Gonzaga vs San Francisco Post game thoughts and analysis

[Reborn]

Gonzaga 78
San Francisco 62

A pretty good 16 point victory. San Francisco was good and very tough. May have been Gonzaga's worst offensive game this season. San Fran had two big post players that gave Timme trouble at times, however he did finish with 23 points. He had a real good second half. Holmgren, imo was the real stud tonight. I was so impressed with him. He got 22 points and scored from all over the court while hitting 2 threes. He was also the stud on D down low as usual. I'm very impressed with his game. Watson came through with another good game off the bench with 11 and Nembhard got 10. Gonzaga had a poor shooting night shooting just 47% from the field for the game and 5-18 from behind the arch. They only had 9 turnovers which was good.

The difference in the game was Gonzaga's defense. It was great seeing them play tough D after the first ten minutes. The Zags started the game off slowly getting behind early by ten points giving up many lay ups. However, as the game got going they began to toughen up and played tough D the rest of the way.

It was a good win at home and the Zag student body looked as if they had a blast. San Francisco is definitely one of our favorite opponents


Go Zags!

[caduceus]

Thanks, Reborn.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but it should be pointed out.

USF's starting lineup consists of three graduates, a senior, and one junior. That's a ton of experience going up against our youth heavy squad. We got the dudes and the hops, but there's a lot to be said about a team that's in the "fine wine" stage (without having to travel to Madagascar on a bicycle in a white shirt and a tie as an excuse to return as a middle aged player).

I have a lot of respect for Golden. His predecessor was an ass, but he's elevated his team. I get the tech (refs were lame tonight, and did the "make up call" a few times on both sides -- infuriating), but he seems very passionate about the game and winning. I think his game strategy was about as good as it comes given his ammunition.

The game at War Memorial will be a battle. By that time, there probably won't be a bunch of empty seats in California venues. By all covid projections, the fire marshal will have his/her hands full when tip off happens in that hot, ancient gym on the Hilltop. And I don't think the refs will be as forgiving.

Can't wait.

[kitzbuel]

There was a good stretch there in the middle of the first half where Watson came in as well as Nolan and the defense completely locked down. Even though the Zag offense was still tanking they stopped USF. At that point it was just a matter of time before some shots started falling, but the commitment to defense was impressive.

[FloridaZagFan]

I liked the fact Zag's were able to adjust to the zone USF showed after Don's started racking up fouls.
By GU's standards it was a ugly game offensively. Timme wasn't as efficient as he is most of the time (Still had 25) so there were very few doubles.
With Andrew in foul trouble first half I think they executed fairly well.
I really think this USF team is pretty solid and given the fact that there were a number of things that were not going well offensively, Zag's did a good job of being comfortable when they were forced to be uncomfortable!
Not going to have your 'A' game all the time, thats just the way it is.
Chet really stepped up and was aggressive, great sign of things to come.

[Sarenyon]

Watched the game this morning.
Just talking about our Front Court:
Timme struggled in the 1st half. Overall went 9 for 20, but at least 8 of those misses were in the 1st half. Good second half effort. Not often that he will be under 50% for the night.
Chet looked great throughout the game. Just had a really, really good game all around.
Watson improved our D so much in that 1st half. Helped us get back the lead and made some excellent plays. Great seeing him hit one from three range. He has a great motor and has been playing very well over the last 8 or so games. A couple off nights in there, but overall, marked improvement.

[basketballzag]

The Zags were also very fortunate Bouyea got into foul trouble early because it could have been a much closer game than the final result showed last night. The Dons look terrific and will be in the tourney based on what I saw last night.

[Plainsman]

The team rallied impressively after spotting SF the early lead and the rally was clearly led by Andrew. But once he went to the bench due to foul trouble the offense went very stagnant. Obviously Andrew is a great point guard for this system and this team and he is unquestionably Few's security blanket (he plays a ton of minutes). But foul trouble is going to sit Andrew from time to time and Few needs to give one of our other stellar guards more minutes at PG in some of these blowout games in order to have an effective replacement for Andrew. Hickman is probably the logical choice and he mostly played that role when Andrew went out but team offense definitely suffered from Andrew's absence. Hope one of these guards can become a more effective substitute by tourney time.

[BurgessEraZag]

All posters here love the Zags as I do. BUT!!!! If the offense everynight is going to shoot 69% and score over century mark, WHY PLAY THE GAMES??? Just through the jerseys and ball on the court and go home. Last night was not statistically wonderful but professionally and strategically great, I have no complaint about the performance. How short some people's memories are??? Can you remember games in years past when Zags down 15-4 in first half and struggle and maybe never recovered. But USF has a memory for us. Remember "the Bonus" leading up to a comefrom behind win in SF in overtime? Few and the team knows USF is tough and last night proved they could come off the canvas and deck the Dons in the second half.

Come on folks. Last night the Zags showed great character to come back after a pretty good "slug in the chops." We have the horses, we just have to support praise them for coming from behind down the stretch. I'm a stats man too, but winning is more important that 100 points.

It is difficult for me to presume BYU is number 2 in WCC. USF should be 2, BYU 3 and St. Mary's 4.

Go Zags. Gotta love Hickman and the Unicorn. We know Timme and Andrew are great.

