People are going to bitch and moan that the Zags lost this game because of the Senior Night lineup featuring Joe Few that stayed on the court too long. It is true, Mark Few should’ve inserted the proper rotation when Ben Gregg picked up his foul one minute in and the Zags down 4-0 instead of waiting for the Zags to be down 9-0, but it is what it is.
However, it is hard to cite the very beginning of a game as the main reason the Zags lost, considering that they were able to tie the game later. It definitely contributed, no doubt about that, but larger reasons why the Zags lost the game are the exact same reasons Gonzaga has kept losing games this season. Let’s get into it.
1) Gonzaga was 4-for-14 from three tonight. I would argue that this point matters more than Joe Few in the starting lineup.
2) Saint Mary’s was 8-of-19 from three. While Dave Flemmings and Sean Farham were busy performing announcer fellatio on Mikey Lewis (5 of 7 overall, 3 of 4 in the second half), what they ignored is the other thing that has seemingly plagued Gonzaga all season in big losses: LEAVING GUYS WHO SHOOT THE THREE WELL COMPLETELY HECKING WIDE OPEN SO THEY SHOOT THE THREE EVEN BETTER. Sure, Lewis is a good basketball player. The Gonzaga defense made him look great tonight.
3) That critical stretch came with Gonzaga trailing by one points. Saint Mary’s following two possessions were a Lewis three (with an and-one added just for pleasure) and a Luke Barrett three that made it an eight-point game in the time span of roughly 30 minutes. These critical errors down the stretch during crunch time is what we have seen over and over and over again this season.
4) I hate to make it all negative so let’s go with a positive: Emmanuel Innocenti’s defense on Augustus Marciulionis was an absolute masterclass. I am so glad he has gotten a run this season and cannot wait for him to get even more minutes next year.
5) Mitchell Saxan’s three-point attempt was probably the worst field goal attempt I’ve seen in all of college basketball this season. It looked like it fell multiple feet short of the rim.
6) Ok enough with the positive, lets get back into the negative. Gonzaga lost this game for the same reason they keep losing games the entire season: Poor play down the stretch in which they struggle on the offensive end and make critical errors on the defensive end.
7) The analytics are high on Gonzaga but literally that doesn’t mean anything at all when the team has zero wins to show for it. I keep wanting to think that this team is theoretically dangerous for March, and maybe they are depending on the draw. But it just really increasingly looks like with each frustrating loss in a tight game that this team will be the first Gonzaga team in quite some time to lose in the First Round.
8) If you want to blame the loss solely on Joe Few. Be my guest. Just know that is the easy way out.