Braden Huff was one point shy of tying his career-high 26 points in the 102-72 victory against the Colonels. It was a quiet student-less crowd inside the McCarthey Athletic Center.
No change was made in the starting lineup/rotation with Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Khalif Battle, Michael Ajayi, and Graham Ike getting the starting nod from coach Mark Few for the ninth straight game.
Similar to UConn, it was a slow start out the gate with little energy shown from Gonzaga and they had to play from behind for most of the first half against Nicholls. Sure, the Zags traveled across the country and had no students cheering them on as final exams ended last week.
The Kennel is always not at its loudest during Christmas break, that’s not an excuse for how the Zags were playing to start off this one. Nicholls is no joke, they have been on the cusp of a NCAA Tournament automatic bid out of the Southland Conference for a bit now. Will Wade’s McNeese State is the favorite to win the league but the Colonels did receive three first-place votes before the start of the college basketball season.
Nicholls was active on the defensive end in Spokane tonight, forcing Gonzaga to turn the ball over a total of 15 times due to their 2-3 zone. Props to Byron Ireland for the Colonels (16 points on 7-18 FG/2-7 3PT, 6 assists, 4 steals, 4 turnovers, 3 rebounds ) who was a carbon copy of LMU’s Anthony Ireland from back in the day.
The Zags did end up flipping it to close the first half with a 17-2 run against Nicholls. That turn around dime from Ryan Nembhard to a trailing Michael Ajayi on the fast break is where it really seemed to pivot Gonzaga’s way. Still, far from an ideal first 20 minutes of play from the Zags.
The second half was a lot tougher to watch on ESPN+ with it continued to drop for long period of times. As a past live stream operator for a sports radio station in San Francisco and with the Pac-12 Network, the pain and hustle that is needed to get it back up is felt. Gonzaga did end up shooting the ball much better in the second half while finishing 22-30 from the field (73.3 FG%).
While Graham Ike (20 points on 6-9 FG/1-1 3PT/7-7 FT, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 personal foul) did play a whole lot better than he did inside the Madison Square Garden, that’s not the problem. A truly consistent version of Ike like that was seen during the 2023-24 season hasn’t shown up yet. Hopefully, it will during West Coast Conference play to prepare him for the postseason. One rough game from him can destroy this team’s chances completely.
Nembhard Ike pic.twitter.com/FpRLqtox0K
— Gonzaga Basketball (@ZagMBB) December 19, 2024
The Braden Huff minutes were impactful when he was out on the floor once again. He was just one point shy of tying his career-high in points, finishing with 25 on an efficient 11-12 FG plus six rebounds. The reliability from the sophomore is something not a lot of programs have out of their frontcourt pieces coming off the bench.
Nembard (18 points on 6-9 FG/2-3 3PT/4-4 FT, 10 rebounds but 5 turnovers, 2 steals) is continuing to play at a First Team All-American level. He leads the country in both total assists with 113 as well as with his average of 10.3 assists per game. No one can touch his ability to lead in transition and find his teammates for high percentage looks. With that being said, Nembhard could use some support in the backcourt.
More from Dusty Stromer (10 points on 4-6 FG/2-3 3PT) going forward would be nice as he should be playing 30+ minutes on average for the Zags. His numbers on the season as a whole aren’t eye-popping and that’s because he finds other ways to make winning plays on the defensive side of the floor. That kind of stuff that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet translates over to the opposite end.
#13 Gonzaga moves to 8-3, Nicholls falls to 7-5 on the season. Bucknell is next on the non-conference schedule for the Zags at the McCarthey Athletic Center on Saturday, December 21st at 6 PM PT.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho