Once again Derek Raivio led the Zags at the offensive end. With the team starting slowly Raivio hit two early 3s to keep the Longhorns from pulling too far ahead, and Derek continued to shoot well from long range in the second half while leading the Zags run that buried Texas. After 9 games there is little doubt that Derek’s offensive game is the best it has ever been and that he is the most prominent outside scorer on this year’s team. For the past year Raivio has been the target of a good deal of criticism and some have questioned his ability to be a go to player for the Zags; however he has responded this year and after nine games hopefully critics, both locally and nationally, will realize what a talent Raivio is. Derek is shooting the ball very well from three, and his free throw shooting is once again among the best in the country. In addition to those two major strengths, Raivio has developed more confidence in his mid range game, and once his mid range shots and floaters start to fall with a bit more consistency, which they have at points this year, Derek could become one of the best perimeter scorers in the college game. Not only is Raivio shooting over 90% from the free throw line and nearly 50% from three, his ball handling is so adept it makes Gonzaga very difficult to press and allows him to hold the ball in order to preserve leads when the opponent must foul. In close games Derek allows the Zags to simply put the ball in his hands and spread the floor, leaving the opponent with little choice but to foul him since they cannot steal the ball thus putting him at the free throw line where he increases the Bulldog’s lead. Not only is Derek scoring well, his average of almost 20 points per game is near that of any Zag except Morrison in recent history, but he is also hitting crucial shots, often helping the team get started or allowing them to increase their lead. At the other end of the floor Raivio has become a much better rebounder and defender, to the point where he is by no means a liability, even against some of the nation’s premier guards. Through nine games Raivio has been very good and hopefully his play today will further quiet his critics and he will get some of the positive attention he deserves for his abilities and importance to the Gonzaga program.

Despite the previous paragraph by no means was today’s victory a one-man effort. Heytvelt, Mallon, and Pendo all played well against Texas’ deep, big and athletic front line. Bouldin came on in the second half and hit two huge 3s during Gonzaga’s big run, and Pargo was huge again in a big game, scoring 18 points and providing the fearless, attacking, and confident mentality needed in big games such as today’s.

Today Gonzaga passed the first of many big December tests by taking it to a talented Texas Longhorns squad which should do very well in the highly competitive Big 12 Conference, especially with freshman Kevin Durant leading the way as he did today. Gonzaga now must prepare for two intense in-state rivalry games in which they will have to play two very different styles, beginning with Tuesday’s game at undeafeated Washington State before hosting nationally ranked University of Washington next Saturday.