Gonzaga vs LMU Post game thoughts and analysis

[Reborn]

Gonzaga 89
Loyola Marymount 55

After a pretty slow start the Zags picked it up offensively and ended up with 89 points,scoring 50 + points the second half. They once again played really good and tough Defense.

Holmgren led the Zags with 21 points and 9 boards and was 3-3 from behind the 3 point line. Overall the Zags made 13 three's with Strawther making 2-3 and Bolton 2-4. Hickman scored 11 points off the bench and looked real good. He's really been playing well lately. Strawther and Bolton each had ten. Strawther made a real nice slam dunk off an offensive rebound which I saw was absolutely beautiful. He can really get up in the air. He finished as our second leading rebound with 6. I thought he had a real good game as well, as I said making 2 of 3 three pointers. Sallis finished with 7 and again hit another 3 pointer. He played his usual tough D and hustle and is now adding some points. He's a very good sub off the bench. Gonzaga's bench scored 34 points off the bench, which is very good.

This game shows that a team may set defense to stop Timme but that does not stop the Zags as they won by 35. Timme played a good game as he wasn't forcing any shots at all. He didn't need to. I enjoyed the game, especially the play of the team defense which I believe the time off is helping them. I also am enjoying watching Holmgren develop his game into becoming the best freshmen in NCAA ball. He certainly looked the part tonight, And Hickman, another Freshmen, shows that the future is bright for the Zags as well with Sallis.

The Zags shot 62% for the game, and 52% from behind the 3 point line and 9-12 from the foul line. And they only had 8 turnovers.

Go Zags!!!

[zagzilla]

Great to see the continued rise of our 3pt average. Getting out-hustled on the glass by Laupepe in the first half just can't happen for a team with the aspirations these Zags do.

Talent shined through after about 12 minutes and there were some great moments. Would like to see more of those lobs - so fun.

Sallis had a great second half defense and offense. Every time I see a mock draft without either Hickman or Sallis, I smile.

ZZ

[ZagsGoZags]

so much fun to watch the bench come in for last minutes,
and to watch the starters cheer for them, loved it when girls in stands responded when Arklausus was shirtless.

Timme was boxed in a lot tonight and found ways to contribute to the team. 3 assists, one of them worthy of a newsreel highlight. He reminded me of how Karno at first was confused when double teamed, but eventually became such a crafter passer, and could end the game with good assist numbers.

I love to see Hunter on the floor. He hustled the ball around, surrounded by defenders on the floor in their paint, and finally got the ball out. He made another 3. When he spends time wandering around on the 3 pt line, he sometimes finds a way to come in and contribute. Ayayi did that a lot his second year. Eventually Ayayi on the perimeter was always finding the time and place to cut inside and help make things happen. That will happen to Sallis in time.

My favorite play of the game was when Andrew threw a 3/4 court look-away pass which threaded its way through two defenders' outstretched arms and scored the assist. He was looking left when he passed that to his right.

I don't see how Holmgren could have a more perfect attitude. He is humble, assertive, matter of fact, seeks to be coached, handles the glory better than most, and because he has let the game to come to him, and learn his own way, and learn Few's systems, he is finally seeing the openings and unleashing his ability to create and make things happen. Also seems to finding the other players as well. Last year Suggs pushed it so hard sometimes, and that was OK, it was his way, and it worked out, and by game's end the over-eager style of play all contributed in a big way. Chet has in his own quiet way just been finding his way to forcing the action when he feels its a good opportunity. Oh How I wish we could have these players more than one year.

[Spink]

Chet 3/3 from deep...its a shame his foot was out of bounds on the other 3pt attempt...4/4 would have been even better!

Chet is now our leading 3 pt shooter by % - almost 3 attempts per game.

As a team we are now tied for 37th best 3PT % in the nation.

Purdue, Michigan State, Duke are the only top 10 teams ahead of us in team 3PT %

[GonzagasaurusFlex]

Nice game by our Zags. Some stats that jump out to me include:
- 0 turnovers by any Zags' guards and only 8 for the game [Timme (4); Holmgren (3); Strawther (1)]. More a reflection of LMU's inability to pressure the ball, methinks, but nice stat nonetheless.
- equal opportunity offense in full effect with six different players taking between 5-9 shots...no Zag with more than 9 shots. That is a far cry from the dump it into Timme and everyone else wait for him to shoot offense we saw in the very early season. This squad is very unselfish; kudos to Timme for not forcing things.
- Eight man rotation with the key bench guys - Watson, Hickman, Sallis - each getting 15-19 minutes...love it! I don't see anyone else earning meaningful minutes this season at this point, unless maybe Dom Harris gets 100% healthy and into game shape.

Only negative for me from this game was the realization that as skilled as Gregg is offensively, he looks very slow afoot on D and just doesn't seem close to being a rotation minutes post player for a perennial Top 20 team anytime soon just because of his poor defense. Assuming both Holmgren and Timme leave early, coaches have to recruit two plug and play high end transfer post players for next season to join Watson if they wanna keep this tourney run going imo.

[Snowwy]

Just watched the game this morning. Pretty straightforward as expected, but that in itself is a huge compliment to the team.

Tons of positives.

∙ Holmgren shooting so well.
∙ I love how Timme lets other players have the opportunity against some of these weaker teams. While this will likely cost him the National Player of the Year and possibly first team All-American, I think it makes the team better.
∙ Hickman getting some good playing time and again shooting well.
∙ No player with double digit shot attempts
∙ 21 assists on 34 made field goals with no player having more than 5 assists. Everyone moves the ball, everyone creates.

