Throughout the season Gonzaga has been able to rely on solid rebounding and defense, good shooting from the floor, and especially great free throw shooting; however Monday night against the Lions only their defense was up to its usual level. It is understandable that the shooting percentage was not there Monday from the field, as LMU plays very good defense and the Zags were on the road and finishing a long road swing, but it was the free throw shooting that really hurt Gonzaga Monday. Coming into the game the Zags had been shooting nearly 80% from the line and getting close to 20 attempts a game, but Monday night Gonzaga only shot 14 free throws, which usually shows the Zags offense was not attacking the basket enough, but more importantly they only made 50% of their attempts. As mentioned earlier, fatigue was probably a factor in the loss to LMU and poor shooting, especially from the free throw line, is can be a sign of a tired ball club.

Gonzaga played solid on defense and changed up their looks, mixing full court pressure with man-to-man and zone in the half to court to keep the Lions off balance. The Zags did an especially good job inside against the LMU big men, holding the Lion’s three big men, led by all league player Matt Knight, to a combined 21 points. Led by the defense against the LMU post players the Zags were able to hold the Lions to under 40% shooting from the floor and only 67 points. Unfortunately, for as well as the Zags guarded in the painted area, they gave up too many open outside shots to the Lion’s best two shooters and allowed LMU to shoot 53% from the three point line, which is far too high of percentage to allow any team to shoot.

Despite giving up too many uncontested threes the Zags defense was plenty good to win the game Monday, but the rebounding was not at the level it has been most of the year. Coming off one of the best rebounding games of the year the Zags failed to show the same toughness and scrappiness on the glass against the Lions, as the Zags did not have a single player with more than 5 rebounds and they were out rebounded on the night by the Lions. The rebounding deficit on Monday was partly due to the aggressiveness of the Lions who crashed the boards hard, but also partly the Bulldog’s fault, as they did not box out very well and the pursuit of the basketball was below the normal level this team has exhibited throughout the year. While the rebounding hurt the Zags throughout the night, the Lions had 11 offensive rebounds, it was especially evident on the last crucial play of the game, where Pendo forced Knight into a bad shot which he missed, but an LMU guard crashed the glass untouched and was able to tip the rebound back to Knight, forcing the Zags to foul and essentially the ending the Zags chances. Rebounding and defense have been two facets of the game the Zags have been able to count on almost every night, especially in the WCC, but Monday night the rebounding performance was not there and it contributed to the loss.

The below average rebounding and shooting night is not a huge concern, because those have been two things the Bulldogs have had success with all season long, but the other three major flaws in the game from Gonzaga on Monday are becoming trends which are somewhat concerning to this team’s success. Gonzaga was able to cut their turnovers in half from Saturday’s game, but they still committed 14 turnovers in a fairly low possession game. While LMU does play very aggressive defense, especially on the perimeter led by the notoriously quick hands of Damian Martin, many of Gonzaga’s turnovers were careless or because of forced plays. Gonzaga must begin to take better care of the basketball as a unit if they are going to win the WCC and have a chance to advance in the NCAA tournament, but it begins with the guards cutting down on the their turnovers, especially Pargo who continues to force the ball into tough spots which often results in turnovers. Jeremy has been fantastic this year and is a huge reason Gonzaga has enjoyed success to this point in the season, but he must begin to take much better care of the basketball for the Bulldogs to win on a consistent basis. Along with the turnovers another issue Monday was how many fouls Gonzaga committed. The Zags fouled the Lions 23 times, giving LMU 29 free throw attempts. Not only were the amount of fouls a concern, for the style of defense the Zags play they should be around 15 fouls a game, but the type of fouls were very concerning. Gonzaga fouled an LMU jump shooter three times, including twice on three point attempts. One of the basket principles of perimeter defense is not to foul a jump shooter; however the Zags did this three times on Monday and it hurt them badly. Gonzaga needs to continue to contest shots and be aggressive at the defensive end, but they must start to do so without fouling. The third downside to the Zags loss which has been a trend throughout the year is the lack of offensive execution. Against an aggressive defense like the Lions who do a great job limiting one-on-one opportunities it is necessary to use the offense to create shots as a team. However, as has been the case at other times during the year, Duke and WSU were two other similar games, Gonzaga was not crisp enough in their execution in the half court to get open shots, especially down the stretch of the game when they needed baskets. In the past the ability to create team shots through the offense has been a Gonzaga strong point, but at points this year’s team has had difficulty in this area, and in order to win tight games the squad must begin to execute sharply in the half court and allow their offense to get them easy baskets in close games against good defensive teams such as LMU.

There were some good performances on Monday that should not be discounted because of the loss. For the third consecutive game Pendo was offensively aggressive and effective. When David hits mid range jump shots as he has been doing, it opens everything else up for Gonzaga’s top scorers and makes the Zags even more potent offensively. If David can continue to play has he has during the last road trip Gonzaga may have found an important element to its attack for the stretch run. Monday night Josh was not as dominate as he was Saturday, especially on the glass where had only 4 rebounds, but he was assertive and confident on offense. This weekend Josh attacked the basket well and took very high percentage and smart shots, leading to two big scoring performances as he backed up his 27 Saturday with a team high 18 Monday. When Josh asserts himself offensively and attacks the defense he is very hard to guard because of his diverse skill set and athleticism, and hopefully he will play this way to finish the year and give the Zags the inside scoring presence they need. Raivio was solid on Monday, but the best plays of the night for him were three drives in the first half when he attacked the Lions perimeter defenders and got to the basket. Teams have guarded Derek closely to take away his great outside shooting and Monday Derek took advantage of the over aggressive defense a few times early and hopefully his success will give him the confidence to attack the basket more often and score even more consistently. Despite his high turnover count, 6 is way too many for a point guard even when guarded by a defender with very strong active hands like Martin, Pargo once again provided leadership, scoring and assists for the Zags. LMU tried to play off Pargo to keep him out of the paint, but he stepped up and hit 4 three pointers on his way to 16 points and also contributed a team high 5 assists. To this point Jeremy has done a great job getting his teammates in position to score and scoring the ball himself, as well as bringing toughness and leadership, and once he is able to cut down his turnovers he will be the point guard to lead the Zags to a NCAA tournament run.

Monday’s loss was the worse one of the year, dropping the Zags into a tie for first in the league and hurting their seeding in the NCAA tournament, but the good news is Zags are still in the driver’s seat to win the WCC and have enough games remaining to help their tournament seed. Next weekend is the biggest of the year to date for the Bulldogs, look for them to respond from Monday’s disappointment and play with more energy and purpose at home and hopefully pick up two wins on their way to regaining WCC supremacy.