Gonzaga faces Sam Stockton, Lewis-Clark State in regular-season dress rehearsal
In many ways, Gonzaga men's basketball head coach Mark Few employed his usual tactics during his team's recent closed-door scrimmage against Baylor in Phoenix.
The No. 11 Zags relied heavily on their starters and operated with a nine-man rotation of mostly veterans in their 81-78 win over the No. 20 Bears. The statistics released Monday indicate that Few was reluctant to experiment much in a close-scoring game against a national contender.
While opponents like Baylor require Gonzaga to bring its A-game, the coaching staff will have more opportunities to test out new players and strategies in Friday's exhibition against Lewis-Clark State. Tipoff is 6 p.m. at McCarthey Athletic Center.
The Zags have scrimmaged the Warriors twice since the 2019-20 season, winning both matchups by an average margin of 52.5 points. Few played his entire roster during Gonzaga's most recent victory over the Warriors.
An NAIA program from Lewiston, Idaho, Lewis-Clark State competes in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The team finished 14-15 overall and 11-11 in league play last season.
"[The Cascade Collegiate Conference] is a really good level of basketball," said Warriors head coach Austin Johnson during an interview on the Gonzaga Nation podcast. "A lot of regional recruiting, ... but it's scholarship basketball, so you have to be pretty good to play at LC State, to play in our league."
Johnson brought back three of the team's top four scorers from last season, including sophomore guard Davian Brown, who led the Warriors with 14.8 points per game. Brown scored at least 20 points in nine games while shooting a team-best 40% on 3-pointers in 2022-23.
Brown finished with 11 points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in Lewis-Clark State's exhibition against No. 12 Arizona on Oct. 20. The Warriors lost 110-70 to the Wildcats in Tucson, Arizona.
Matching Brown as the Warriors' leading scorer was freshman guard MaCarhy Morris, who ended the scrimmage with 11 points, five rebounds and two assists. Morris is one of eight newcomers on this year's squad.
"We got a good mix of returners and new guys," Johnson said. "We played Arizona about 10 days ago so, in some ways, we're in a decent spot. In some ways, it's still really early on — we're still figuring a lot of stuff out."
One name that will sound familiar to Gonzaga fans is Sam Stockton. The senior guard at Lewis-Clark State is the son of NBA Hall of Famer and former Bulldog John Stockton.
Sam Stockton scrimmaged against his father's alma mater in 2021-22, registering two points, two rebounds and five assists in a 112-62 loss to the Zags. He attended Gonzaga Prep with Anton Watson.
"Sam is awesome," Johnson said. "I think has been one of the best teammates, culture guys in his four years here."
Stockton and the rest of the program's guards will be tasked with slowing down Gonzaga's backcourt duo of Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman. The two junior guards combined for 29 points, nine assists, nine rebounds and six steals in their scrimmage against Baylor.
Lewis-Clark State may also struggle to match up with Gonzaga's size in the frontcourt. Without a player taller than 6-foot-9 forward Anthony Peoples Jr., the team will likely have their hands full containing the Zags, who outrebounded the Warriors 57-28 in 2021.
Regardless of Friday's result, Johnson expects his team to put up a fight and challenge Gonzaga to improve in certain areas.
"When we go play there, we try to make them have to figure some stuff out on their end," Johnson said. "We're not just happy to be there. We're going to really compete and try to get better at what we're doing."
Gonzaga opens the regular season with home games against Yale on Nov. 10 and Eastern Oregon on Nov. 14, before traveling to Hawai'i for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational from Nov. 20-22.
