No. 16 Zags struggle to turn it around
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 8:37 PM PST
By Nicholas K. Geranios
The Associated Press
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E-mail this articleSPOKANE — A Gonzaga basketball team that once looked like Final Four material is suddenly struggling for a win. After rising to No. 4 earlier, the No. 16 Bulldogs have dropped three of their past four games heading into a New Year’s Eve match at Utah.
Gonzaga (8-3) has lost to Arizona, Connecticut, and Portland State in recent weeks, beating only winless Texas Southern in that span.
Coach Mark Few is not exactly struggling to find the cause.
“If we are not playing with great effort and mental attention, we are not very good, we are an average team,” Few said this week. “We need to show character and bounce back from it.”
The losses at Arizona and to No. 2 Connecticut in Seattle were not all that unexpected. But losing at home to Portland State last weekend was an eye-opener.
The Vikings of the lightly regarded Big Sky Conference became just the third team to beat Gonzaga at home since 2004. They outrebounded the Zags 39-30, held them to 42 percent shooting and made 12 3-pointers for their first win over a Top 25 team.
While acknowledging that Portland State is a good team, Few was critical of his players for giving up 88 points to Connecticut and 77 to Portland State.
“We need to get back defending the way we were defending earlier,” Few said. “We need to rebound the way we were.”
The Zags lack inside depth as sophomore Robert Sacre is sidelined by a broken right foot suffered Dec. 5 in practice. It’s not decided yet if he will need surgery, which would likely sideline him for the rest of the season. Josh Heytvelt and Austin Daye provide most of the inside game for the guard-heavy Zags.
Statistics show the Zags played significantly worse in their three losses. They shot 45 percent from the field in those games, compared to 47 percent for the season. They allowed the three teams that beat them to make 44 percent from the field, considerably better than the 36 percent foes are shooting for the season.
The three teams that beat them shot 47 percent from beyond the arc, well above the 32 percent all opponents are making on the Zags.
After Utah (7-5), the Zags play No. 14 Tennessee (9-2) in Knoxville. They beat the Volunteers earlier this season in the title game of the Old Spice Classic.
Notes: Gonzaga assistant Ray Giacoletti was head coach at Utah for three seasons, posting a 54-40 record. He recruited several players still on the roster. ... Gonzaga senior guard Jeremy Pargo became the 30th player to score 1,000 points as a Zag in the Portland State game. Pargo has 1,004 career points to tie Jeff Condill for 29th on the list. John Rillie is 28th with 1,038. Pargo’s 501 career assists place him fourth in team history, behind Matt Santangelo (668), Blake Stepp (640) and John Stockton (554).
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