Some more thoughts from Gonzaga’s loss at Saint Mary’s

Once again, the Gonzaga Bulldogs found themselves tantalizingly close to pulling out a win in the big game. Instead, for the seventh time this season, they didn’t, as the Saint Mary’s Gaels held on 62-58.

Some more thoughts from last night:

• Early on in the game it looked like Saint Mary’s was going to absolutely run Gonzaga out of the gym, staking out a 14-point lead that was largely fueled by made threes. Saint Mary’s, for its part, was shooting lights out up to that point (nearly 1.6 points per possession). Gonzaga, for its part, was helping by overcommitting on every double-team penetration into the point and leaving three-point shooters just too open. It is something that has plagued this squad all season and Saint Mary’s absolutely burned them for it early on.
• The fact that Gonzaga went into halftime trailing by just eight points made the game seem a bit more closer than it actually was. That was only possible thanks to Saint Mary’s, a not good free throw shooting team, was abysmal from the line in the first half, going 5-for-15. If Saint Mary’s had even hit their average, Gonzaga would’ve been trailing by 13-14 points at halftime.
• However, credit to Gonzaga, they responded like champions at the start of the second half, switching to a zone defense. For once, it was a pleasure to watch, because the Saint Mary’s offense ground to an absolute stop. It was as if they had never seen a zone defense before. Gonzaga was able to slowly chip away (because that is the only speed one can do against Saint Mary’s) and make it a close game.
• WHICH OF COURSE IS AWFUL NEWS FOR GONZAGA. This Gonzaga team does not like close games, and this one once again fit the bill. Gonzaga, out of timeouts, somehow ended up with a baselines out of bounds pass to Graham Ike who hoisted up a contested three with around five seconds left as its final shot when down two points.
  
  It is hard to figure out why this team panics so much during crunch time or why key turnovers and brainfarts always seem to happen during this time. Honestly, I’m not going to waste too much time in my life thinking about it. It might just be the genetic make-up of this team. For now, we have to live with the fact that Gonzaga is 0-3 in overtime games this season and has lost seven games by an average of around five points.
• Mikey Lewis hit some big shots for Saint Mary’s for sure, finishing with 16 points. He also needed 18 field goal attempts to do that. Listening to Sean Farham and Dave Flemming talk as if he is the next “big” shooter for Saint Mary’s all game was a bit tiring considering he shot 33 percent from the floor.
• The Gonzaga box score is absolutely brutal. Ike – 24 points. Nembhard – 11 points. Huff – seven points. Next up? Gregg, Innocenti, and Hickman with four. Basically the entirety of the team could not get any offense going except for Ike and Huff, who unfortunately cannot be effective on the floor together. The end result is a game that Saint Mary’s is going to win.
• Minus the first 12 minutes or so of the game, this was a rather solid defensive effort from Gonzaga. The basketball season is a season, and seeing the defense improve after hitting rock bottom against Santa Clara is at least a nice thing (he types as he tries to find something positive to say).
• You’ll see people talking about how Gonzaga isn’t going to make the tournament and I’m still not there yet. Sure, the squad is only 2-6 in Quad 1 opportunities, but that isn’t the only metric the committee uses in figuring this out. Gonzaga is still ranked No. 12 in the NET and No. 11 in KenPom. I’m not saying that this team will do anything in the tournament. They might end up being theoretically most dangerous 12 or 13 seed team to face.