to do better SC!
Fight on! Beat the Beach!
