After a much needed beatdown 81-50 victory over the Pilots at the Spokane Arena on Thursday, The Zags’ road ahead in conference play gets tougher with the Lions.
The Loyola Marymount Lions (9-6, 1-2) are coming off an impressive thumping of the Oregon State Beavers at Hank’s House on Thursday, 82-61. Senior guard Will Johnston (the young man with the rat tail haircut) continues to be a pesk for opposing defenses with 12.4 PPG, 3.5 APG, 2.8 RPG, and 1.1 SPG on the season. He has caused issues for Gonzaga specifically in the past, scoring 33 points on 12-21 FG/7-11 3PT against the Zags inside the Gersten Pavilion last February in the 91-74 loss for the Lions.
Coach Stan Johnson and the Lions had an impressive transfer portal haul during the offseason. He did end up losing Dominick Harris to UCLA, Justin Wright to UNC Asheville, and Jalin Anderson to Incarnate Word. Johnson gained Pepperdine’s Jevon Porter, UCLA’s Jan Vide, Nebraska’s Matar Diop, and San Jose State’s MJ Amey as replacements.
As for Gonzaga, they shot the ball a whole lot better from deep than they have all season it seems (11-24 3PT, 45.8%) and played much more energetic on the defensive end for a full 40 minutes against the Portland Pilots. 50 points allowed was the second lowest that the Zags have given up all season.
Gonzaga needs to build off that and be consistent with that effort on both ends of the floor throughout WCC play. No second half slow starts or giving up large leads against Loyola Marymount. Take it one half at a time.
The decision from coach Mark Few to move Ben Gregg from the bench back into the starting lineup seemed to really balance everything out for this team. Hopefully Michael Ajayi can find some sort of offensive rhythm soon because he continues to struggle shooting the ball mightily.
“It’s awesome being a starter again. I worked hard at it but a really slow start this season in the first couple games, got taken out as I deserved, but fight every day to get it back.” – Gonzaga’s Ben Gregg via Spokesman Review
Ajayi end up grabbing a season-high 15 rebounds against the Pilots so he must be realizing his role with the Zags this season will be more on finding others ways to get more possessions for his teammates. Continue to make winning plays by securing the glass, effort defensively out on the wing/low post, generally making sure opponents don’t get second chance scoring opportunities.
Player to Watch For:
Jevon Porter (junior, forward) – 13.9 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.6 BPG
The brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. had high expectations transferring from the West Coast Conference’s Pepperdine Waves to the Lions. After being charged with a misdemeanor DWI this summer, questions started to arise around his character and his behavior off the court.
At 6’11 and 235-pounds, Porter has a ton of NBA upside. He’s an agile, skilled big man who can score in a variety of ways such as off the dribble and when in off-ball motion plays. The power forward needs to become a better defender for long stretches and crash the glass harder if wants to become a late second round draft pick in 2025 or 2026.
With Ajayi being the most familiar with Porter from their days with the Waves, he will have most of the duties trying to contain him when both are on the floor together. Porter’s dribble pull-up and ability to stretch out from beyond the arc are in his wheelhouse. Ajayi has to be at his throat from the jump.
As our friend Theo Lawson of the Spokesman Review pointed out on our X account, the game against San Francisco at the Chase Center should qualify as a Quad 1 opportunity. That is due to the fact that the Dons are the ones controlling the event so it’s treated as a road game, similar to how it worked last season. With that information, Gonzaga could have up to five more Quad 1 chances to add to the resume (at Oregon State, at Saint Mary’s, at Washington State, at Oregon State, vs. USF). That’s in a perfect world.
Before getting to those high-level opportunities, the Zags have to take care of the teams in the bottom half of the WCC standings. No. 19 Gonzaga (11-4, 2-0) is getting ready to take on Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles on Saturday, January 4 at 6 PM PT on ESPN+/KHQ.
This has been a busy week for the Zags, heading into their third game in the last six days. That type of quick turnaround will only help prepare this group more for March.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho