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- After scoring zero points in the loss to Santa Clara, Khalif Battle was benched against Portland, another game in which he scored zero points. The message from the benching was received. Battle was on absolute fire this game, especially in the first half with 19 points of his 23 points. He was aggressive to the hoop, making 12 of 13 from the charity stripe. For my money, this is the Battle that the Zags need–a player relentlessly putting pressure at the rim, not someone roaming the three-point line for a shot.
- Emmanuel Innocenti earned the start for the second game in a row and personally I do think this is the right call. He is the best defender on the squad and the Zags offense is good enough with the four other starters Graham Ike, Ben Gregg, Nolan Hickman, and Ryan Nembhard to offset his more limited offensive production. The defense is what needs the boost right now, not the offense.
- Michael Ajayi followed up that Portland game with another strong effort, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds. A couple of important takeaways as well: He went 2-for-3 from three and he was aggressively hunting his shot. Ajayi has a unique build and size in his ability to put the ball on the floor and bang around. So far, we haven’t seen him do too much of that this season. Last night, Ajayi was aggressive, and if he is, the offense is that much more potent.
- We really need to continue our nightly shout outs to Graham Ike, who finished with 22 points off 10-12 shooting in just 20 minutes. Since his disappearing act against UConn, Ike has been an absolute force in the post, averaging nearly 20 points a game, and largely doing so with ruthless efficiency.
- Gonzaga probably played its best first half since Indiana in late November, taking a 50-30 point lead at halftime. The Zags had an absurd 1.563 PPP on offense and held Oregon State to 0.968 PPP. The defense was energetic and largely on point. A couple of missed rotations, sure, those will happen. But otherwise, this was on all accounts a better showing than what we saw in Corvalis.
- It is only two games since bottoming out against Santa Clara, but last night’s win and the win over Portland is exactly what we needed to see from the Zags as they head to Moraga this Saturday. Portland is trash so we expected the beat down. Oregon State is a good team, so a 38-point beat down is oh so sweet.