Last Thursday, the Gonzaga Bulldogs rolled into Santa Clara and bucked the Broncos off their horse, 82-45. The Zags then followed up that thrashing by a nearly 20 point road win over the Dons, 73-54. For their efforts, the AP Voters rewarded (?) Gonzaga by dropping them two spots in the latest polls to No. 19.
This is a team that leads the country in wins and has two losses, on the road to a ranked Washington State and at a neutral site to a ranked Louisville squad. Lest you think that the Zags are just doing what WCC teams do which is only beat cupcakes, Gonzaga absolutely trounced No. 3 Stanford in Spokane, 96-78.
Gonzaga has made runs in the NCAA Tournament before. But, in general, the seedings have been in the double-digits and those Sweet 16 appearances were just more in the lore of the inherit scrappiness that is Gonzaga in March. This season, Gonzaga very well can have an expectation of the second weekend, if not further, and much of that has to do with the performance of Yvonne Ejim, who is arguably having the best season of a Gonzaga Bulldog not named Courtney Vandersloot.
The senior forward has been an absolute monster in the post this season, averaging 20.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game off an absurd eFG% of 65.1. She is fifth in the nation in Win Shares at 5.8, sixth in Offensive Box +/- at 13.6, seventh in ORtg at 132.0, fourth in PER at 45.7, and the list of national rankings can just go on forever.
Ejim is the first Gonzaga women’s player to average 20 points per game since Heather Bowman in the 2007-08 season. Incorporating the men’s side into it, she joins the likes of such revered scorers as Drew Timme, Kyle Wiltjer, Adam Morrison, and Dan Dickau as only the players to have done so in a Gonzaga uniform in the past 20+ years.
When you look at Ejim’s contributions this season and where those stats are placing her amongst the rest of the nation, it is in the elite level category: the Cameron Brink, Caitlin Clark, and Paige Bueckers of college hoops.
Of course, there is plenty more going right for the Zags than just Ejim’s stellar performance, but as she has more than stepped into the spotlight this season, big games from Ejim will send this team deeper and deeper into the tournament. She is effectively the center of an opponent’s game plan now–and if their is no game plan for how to contain her, consider it a Gonzaga win.
And there is no reason to not tune in. All of the women’s games are at minimum on ESPN+ and Ejim’s contributions this year are getting noticed on the national level as well. She is appearing in WNBA 2024 Mock Drafts and is the player to beat in the 2024 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award.
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