Gonzaga’s Adam Miller reacts to tough loss against Saint Mary’s

Gonzaga entered Saturday with an opportunity to claim its first outright West Coast Conference regular season title since 2023 and sweep its dreaded league rival once and for all before heading off to the Pac-12.

Instead, the Bulldogs (28-3, 16-2 WCC) will have to share regular-season bragging rights with Saint Mary's (27-4, 16-2 WCC) once again after Mikey Lewis and the Gaels drilled 16 3-pointers and overwhelmed the Zags down the stretch of a 70-59 final from Moraga, California.

Here's what Adam Miller had to say about Gonzaga's loss after the game.

On the difference between the first and second halves

"I thought we got better shot quality on the offensive end [in the first half], which allowed us to set our defense up a little bit better. Even going into halftime, I was thinking, 'OK, we have the lead, but we gave them a couple of 3s in the first half.' And in the second half, they were already hot, and we just let it bleed out too much in the second half. Our shot quality wasn't as good."

On Gonzaga's shot selection

"I felt like my first two 3s were pretty good, but even my last few, I got other options. I can get downhill. I know I can always get to my floater."

"Make or miss, you got to get back as quickly as possible and try to set up our defense. And then we got to get rebalanced. They got in transition a little bit, and they got a couple possessions back. And then [Mikey] Lewis got hot, and it was just a tough cover. They do a good job of running out the clock and running their stuff with pace, right as we were bleeding. They did a good job of that."

On the demoralizing aspect of the loss

"It's super deflating. It was really, really hot in there. Halfway through second half I could barely breathe. And that doesn't help having to guard 30- plus seconds. I was in there sometimes too, so, I got to do a better job, take accountability and be there for my teammates. This is completely demoralizing."

On not having Jalen Warley on the court

"I would love to have had him out there. He does a lot of things. Obviously, you can see how his presence is missed. I think if we had him out there tonight, it definitely would have been a little bit tougher for him, because he does so many things."

On the mentality going into the WCC tournament

"We light the fire when something like this happens. Got to bounce back, just try to grow from it as a team, individually. A lot of guys are upset. I think it'll really help us. That's my mindset."