On the perimeter Pargo, Raivio, and Bouldin did a fantastic job of not only handling, but also attacking UNC’s defensive pressure. After a slow start, in which it appeared the Bulldogs would be run out of Madison Square Garden, Matt Bouldin came in an provided an immediate lift to the team. Using a high on ball screen set that the Zags would run all night to take advantage of a weakness in the UNC defense, Bouldin found Kuso and Heytvelt inside for two easy baskets to get the Bulldogs back in the game. Bouldin continued to pass and handle the ball well all night despite constant pressure from UNC’s athletic guards, and he rediscover his scoring touch which had been absent since the Eastern Washington game, scoring 14 points. Raivio led Gonzaga in scoring with 21, while also pulling down 8 rebounds. Despite a rough stretch late in the second half, Derek was crucial to the victory by scraping out a bunch of rebounds from the guard position, and scoring big buckets during Gonzaga’s run that put them comfortably ahead in the middle of the second half. Finally, Pargo once again showed his unique qualities that the Zag’s have not had in a point guard before. Jeremy was huge tonight, getting into the lane and then using his jumping ability and strength to shoot mid range shots, on his way to 16 points, or drop the ball off to teammates. Gonzaga has not had a physical and hardnosed point guard like Pargo who can really defend and get to the basket, and tonight he showed his competitive nature by leading the team down the stretch when they were reeling and needed someone to step up.

Josh got back to scoring and rebounding the ball as he did against Eastern Washington, however tonight he showed how great he can be because he put up good numbers against two potential All-Americans inside for UNC. Going into the game the match up between Heytvelt and Hansbrough was the one of the major keys because of how consistently Hansbrough has dominated games in his college career. Tonight Josh dominated UNC’s All-American on both ends of the floor, causing Hansbrough to have one of the worst games of his career. Josh was able to dominate the game by attacking offensively and on the glass, and then by using his length and jumping ability to block two of Hansbrough’s shots and send him a message that things were not going to be easy inside. Josh had help in defending Hansbrough, namely Kuso and Pendo, and the whole team did a nice job of swarming him when he got the ball, but Josh deserves a lot of credit for his effort tonight and hopefully he will start to get some national attention after tonight’s game.

Going into the game against UNC this Zags team still needed to show they had players who were able to compete on the big stage in a starring role, and after tonight there appears to be no question this team is full of true Zags who can get the job done. The team doesn’t have much time to get ready for a very good and hardnosed Butler team in the NIT Final, but so far this team has met every challenge thrown at them and hopefully they will bring the NIT Championship back to Spokane on Friday night.