Gonzaga's Mark Few after win at LMU: 'We weathered a serious storm'
The Gonzaga Bulldogs withstood quite the fight from Will Johnston and the Loyola Marymount Lions on Thursday night.
The 6-foot-3 guard could not be stopped during his 33-point night that fueled an under-manned Lions squad that only had six scholarship players available due to injuries. Despite that, LMU leaned on Johnston's hot night to stay close with the Bulldogs throughout, as he nailed seven 3-pointers and drilled multiple difficult jumpers.
Leading 72-71, Gonzaga amped up its defensive intensity down the stretch to ignite a 19-3 scoring run over the final 7:35 in the second half. Anton Watson, who finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, had two big-time blocks while Ryan Nembhard (16 points, 11 assists) had a few steals late to generate easy offense as the Bulldogs scored 23 points off 12 turnovers from the Lions.
Graham Ike led with 23 points, Nolan Hickman added 22 and Gonzaga (19-6, 9-2 WCC) left Southern California with a critical road victory.
Here's what Mark Few said to the media after Gonzaga's win:
On the impact Gonzaga's defensive effort had in the second half:
"That was the difference. We strung together some stops at two different points there in the second half and that's what did it. Obviously, we ran into a hot shooter and [Will Johnston] was feeling it and we had a bunch of different guys on him and he was torching all of them. So we weathered a serious storm and got out of here with a win so that's all that matters."
On the improvement from the first to the second half defensively:
"I felt like our ball pressure was a lot better, we got after them much, much better and we were way more proactive instead of reactive. We just did a much better job of being connected. We missed several of our assignments on switches and [LMU] runs some good stuff. And again, once you get going like that, you got a tiger by the tail."
On Johnston's big night:
"I've watched film on him, he's a good player. I told our guys; off the dribble, shooting 3s, and he has a nice stepback and I don't think we were as quite dialed into the report and the plan as were in Spokane. But we did flip the switch and got after him. He hit shots, man. He hit a bunch of tough shots and a bunch of tough contested pull-ups, so he deserves a lot of credit. They weren't all easy though."
On the importance of coming out strong after a win at Kentucky:
"I talked in length about this game, so listen, they knew that this was going to be hard-fought, regardless [of LMU's injuries], they still had some of their best players out there. ... Those guards are something. So we talked in length about hey, everything is still in front of us, of what we want to accomplish this season and obviously in the middle of February and you're still playing for something. So our intensity needs to show that."
