Gonzaga vs Texas Post Game thoughts and analysis

[Reborn]

Gonzaga 86
Texas 74

Timme led the zags with 37 points, a career high. He was really pretty unstoppable. He had 21 points at the half. Bolton had 16 and canned 4-6 three pointers. Nemby hit one three, and hickman and Strawther one each . Zags had 7 threes to Texzs' nine; so I thought the Zags held their own from the 3 point line. Watson was also in double figures with ten and 4-4 from the free throw line. Nembhard had nine point, and ran the offense like a magician. He IS so SMOOTH.

Texas was really never in the game. The Zags' defense smothered them in the first half and the Zags led by twenty at the half. Honestly, I really didn't see much from Texas. And I was not all that surprised really because I knew that they had good players , but who had never played together and it showed. There did not appear to be much chemistry on that team. It was just a bunch of one on one play. They did fight hard and closed the gap to ten once with about 10 min left in the game, but the Zags pushed it back up to 20. Texas did close the gap again towards the end and got it down to 12 at the end of the game.

Well, I need to get this thread out there for others to write on. I'll write more later.

Go Zags!!!

[SorenTodd45]

We won. It was brutal. But we won. 3 cupcakes on our sched until we face off against the Fighting Juzangs in Sin City. I think we will be ready.

[Plainsman]

Over the top performance by Drew. Would like to see others hunt their shot a little more as the team moves ahead. Bolton hit a couple of clutch 3s but others passed up good open jumper opportunities. Chet seemed to play timid offensively as well. I think the youngsters will become a little more assertive as the season progresses.

[jazzdelmar]

Rasir and Nolan are terrific at opposite ends of their CBB careers.

[GoZags]

Rasir and Nolan are terrific at opposite ends of their CBB careers.

LOVE me some Rasir Bolton.

And I'm thinking the kids will be okay, too.

[GonzaGAW]

- i believed turnovers and 3 point shooting would be key to a win. team did not disappoint, only 7 turnovers and 38% from 3.

- wow coach few didn't just tighten up the rotation, he put a strangle hold on it. i suspect in the next 3 games of course he will let go of that death grip.

[jim77]

Great to get the win over a tough Texas team.

First half went pretty well....All Zags. The 2nd half Texas got scrappy and played hard...and we seemed to lose our intensity. The Longhorns won the 2nd half....good experience for our young guys. We were a bit to dependant on Timme....would have liked to seen a bit more of Sallis during the lull. Bolton made some clutch 3s in the second half. Great win against a top 5 team.

[jazzdelmar]

- i believed turnovers and 3 point shooting would be key to a win. team did not disappoint, only 7 turnovers and 38% from 3.

- wow coach few didn't just tighten up the rotation, he put a strangle hold on it. i suspect in the next 3 games of course he will let go of that death grip.

Who should have played more? Hickman for Straw was brilliant

[Zagceo]

How bout what Fran said about Timme…..thinks he might come back next year. Never crossed my mind

[Section 116]

On postgame radio Hudson and Morrison remarked how "the game never really came to Holmgren" tonight and he never forced anything. They thought that pretty significant for a freshman regardless of his status as the #1 pick.

[StatZag]

How bout what Fran said about Timme…..thinks he might come back next year. Never crossed my mind

When I heard this I though about both Chet and Drew returning next year. (given Chet's poor game and looking so raw (plus probably needing to pack on weight for the NBA)

But I'd bet money that neither will occur.

[FloridaZagFan]

Special game for Drew! Not sure did Nemby play the whole game?

[Reborn]

One thing about Mark, He likes experienced players, and in this one his 4 experienced players were the top four scorers for Gonzaga tonight. Only one new player had more than five points and that was Hickman with 7, and he really didn't play that much. Holmgren only had 2 points and that was a complete surprise to me. is inexperience also showed on defense as he was in foul trouble a lot in the second half.

Talking about experience, Timme and Nembhard were the two returning starters from a great Gonzaga team last year, and those two guys totally controlled the offense for Gonzaga. Timme seemed to score at will. There really wasn't any one, any two or three that could guard him. When they played 4 guys on him they did slow him down. And Nembhard just totally controlled the ball. He can handle a basketball as good as any guard I've seen, and he can really pass. Most of Timme's points came from passes from Nembhard. And Bolton, who has 3 years of experience played like it. He scored 16, and made 4-6 from the 3 point line.He really played a solid game.

I also thought the defense played great. This is going to be a very good defensive team. Also did not see any dirty play from Texas, and I felt the refs called a real good game. Gonzaga shot 55% for the game and 38.4 from behind the arch. It was our best 3 point shooting game so far, and almost all of our 3s were made by the guards.

The game was definitely not as exciting as I thought it would be. There was never a doubt who wss the better team tonight, and it wasn't even close. Texas was just totally unble to stop Timme as he scored 37. And when it got close in the second half (ten point difference if you want to call that close) the Zags just started feeding Timme again and he drove the lead back up to 20. I was as impressed with Gonzaga as I want to be right now. They did what they needed to do, and the Kennel Club looked like they were hving a lot of fun too.

It was a good night.

Go Zags!!!

[Murphy outgo lifer]

Who should have played more?

Can't say I have an answer but I was hoping we would be deeper than last year but that does not look to be the case. Went with a 6 man rotation when things got tight (never down more than 11) and may have gone with a 5 man rotation if Chet didn't get into foul trouble. Strawther will definitely play going forward but we may be at a 7 man rotation again. At least we have 3 bigs this year.

I really think that our biggest issue in the national championship game was fatigue. We had a 7 man rotation and in the UCLA game that went to overtime and our 2 bench guys only played 11 minutes (Watson) and 9 minutes (Cook) even with extended play.

I know that most people will say it is early but just like Joel said if you are not one of the top guys from the beginning you are in trouble for the rest of the year. I was trying to think if there was ever someone that earned a significant amount of playing time later in the season that didn't get a ton in the beginning. I cannot think of one. Does anyone else recall anyone earning a lot more playing time?

[zagfan08]

When I heard this I though about both Chet and Drew returning next year. (given Chet's poor game and looking so raw (plus probably needing to pack on weight for the NBA)

But I'd bet money that neither will occur.

If Chet is back next year something has gone horribly wrong.

I definitely think there’s a chance Timme returns, though I’m not counting on it. He’s an incredible college basketball player.