[Hoopaholic]

All posters here love the Zags as I do. BUT!!!! If the offense everynight is going to shoot 69% and score over century mark, WHY PLAY THE GAMES??? Just through the jerseys and ball on the court and go home. Last night was not statistically wonderful but professionally and strategically great, I have no complaint about the performance. How short some people's memories are??? Can you remember games in years past when Zags down 15-4 in first half and struggle and maybe never recovered. But USF has a memory for us. Remember "the Bonus" leading up to a comefrom behind win in SF in overtime? Few and the team knows USF is tough and last night proved they could come off the canvas and deck the Dons in the second half.

Come on folks. Last night the Zags showed great character to come back after a pretty good "slug in the chops." We have the horses, we just have to support praise them for coming from behind down the stretch. I'm a stats man too, but winning is more important that 100 points.

It is difficult for me to presume BYU is number 2 in WCC. USF should be 2, BYU 3 and St. Mary's 4.

Go Zags. Gotta love Hickman and the Unicorn. We know Timme and Andrew are great.

My thoughts precisely

[daskim]

Agree with everything above.

Watson continues to contribute in ways that don't show up in the stat line.

Hope he continues to learn how to finish his moves and score. He's getting better, but at times he just doesn't complete with a score.

[Hoopaholic]

The team rallied impressively after spotting SF the early lead and the rally was clearly led by Andrew. But once he went to the bench due to foul trouble the offense went very stagnant. Obviously Andrew is a great point guard for this system and this team and he is unquestionably Few's security blanket (he plays a ton of minutes). But foul trouble is going to sit Andrew from time to time and Few needs to give one of our other stellar guards more minutes at PG in some of these blowout games in order to have an effective replacement for Andrew. Hickman is probably the logical choice and he mostly played that role when Andrew went out but team offense definitely suffered from Andrew's absence. Hope one of these guards can become a more effective substitute by tourney time.

I guess I don’t understand or get the constant claim “few needs to give one of our other stellar guards more minutes at PG”

First : who are these stellar point guards on our roster….I seem to be missing this as the only one I know of one the bench is Hickman (sallis is NOT a point guard) so not sure who else more minutes can be provided to develop

Second: Hickman is averaging 20 minutes a game….how many more minutes does one need to be able to provide support at this position

Third: Hickman is doing a great job in developing his PG skill set in a very very difficult offense to learn, manage and engage in and at times he looks great, at times he looks like the Freshman he is.

So i ask who are these guards you speak about and as it pertains to Hickman how many more minutes per game does he gets?

[Hoopaholic]

The Zags were also very fortunate Bouyea got into foul trouble early because it could have been a much closer game than the final result showed last night. The Dons look terrific and will be in the tourney based on what I saw last night.

???? Bouyea was never in foul trouble

Shabazz picked up his third in first 2 minutes of second half and sat for while but was only held out 3 minutes less than his season average of time on court

[TacomaZAG]

Want to throw some love to the "kids" on the team. 5-star freshmen Holmgren, Hickman, and Sallis have really bought in to their roles and are flourishing. All three are great defenders for frosh and can also score when needed, within the offense. All three guys are getting noticeably better and more comfortable every game, fun to watch.

Have the horses this year to really go 8 deep, and that will pay dividends in the Dance. Can't wait for Perry to get healthy, hopefully he can get some minutes in conference play and be ready to contribute in March/April.

Go ZAGS

[BayAreaZagFan]

I thought part of the problem in the first half was a lack of hustle. Too many missed shots led to basically uncontested SF rebounds. It looked like the Zag players were standing around waiting for the ball to bounce to them, but the SF players went after the ball and got it before that happened. The Zags seemed to have a more casual attitude than the Dons on both ends of the court in the early going. I'm sure part of that is because they're the #1 team in the nation, playing an unranked team, at home, but still - this was a game against one of the top teams in the conference.

For SF, Bouyea was pretty special last night. The announcers were saying he could have transferred and been a starting PG on any Power 5 team, while I don't know if that's exactly true, I have a ton of respect for him staying put and committing to the program that helped with his development. Hopefully, they are able to build on whatever success they have this year, Golden sticks around and gets some good recruits and keeps them relevant and maybe gets them to the tourney on a regular basis.

[JPtheBeasta]

The Zags shut down USF's offense down for long stretches last night and that was great to see against some pretty good players.

Timme was actually tested more in this game than many other games this year. It is easy to say that he was "off" in the first half but SFU had a lot to do with that-- Timme wasn't able to get to his usual spots and took some weird shots. I credit the USF bigs for that. (They got away with a few fouls but they utilized size and positioning well).

USF's rim protection surprised me a few times this game when they swatted good Zag drive attempts. This, plus the defense on Timme, erased 10+ points in this game. This was a good challenge that the team needed because it will be more like tournament time.

I could easily see USF winning a March tournament game.

The officiating left a lot to be desired last night, but at least it didn't seem to favor either team. I think the missed foul that precipitated the technical was actually a make-good for missing a foul when Nembhard had the ball in almost the same spot a play before.

Chet stepped up and acted like an NBA lottery pick in this game. Given that he doesn't physically dominate players and has to fight harder to get to his spots on offense, it is not a surprise that it took him half a season to get a feel for the college game and figure out how to better assert himself.

In kind of a cruddy offensive game for GU, I really liked the cutting action when Timme and Chet got the ball in the post. The opposing team has to pay so much attention to them that a cutting Strawther or Sallis is a very high percentage shot.