3 takeaways from Gonzaga's narrow home win over San Francisco

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs picked up their third win in a row without both Braden Huff and Graham Ike - but this one was quite a bit tougher than the previous two.

The Zags survived against a very resilient San Francisco squad, winning 68-66 when Barry Wang's final three point attempt fell just off the rim.

Gonzaga (21-1, 9-0) got off to a slow start offensively and an incredible start defensively, as has been the case in every game without Huff and Ike, heading into the first media timeout with a 6-0 lead. Gonzaga's starting five of Braeden Smith, Adam Miller, Emmanuel Innocenti, Jalen Warley, and Ismaila Diagne was nails defensively, but they didn't have a go-to guy to get the ball to on offense - and it showed.

However, Davis Fogle, followed by Mario Saint-Supery, Tyon Grant-Foster, and Steele Venters, coming in provided a jolt of offense - while the team maintained the intensity on the other end of the floor - resulting in a 13-0 lead at the 13:31 mark.

It wasn't until sophomore Tyrone Riley hit a corner three at the 12:40 mark that USF had its first points of the game, with more Dons turnovers (3) than made field goals (1).

Just when the offense looked fully stalled out, Grant-Foster went into takeover mode. Gonzaga had a 14-7 lead before the 6'7 wing scored six points in 43 seconds, putting the Zags up 13 and forcing a San Francisco timeout.

The Dons refused to go away, however, getting within five points multiple times in the second half before USF guard Vukasin Masic buried two threes in the final 80 seconds to make it a one-possession game. However, Gonzaga locked down enough on defense to secure the victory, despite the herculean effort from USF's outside shooters.

Below is a look at three key takeaways from Gonzaga's 34th consecutive win over the Dons:

1. Great defense ... except on the perimeter

The Dons were absolutely scorching hot from the three point line on Saturday night, shooting 14-28 from three and nearly using the outside to take Gonzaga down.

Ryan Beasley, who came into this game shooting 31.1% from three, went a blistering 4-7, while Legend Smiley (5-6) had a career night and Vukasin Masic hit a pair of crucial ones in the final 80 seconds. Gonzaga wasn't giving up a ton of wide open looks, a lot of this was the Dons taking - and making - really tough shots from beyond the arc.

USF may have made this a game thanks to strong outside shooting, but they were pretty awful inside the arc. The Dons shot just 2-10 on two point attempts in the first half, with both those makes coming from Masic. They finished an ugly 8-27 from inside the arc

Gonzaga not only did a great job forcing USF into tough shots at the rim, but they also used active hands on dribble drives to generate a whopping 11 steals - their fourth straight game with 10+ takeaways and tenth on the year. That led Gonzaga to an incredible 17-5 advantage in points off turnovers, because:

2. Gonzaga took excellent care of the basketball

San Francisco is one of the worst teams in college basketball in terms of generating turnovers defensively - and they certainly didn't help themselves in that category on Saturday. The Zags did not have a single turnover in the first half on Saturday, and finished with just seven on the night.

Turnovers became an issue for a five minute stretch midway through the second half, where the Zags coughed it up five times, but otherwise it was an incredibly clean game from the Bulldogs.

It may have been a tough shooting night for Gonzaga in a lot of ways, but taking elite care of the basketball was a major factor in the team's win.

3. Where is the three-ball?

It may seem counterintuitive, but the loss of Huff and Ike has resulted in Gonzaga making fewer shots from three. The big men command so much attention from opposing defenses, and their ability to kick the ball out gives GU's shooters open looks - which just aren't happening in the team's new look offense.

Gonzaga shot 0-9 from three in the first half, with Fogle, Saint-Supery, and Miller all missing a pair while Grant-Foster and Smith went 0-1 each. USF flashed a zone defense but didn't run it much, which is probably a good thing for the Bulldogs.

Smith finally hit a three at the 15:12 mark in the second half to give Gonzaga their first make of the game. They ended up finishing a miserable 3-18 from the perimeter.

The Zags can get by with suffocating defense and strong isolation scoring from Grant-Foster and Fogle, but the lack of contribution from the perimeter - particularly from sharpshooters Steele Venters (0-2) and Miller (0-1) is going to need to change for this team to have a well rounded enough offense to make a deep run in March.

Gonzaga has a week off to recover - and hopefully get Ike healthy - before hosting the Gaels of Saint Mary's on Saturday, Jan. 31. The game tips at 7:30 PM PT and will be broadcast on ESPN.

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

Add us as a preferred source on Google