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Jan. 3—Gonzaga had just wrapped up a tense overtime win against a physical, experienced, defensive-minded Seattle U team when coach Mark Few provided a glimpse of what's on deck for the seventh-ranked Zags when they resume West Coast Conference play Sunday.
The basic profile of the Loyola Marymount team visiting Spokane for a 6 p.m. (KAYU FOX 28) tipoff at McCarthey Athletic Center?
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Physical. Experienced. Defensive-minded.
"I mean that, just you're going to see a lot of that, right there," Few said, referencing the Seattle U team that narrowly missed out on an upset at the Kennel. "They're hard-nosed, they're tough, they're going to fight us on every screen, every cut, every post-up and we've got to put our body armor back on and be ready to battle again."
The Zags (15-1, 3-0) opened WCC play last Sunday with a 96-56 victory against Pepperdine, but things haven't come easy for Few's team in two games since. Gonzaga returned to the court approximately 48 hours later against San Diego, escaping Jenny Craig Pavilion with a narrow 99-93 victory, then needed overtime to pull out Friday's 80-72 victory against Seattle.
Under sixth-year coach Stan Johnson, the Lions (10-6, 1-2) have accomplished what the Toreros and Redhawks nearly did earlier in the week, beating Gonzaga 68-67 two seasons ago when they snapped the program's 75-game home winning streak. LMU has lost five consecutive games to Gonzaga since, but the Lions should be motivated after Jan Vide missed a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer in a 78-76 loss to Washington State in Pullman on Friday night.
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"We expect that from every team," Gonzaga's Graham Ike said Friday. "We know it's going to be physical, it's going to be a great game. We've got to put our hard hats on and go to work. We can't have a start like we did tonight. We've got to get back to the drawing board, watch some film, see what they do. It's a short time (between games), but we'll be ready and prepared."
To Few's point, the Lions have been stingy on the defensive end this season, ranking fourth in the WCC but No. 66 nationally while allowing 67.9 points per game. LMU only came up with one blocked shot against WSU on Friday, but Johnson's team is No. 39 in the NCAA averaging 4.8 per game.
The Lions have had seven different leading scorers this season, so it shouldn't be surprising that the team's top four scorers are in the same neighborhood averaging between 12.6 and 14.9 ppg. Guard Rodney Brown Jr., a Virginia Tech transfer who started his career at Cal, and returning guard Myron Amey Jr. both average 14.9 ppg while Vide comes in at 14.2 and USC transfer Jalen Shelly at 12.6.
Two days after conceding 12 3's to Seattle, the Zags face an LMU team eager to get shots up from behind the arc. The Lions are shooting 37.3% from the 3-point line, a number that ranks second in the WCC and 49th in the country. Brown Jr. and Amey Jr. are making 41% and 38.5% of their 3-point shots, respectively.
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"They've got some real talented scorers that can spread you out and hurt you from the 3 line," Few said, "but also they've got individual guys that can get their own shot."
With four games in eight days, a big priority for Gonzaga this week has been rest and recovery. That was true before Friday's game, but especially after the Zags played five additional minutes against the Redhawks. After Sunday, Gonzaga will have just one game — against Santa Clara on Thursday — over the next 11 days.
"We talked to them about just getting rest. I mean, this is a lot of games," Few said. "It feels like it's four just boom, boom, boom, boom. So yeah, it's taxing but everybody's doing it so there's no sense in complaining about it."
Five different players have led Gonzaga in scoring this season, but three accounted for 71 of the 80 points on Friday. Braden Huff, who had a game-high 28 against Seattle, has been the only GU player to start in all 16 games. Which four teammates join him in the lineup may be something to monitor in Sunday's game.
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Frontcourt partner Graham Ike was replaced in the starting lineup after his technical foul against San Diego, but the senior responded by posting a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double on Friday and scoring eight straight points late in the second half as the Zags were making their comeback.
Outside of Huff and Ike, Tyon Grant-Foster has been Gonzaga's most effective player during WCC play, averaging 18.3 points, four rebounds and three blocks off the bench. Grant-Foster started in four straight games during nonconference play, but moved back to the bench before GU's game against Kentucky.
Emmanuel Innocenti, who replaced Grant-Foster in the starting lineup, is in the middle of an offensive slump, scoring 20 total points the last eight games. Few hasn't been shy about shuffling the starting unit this season and used his seventh different lineup on Friday.
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