It was not the best attempt, but it is the standard that the Gonzaga Bulldogs have set for themselves this season that a 95-70 victory over the Pepperdine Waves as a subtle outing for the no. 1-team in the country felt.
Gonzaga’s Big Four produced 80 of the team’s 95 points. Corey Kispert led all scorers with 23 points and 8 rebounds, while Drew Timme (20 points, 7 rebounds), Joel Ayayi (19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals) and Jalen Suggs (18 points) each took over at different points. the night to help the Zags put this game away.
Gonzaga did not look like the country’s best offense in the first minutes of the match. Based on the action on the floor, it looked like Gonzaga, and not Pepperdine, was the team that played its first game in 23 days.
The beautiful free-flowing basketball we saw during this season was a bit slow to get out of the gates. Luckily for Gonzaga, the Waves could not take advantage of the slow start of their host as they only conceded three goals in the first seven minutes of the game.
Whether it was Pepperdine’s defense (it was not) or that the Zags just hit themselves with a rough basketball (it was), there was not much to like during the first half. Both teams slaughtered many incessant offensive possessions that hurt my eyes. It’s not uncommon for the waves, which suffered ugly losses before their COVID outage, but it’s scary to see it from Gonzaga simply because of how rarely it happens.
Even with Pepperdine’s Colbey Ross (9 points on 2-10 FG, 7 assists and 6 turnovers) on the bench for a few minutes to close out the first half, thanks to foul problems, Gonzaga was unable to scrape together a run for meaningful separation to get. Outside of Ayayi (14 points, 4 steals) it was a first half to forget about Gonzaga as they took a 43-39 lead in the half with the margin narrowed thanks to a buzz that three from Perylian Darryl Polk Jr. . allowed to run freely on the floor in the last seconds to get up a clean shot.
The start of the second half contained some promising possessions from the Zags, as it sparked the execution and finishing of the country’s leading team. Still, Gonzaga could not completely blow up the game and soon it was back to the enigmatic game that characterized the first half – nice plays here and there sprinkled with wandering passes and low percentage shots to kill momentum.
Despite what felt inevitable, the Waves stood much longer than expected and they still put pressure on the Zags to keep the game tight.
Part of Pepperdine’s success in keeping up with Gonzaga was Timme’s success through the first 25 minutes. The second center was in the midst of his worst game of the season before shooting with a circle in the second half of the first circle shots.
Kispert was also a monster during the second half, displaying the shooting prowess from the arc that considered him to be the elite of the university basketball and the NBA draft lottery.
The final leaderboard will make it look like it was another routine win for the Zags, but the Waves fought bravely. Although the dam that is Gonzaga’s offense finally broke on them, they equaled the team at the start of the season that could be the third best team in the conference.
For the Zags, the coaching staff will have a lot of film from this effort to highlight during practice the coming weeks to keep them sharp while playing after tournament.