Gonzaga beats Pacific thanks to Graham Ike and hot 3-point shooting in second half

Bulldogs overcame a sloppy first half to pull away from the Tigers in an 82-73 win

Saturday marked another trip down to Stockton, California, to face a Pacific team that proved to be more difficult than advertised for the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Since 2014, Gonzaga had either led by single digits, was tied or trailed at halftime in seven of nine games inside the Alex G. Spanos Center. In fact, 2019 was the last time the Bulldogs led the Tigers after 20 minutes of play. Still, Gonzaga prevailed in all of those previous matchups against outmatched Pacific squads, usually behind a strong second-half performance. 

That trend continued Saturday, as the Bulldogs (15-5, 6-1 WCC) found themselves in a back-and-forth battle with the Tigers (6-16, 0-7 WCC) who had just come off a loss in which they scored 28 points at Saint Mary's. Leonard Perry's program swiftly moved on from that 48-point loss to give Gonzaga everything it had despite a clear size and skill mismatch.

After leading 35-34 at the break, the Tigers withstood the Bulldogs' 12-2 scoring run in the second half to take a 54-53 lead with under nine minutes remaining. Pacific dared Gonzaga to settle for 3-pointers after a 2-for-11 showing from deep in the first half, though the gamble backfired as the Bulldogs went 6-for-11 from downtown while facing the Tigers' 2-3 zone defense. Along with a more impactful second half from Graham Ike, who was limited to four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Gonzaga opened up a 13-point lead with 2:10 left before ultimately emerging with its 20th consecutive win over Pacific.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

GONZAGA'S STARS IN FOUL TROUBLE

It's hard for a team to get into a rhythm on both ends of the floor when its talented post scorer and versatile two-way player both have to sit on the bench due to foul trouble. That's been a common theme over the last few games for Gonzaga, as Ike and Watson had to watch from the sidelines for extended stretches in the first and second half on Saturday after both were whistled early.

Credit to the Tigers for never shying away from contact in the paint. Strong drives to the rim from Cam Denson and Donovan Williams put a lot of foul pressure on Gonzaga's bigs despite an evident mismatch in size, while Moe Odum and Tyler Beard were a lot to handle for Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard, the latter of whom fouled out with 1:59 left in the second half.

But in the case of Ike, both of his fouls early in the first half came on the offensive end. Mark Few didn't put his leading scorer back in after the second whistle came at the 16:09 mark, which meant a lot more time with Ben Gregg and Braden Huff on the floor. Both bigs kept the offense alive as they scored the team's last 10 points before halftime, and it wasn't long before Ike had his way down low in the second half with 18 points.

Still, the Bulldogs collectively struggled to get stops with Watson on the bench for a four-minute stretch in the second half. After the 6-foot-8 forward got his fourth personal foul with 9:34 to go, Pacific went from being down 53-48 to tying it up at 56 apiece moments later after a pair of free throws from Denson. A couple of 3-pointers from Nembhard and Gregg created some separation before Watson checked back in at the 5:08 mark. Gonzaga went from leading 63-58 to 76-63 after Watson forced a turnover from Odum and found Ike for another score with 2:10 remaining.

The lack of Watson and Ike on the floor wasn't as detrimental as it could've been with Gregg having a strong night on both ends of the floor with 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals in 37 minutes. But when foul trouble doesn't come against a team ranked 357th in the NET, it hurts the Bulldogs much worse. 

Ike, who had committed the seventh-most fouls in the WCC entering Saturday, has spent more time on the bench than his coach would probably like to see from his leading scorer. Especially when considering how dominant Ike is when he's on the floor backing down the opposition in the low post and giving the Bulldogs a go-to option as he did against Pacific. He's near-unstoppable when he's not seeing double-teams or committing unnecessary fouls, and Gonzaga is much better off as well.

BULLDOGS GET HOT FROM DEEP

Whether a tactical error on the part of the Tigers or not, the Bulldogs capitalized on a handful of open looks down the stretch against a 2-3 zone defense.

The 6-for-11 showing from deep in the second half was a stark contrast from the 2-for-11 performance in the first half. The Tigers took away a lot of inside-out opportunities from the Bulldogs' offense by sagging into the paint and sitting on entry passes into the post with multiple defenders having a foot in the lane. Without much ball movement going into the paint, Gonzaga's perimeter play was less than sound and relied on a lot of ineffective pick-and-roll sets.

After limiting a lot of opportunities in the man-to-man defense, Perry decided he would try to bait the Bulldogs into shooting more 3-pointers in hopes that the Tigers could take away Ike's presence inside with a 2-3 zone defense. It didn't work. Nembhard punished the soft spot at the top of the arc with a pair of 3-pointers late, the second of which put the Zags up 69-61. Nembhard's response was a few possessions after Gregg drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing that put Gonzaga back in front 59-56.

Pacific was forced to go to a zone defense after Ike had torched them for much of the second half. Outside of 6-foot-10 post Makai Richards, the Tigers did not have the size to match up with Ike down low. Ike scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half.

For the Bulldogs, it was their fourth-straight game with seven or more 3-pointers after they went 8-for-22 on Saturday. The 2-for-20 performance against Santa Clara was the only WCC game in which they didn't knock down at least 33.3% of their attempts. Tuesday against Loyola Marymount should be another challenge, as the Lions allow the second-lowest 3-point field goal percentage to their opponents in WCC play.

DEFENSE NEEDS FINE TUNING

Gonzaga has improved on the defensive end compared to last season, but plenty of opponents have been able to exploit some of the bigs in pick-and-roll scenarios with hard drives and passes out to open shooters or finishes at the rim. Odum and the Tigers were able to replicate that game plan to a degree, while also taking advantage of some mental lapses that have plagued the Bulldogs in different moments throughout the season.

According to Bart Torvik, the Bulldogs had their worst defensive performance of the season from an adjusted efficiency standpoint in a game in which they faced the 327th-ranked offense in the country. A team that had shot 20.0% from the field and managed just 28 total points in a 48-point loss quickly turned around and had its third-best night offensively in terms of efficiency against the league's second-best scoring defense. Credit to the Tigers for putting the past behind them, but for the Bulldogs, the effort defensively was not up to par aside from the plus-14 margin on the glass.

That won't fly against Saint Mary's or any offense in the top half of the WCC.  

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