Similar to the trip to Georgia in 2003 where Gonzaga was hammered by UGA, the Zags came out flat and were never able to recover. Georgia’s size and athleticism were hard for the Bulldogs to handle all night. Georgia pressured Gonzaga into over 20 turnovers, most coming at crucial points which fueled Georgia fast breaks. The turnovers were the main factor that contributed to the Zags loss especially since Gonzaga shot a very high percentage and hit lots of three pointers. Gonzaga’s points-per-shot may have been their highest of the season, given the fact they managed to scored 83 points despite having over 20 turnovers and that they Zags hit over 10 3s. The second downfall for Gonzaga was the team’s lack of defense. So far this year the Zags have been fantastic defensively, especially against perimeter oriented teams. However the Georgia backcourt of Mercer, Stokes and Gains destroyed Gonzaga, combining for well over 60 points. Gonzaga was unable to contain Georgia’s dribble penetration, leading to either lay-ins or open jump shots after Gonzaga was forced to help on the dribble penetration. The Zags also struggled defensively because they let the athletic UGA run in transition and get some easy baskets. The transition baskets Georgia got were a product of the Zags high turnover count and some communication errors defensively in transition. The third prong of Gonzaga’s struggles was their rebounding. For the year this team has been very solid on the glass, but tonight they had very few offensive rebounds, and on the other end of the floor they did a poor job of keeping Georgia off the glass. In a game such as today’s, a great rebounding effort can make up for a bunch of turnovers and poor defense by limiting the opponent to one-shot and getting the Zags extra possessions on offense. Unfortunaley Georgia controlled the glass at both ends of the floor, thereby exasperating Gonzaga’s rough day.

Despite Gonzaga’s problems there were some positives in the game and the Zags were not entirely bad, as they lost by 13 to a very solid Georgia team on the road. Raivio was great again tonight, scoring almost 20 points while being the focus on Georgia’s strong perimeter defense. Pargo carried the Zags early in the game, both by attacking the rim and shooting the ball well from the outside. If Pargo can continue to develop his confidence and shoot well from the outside it will make Gonzaga very difficult to defend because he is already such a strong driver and passer. Mallon and Heytvelt also had some strong moments offensively tonight, Sean attacking the basket and Josh shooting from the outside, but overall the consistency was not there tonight for Gonzaga. Gonzaga’s outside shooting will hopefully open up some more inside scoring chances as the season progresses.

Hopefully Gonzaga can get to New York and get in a few good practices to prepare for Thursday’s showdown against Duke. Expect the Zags to put today’s lackluster performance behind them and come out with much more passion and energy on Thursday. Gonzaga will have to bring their best effort of the year to beat the Blue Devils, who play harder than any other team on a nightly basis and will be looking to make a statement against Gonzaga that they are national title contenders. So far the Zags have responded very well from losses and it would be great if they could do it once again and knock off college basketball’s biggest name over the last decade on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.