In the first half Gonzaga showed their ability to score the ball, led by double digit points from Derek Raivio and Josh Heytvelt, and the passing of Jeremy Pargo. There was a great deal of concern coming into the year on how the Bulldogs would replace the offense lost when JP Batista and Morrison moved on, but so far this year the scoring has not been a problem, as they are averaging over 80 points a game and have yet to be held under 71 on the year. Josh and Derek have become a very potent one-two punch, with Derek doing his damage from the outside and at the free throw (4-6 on 3s and 6-6 on free throws tonight), while Josh scores from all over the floor using his vast skill set and athletic ability. More so than last year’s team, Derek and Josh are getting a great deal of support in scoring from their teammates. As mentioned earlier, Pargo continued his excellence, scoring in double figures and handing out 6 assists with no turnovers. Pargo has become a very solid point guard for Gonzaga on both ends of the floor and as his confidence and skills grow he could very well develop into the next great Bulldog point guard.

At the defensive end of the floor the Zags remain impressive, holding Idaho to 51 points on 38% shooting, while forcing 16 turnovers against a team that is very guard oriented and tried to run some clock to limit the game’s possessions. Gonzaga’s defensive effort is spearheaded by Pargo and PMAC, both who have become very good perimeter on ball defenders, as they demonstrated by holding the Vandals starting backcourt to 9-27 shooting and 7 turnovers. Raivio is also a vastly improved defender who gets a bunch of deflections and has done a nice a job of keeping his man from getting to the basket for the most part. Behind the good perimeter defense are a group of big guys who do a very nice job of help defense and taking charges. Pendo, Mallon, Kuso and Heytvelt have been clogging the lane and have taken numerous charges, probably more than the whole team drew all last year already, and they also get an occasional block shot from Kuso and Josh, another aspect which last year’s squad lacked. The solid defense has not only held opponents’ offensive down, but it has also created deflections and turnovers, which have helped the Zags get easy buckets in transition.

After 7 games the main issue with Gonzaga is their lack of execution in the half court on the offensive end. While the team has scored very well and shot a high percentage, most of this team’s offense has been off of transition or dribble penetration, which are the Zags’ strengths this year. However Gonzaga must improve their execution in order to be league champions and make a deep post season run because at some point in key games they are going to be forced to get shots in the half court to win big ball games. At this point in time the Zags are a sub par screening team and their spacing is poor, especially in the flex offense. The combination of bad spacing and screening makes it hard for the team to get open shots, both inside and on the perimeter, which was the case in the Butler game and at times in the second half of tonight’s game. It is a long season and with time the team should improve their half court sets, but currently it is the most glaring weakness in this ball club.