Gonzaga finds its shooting touch in 81-50 win over University of Portland

The Gonzaga Bulldogs have extremely justifiable beef with pilots of all kinds this week.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs needed a big win, and they got exactly that last night, cruising to a dominant 31-point victory over the Portland Pilots at home in Spokane.

Once again, the Zags came out a bit flat offensively. They were putting up good shots, but, as has been the case for much of the season, those shots just weren’t falling. Defensively, they were spectacular, holding Portland to just 17 points in the first half and 33% from the field on the game.

While this win over Portland doesn’t completely erase the inconsistencies that have plagued Gonzaga this season, it marks the biggest collective step in the right direction in quite a while. Watching the Zags handle Portland with ease was a much-needed sigh of relief for fans who had been left exhausted and frustrated at the sloppy play in recent weeks.

Most importantly, this was, for me, the first game in a while that was genuinely fun to watch! And it looked like the Zags were having fun, too.

What’s New

Gregg Makes His Return

Mark Twain once said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Well, it’s January again, and just like last year, Ben Gregg has found his way into the Gonzaga starting lineup. It’s hard to say if last night’s game was a one-off or if we’ll see Gregg in the starting five for the rest of the season, but his presence as a starter has made a noticeable impact in the past—and could once again.

For one, Gregg’s high-energy style and versatility help set the tone and increase the pace of play, something the Zags have desperately needed after struggling with some recent sluggish starts.

The Shooting Touch

Since wrapping up at the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Zags have struggled with their three-point shooting, sitting at just 28.4%—making them the worst three-point shooting team in Mark Few’s tenure. But last night’s game proved that the Bulldogs still have a roster stocked with killers. As a team, Gonzaga went 11-24 from beyond the arc, with Nolan Hickman hitting 3-5 and Ryan Nembhard going 2-3. The backcourt duo of Nembhard and Hickman, along with Dusty Stromer and Khalif Battle, combined for 19 of those 24 attempts and connected on 9 of those 19. After a dismal 2-15 performance against Pepperdine, it was a relief to see the guards back to their bucket-getting ways. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

It’s hard to determine how good the Zags could be if they could find a way to consistently dial it in from outside. What can be certain, though, is that if they can be the #6 offense in the country according to KenPom despite their poor outside shooting, the ceiling for this team might be even higher than the basketball watching world realizes.

Dusty Stromer, Man

When Dusty Stromer actively looks for his shot, the Gonzaga offense clicks. His issue in recent games hasn’t been missing shots, he’s been shooting over 50%—it’s been that he hasn’t been taking enough of them. Last night, Stromer put up a season-high 9 field goal attempts—5 more than his average since the Kentucky game.

He finished with 12 points on 55.6% shooting and continued to display his characteristic lockdown defense on the other side. Stromer looked sharper and more confident than he has all season. He rightfully earned Player of the Game honors and at one point even hit a Portland defender with an icy stare down after finishing through contact at the rim.

Michael Ajayi Rebounds—Kind Of

Ajayi is still struggling offensively. This season he’s averaging just 6 PPG and is 4-27 from deep for the Zags. He hasn’t made a three since November 28, and his shot mechanics have been noticeably off. He clearly has work to do on that front but I refuse to believe it won’t happen at some point this season.

Despite all this, though, Ajayi also snagged 15 rebounds in just 18 minutes against Portland, an absurdly ridiculous stat. It was a season-high for him, rivaled only by his 12-rebound performance against ASU in November and gave credence to Mark Few’s claim that Ajayi is the best pure rebounder he’s ever coached.

Perhaps coming off the bench will take some of the scoring pressure off Ajayi, allowing him to focus more on defense and rebounding. If Ajayi was Michael Jordan last year for the Pepperdine Waves, perhaps this year he could be Dennis Rodman for the Zags (minus all the problematic stuff–I’m mostly just referring to being really good at rebounding and giving 110% effort on every possession).

More Lineup Tinkering

For some reason, the combination of Ajayi and Ike on the floor together has caused some issues for the Zags since the beginning of the season. Despite making up an absolutely punishing frontcourt, the two of them on the floor together often results in a lot of fouls, turnovers, missed shots at the rim, and blown defensive coverages inside. It’s just one of those things—sometimes, great players don’t always make the team better collaboratively.

That said, the pairing of Ike and Gregg in the starting lineup—with Huff and Ajayi coming off the bench—seemed to help things run much more smoothly. Gregg’s outside shooting allows the Zags to space the floor and give Ike room to work with his back to the basket. On the other hand, Huff is quicker and to get to his shot than Ike, and that increased offensive urgency in the low post plays right into Ajayi’s aggressive rebounding and put-back style. One frontcourt combination isn’t necessarily better than the other, but the differences between the Ike/Gregg and Huff/Ajayi pairings were striking—and, honestly, fun to watch.

Nolan Hickman has similarly been getting more minutes at the 1, likely to give Ryan Nembhard a breather while keeping a steady hand at the wheel. In last night’s game, this shifted Khalif Battle to shooting guard and Dusty Stromer to the wing. This lineup makes a lot of sense—Battle has been an off-ball guard for most of his career, and Stromer is finding his rhythm as a reliable outside shooter.

The Nembhard-less lineup offered a totally fresh look for the Zags, with a backcourt stocked with solid outside shooters. Gonzaga has struggled at times to generate consistent points from their high-low screen-and-roll offense carried out with Nembhard and Ike (especially in late game situations), but this new look—while more chaotic—dramatically increased the pace of play in the half court and gave our guards space to shoot in rhythm or attack off the dribble.

Bringing Innocenti in for some additional minutes also helped the Zags defend the basket more consistently. His stats from last night (3 points, 1 rebound in 9 minutes) won’t jump off the page, but his perimeter defense and ability to body up inside were key in preventing Portland from getting clean looks over some of Gonzaga’s smaller guards.

What It Means

The Zags aren’t cured, certainly. One game doesn’t mean the team’s shooting woes or late-game scoring droughts are totally behind them. What remains to be seen is whether this team is able to repeat a performance like this against stiffer competition (Portland isn’t exactly UConn, after all). But, personally, I sometimes forget that rooting for a team is, above all, supposed to be fun. And last night’s matchup with the Pilots was one of the most enjoyable games I’ve watched in over a month.

The goal for the Zags now is to keep moving forward. It may be a case of two steps forward and one step back for a while, but there’s plenty of season left. As Greg Heister wisely noted during last night’s broadcast, the process of getting better as a basketball team is precisely that, a process.

Time now to continue that process against Loyola Marymount on Saturday.