Negatives

∙ Gonzaga had 12 fewer shot attempts (4 extra free throws though). 16 offensive rebounds against are just too much. I found this stat just snuck up on me, I didn't really notice the magnitude as I watched.
∙ Holmgren with 0 assists. He has such good vision, I didn't really think that he would have games without assists.
∙ Deep bench has flaws. This is no surprise, there is a reason they are down on the depth chart, but Gregg looked slow on defense. Arlauskas hasn't developped to the point of being a good player. Maybe he needs to transfer for a different opportunity. He seems to be very liked though and I'm happy to have him on the Zags, just won

[zagsfanforlife]

Just watched the game this morning. Pretty straightforward as expected, but that in itself is a huge compliment to the team.

Tons of positives.

∙ Holmgren shooting so well.
∙ I love how Timme lets other players have the opportunity against some of these weaker teams. While this will likely cost him the National Player of the Year and possibly first team All-American, I think it makes the team better.
∙ Hickman getting some good playing time and again shooting well.
∙ No player with double digit shot attempts
∙ 21 assists on 34 made field goals with no player having more than 5 assists. Everyone moves the ball, everyone creates.

Negatives

∙ Gonzaga had 12 fewer shot attempts (4 extra free throws though). 16 offensive rebounds against are just too much. I found this stat just snuck up on me, I didn't really notice the magnitude as I watched.
∙ Holmgren with 0 assists. He has such good vision, I didn't really think that he would have games without assists.
∙ Deep bench has flaws. This is no surprise, there is a reason they are down on the depth chart, but Gregg looked slow on defense. Arlauskas hasn't developped to the point of being a good player. Maybe he needs to transfer for a different opportunity. He seems to be very liked though and I'm happy to have him on the Zags, just won

Gregg looks like he’s added weight and it’s made him slower. If I am being honest, in his limited time he hasn’t looked as good as I hoped, and have trouble seeing him crack the rotation next year

[gueastcoast]

Was at the game last night, my first game in the Kennel in five years - what a great environment (although not the easiest place to get to from NYC).

Agree with all the observations here - I too have high hopes for Gregg and I just didn't see it last night. Important to remember how young he is.

LMU are not very skilled but are deliberate (play slow), defend and rebound. Given our rebounding stats on the year I was really surprised how LMU beat us to rebounds given they are not particularly tall or athletic, but they hustle.

A more skilled version of LMU could bite us down the road.

One thing I noticed building on the Holmgren point and what a good citizen he is -- they all are. What is hard to see on TV sometimes is how much joy they all play with and how much the team seem to genuinely like each other. I also caught Watson and Holmgren separately chatting with refs during TV timeouts -- had the look of informal coaching/mentoring - we have so much to be proud of with our team.

[TexasZagFan]

Gregg looks like he’s added weight and it’s made him slower. If I am being honest, in his limited time he hasn’t looked as good as I hoped, and have trouble seeing him crack the rotation next year

I think Ben’s just growing into his body.

[TexasZagFan]

What was the deal with Martynas and his jersey last night? I had the CC and volume turned off. He's such a great kid.

[JPtheBeasta]

What was the deal with Martynas and his jersey last night? I had the CC and volume turned off. He's such a great kid.

It looked like he had an undershirt on and took it off (along with his jersey) before going into the game. Maybe he thought the t-shirt was on the outside? I agree that he seems like a great kid. Incidentally, what is the Lithuanian word for "goofball?"

[Therunner]

Chet 3/3 from deep...its a shame his foot was out of bounds on the other 3pt attempt...4/4 would have been even better!

Chet is now our leading 3 pt shooter by % - almost 3 attempts per game.

As a team we are now tied for 37th best 3PT % in the nation.

Purdue, Michigan State, Duke are the only top 10 teams ahead of us in team 3PT %

Chet is 9/14 from 3pt since Christmas, incredible!!

[FloridaZagFan]

"One ping, one ping only"

[FloridaZagFan]

I think Ben’s just growing into his body.

I agree. Clearly bigger than last year.

[JPtheBeasta]

Just watched the game this morning. Pretty straightforward as expected, but that in itself is a huge compliment to the team.

Tons of positives.

∙ Holmgren shooting so well.
∙ I love how Timme lets other players have the opportunity against some of these weaker teams. While this will likely cost him the National Player of the Year and possibly first team All-American, I think it makes the team better.
∙ Hickman getting some good playing time and again shooting well.
∙ No player with double digit shot attempts
∙ 21 assists on 34 made field goals with no player having more than 5 assists. Everyone moves the ball, everyone creates.

Negatives

∙ Gonzaga had 12 fewer shot attempts (4 extra free throws though). 16 offensive rebounds against are just too much. I found this stat just snuck up on me, I didn't really notice the magnitude as I watched.
∙ Holmgren with 0 assists. He has such good vision, I didn't really think that he would have games without assists.
∙ Deep bench has flaws. This is no surprise, there is a reason they are down on the depth chart, but Gregg looked slow on defense. Arlauskas hasn't developped to the point of being a good player. Maybe he needs to transfer for a different opportunity. He seems to be very liked though and I'm happy to have him on the Zags, just won

Is 3 really good bench players enough this year? It seems that without injuries it should be. I suppose Dom might be able to get some run in the near future in a pinch, but there are not many minutes for him right now, and roles are pretty set at this point. Gregg seems like an emergency fill-in type of player right now. He has a nice outside shot but his back to the basket stuff isn't quite there yet. I hope that is just a need-for-experience kind of thing. Perry will take a year from his original injury to know what kind of shape his back is in; I really hope that is lack of PT is more due to lack of experience/feel than it is debilitation from injury. I was thinking he might be a Brandon Clarke type of player but I see more of Elias Harris in him-- and either one would be amazing if he is able to have similar impact, and even an Anton Watson type bench role would be impactful down the road.

It felt like the Zags shored up the offensive rebounds in the second half a bit, but I haven't looked at the stats.