In college basketball it is difficult to win on the road, especially in league play, but for Gonzaga road games are even more challenging. Each time the Zags travel they are playing in a sold out gym and are going to receive the home team’s best physical effort and highest level of play. WCC teams are often lucky to fill half their arena, but every time the Zags are in town the building is more than sold out, students who have never been to a game before show up with signs and body paint, and there are lines to get tickets. Not only does the amount of fans create a difficult environment for the Bulldog’s to face, but it also gives the home team even more energy and motivation to take on Gonzaga. Regardless of the atmosphere each league opponent’s goal every year is to beat the Zags, but when it is a home game in front of more than twice as many fans as they average, that motivation to win becomes even greater. It is this type of situation which makes winning on the road even more challenging for Gonzaga than the average college team, and it is important to realize how difficult road victories are to come by for the Zags regardless of their opponent’s talent or record. It is not easy to win when every night is the opponents’ game of the year, in which a single victory would make their entire season a success, yet this is what the Bulldogs have to deal with as the elite program in the conference on a daily basis.

The seniors played a huge role in getting Gonzaga their second road victory and climbing back into first place in the league race. Sean was super efficient against the Pilots’ overmatched big men and Derek provided the outside scoring and clutch free-throw shooting to keep the Pilots at bay. Raivio continues to score the ball very, averaging over 19 points a game is very impressive and an average that compares very favorably with leading Zags scorers from the past, but is being overlooked and not receving due recognition because of Adam’s unbelievable scoring average last year. While Derek has been scoring well from game one, Sean got off to a bit of slow start to the year, but has come on strong lately and has emerged as a scoring and rebounding presence on a nightly basis and appears to be on his way to all-conference honors. It is this type of play which the Bulldog’s program has come to count on from its seniors and both Mallon and Raivio have continued the tradition of excellent play by Zags seniors.

Behind Sean and Derek the Zags received the balanced scoring they need to win games, with all five starters scoring in double figures. Bouldin got back into the starting lineup and scored 10 points, while also pulling down a team high 6 rebounds. Heytvelt continued to put up solid numbers in limited minutes, scoring 14 and grabbing 5 boards in just over 20 minutes, while Pargo continued to provide quiet double digit scoring for the Zags. It is this type of distribution Gonzaga needs from these five players in order to score the amount of points needed to become a championship team and have a chance at success in postseason play.

In its lone game of the week the Bulldogs responded well from a loss and got back into the league race with a road victory. With the next two games at home against teams who have aspirations for finishing near the top of the league, the Bulldogs need two great efforts to continue the nation’s longest home court winning streak and to begin to separate themselves from the rest of the WCC.