Led by 18 points from Derek Raivio and 14 from his backcourt partner PMAC the Zags continued to look impressive at the offensive end of the floor. Raivio did a nice job of finding his mid range jump shot and getting to the free throw line, probably his best offensive weapon, on a night when his three point shot was off the mark. PMAC’s offensive aggressiveness also bodes well for the Zags because he is an offensive talent that can score from long range and by getting to the basket, but just needs to remain assertive at the offensive end in order to help this team. While Josh was held to 13 points tonight, he got both halves started with nice mid range jump shots and his two dunks early in the second half, especially the huge one hand lob dunk off an out of bounds play, seemed to energize both the crowd and team alike, while sending a message to Baylor. Pargo once again did a splendid job pushing the ball in transition and finished strong after drawing contact on his way to contributing 11 points. Overall it was good night scoring the ball for the Zags and great to see so many players make significant contributions.

The major offensive concerns right now are the lack of precise execution, especially against zone defenses and when running the flex offense, and the team’s poor free throw shooting. Once Gonzaga opened up a lead tonight they looked to run flex in order to control the ball and run some clock before getting an easy shot, but it just did not seem the team could get into flex or find great shots out of the offense. Then when Baylor ran zone the team seemed a bit stagnant for long stretches of time. The good news is that Gonzaga’s motion and transition offensive are very solid and thus the team is scoring well and shooting a high percentage.

For the third consecutive game Gonzaga played remarkable defense. Baylor featured four high scoring guards, yet Gonzaga held them to a low shooting percentage, including limiting Aaron Bruce to a 0-12 night. This Gonzaga team appears to be the best defensive team in years and it looks as though this group is starting to make great defense their identity. If the Zags can continue to put up commendable defensive efforts they have a chance to be very successful. Right now both zone and man defenses are working well and the entire team is putting in a great effort, which allows the coaching staff to continue to throw different defensive schemes at the opponent, thus making the Zags very hard to prepare for.

Down the stretch Kuso was huge for the Zags, making all the hustle plays while also scoring some crucial points. Kuso had 8 points and more importantly 7 rebounds, to go along with a key forced travel call against Baylor and a blocked shot. The play of the night though was when Kuso laid out for a lose ball and was able to tip the ball to a teammate, giving Gonzaga the ball back when Baylor was making their run late in the second half. Without this all out effort Baylor would have got the ball, and with the way they were scoring at that point probably cut the Zags lead even further. This enormous play changed the whole dynamic of the game and effectively put the game out of reach for Baylor.

With another remarkable effort tonight, against a physical and athletic Big 12 team, Gonzaga deserves a chance to play in New York next week. The Zags don’t have much time to savor these two victories because of a Sunday night game against the University of Texas San Antonio, a cross country trip, and the amount of practice and improvement the team must have before facing arguably the nation’s most talented team in UNC.