No. 6 Gonzaga looks to bounce back against Pacific Tigers: Preview

No team in college basketball is immune to an off night, especially in an upset-riddled season that really doesn’t feature a clear-cut favorite to win the national title.

It appeared as if No. 6 Gonzaga, after battling through the one of most challenging nonconference slates in the country, had a chance to go unscathed in conference play and build its resume as one of the top teams in the country. It wouldn’t be easy, though, and a few close calls to start West Coast Conference play proved that.

The Zags (16-4, 5-1 WCC) escaped the jaws of defeat three times on their road trip through San Francisco, Santa Clara and BYU. But on Thursday, their late-game magic ran out against a physical Loyola Marymount Lions, whose relentless attack on the glass was too much to handle in the 68-67 defeat at home.

A new slate for Gonzaga begins on Saturday in Stockton, California, against another bruising opponent in the Pacific Tigers (10-11, 6-3 WCC).

A 3-1 start to conference play was followed by back-to-back losses to San Francisco and Santa Clara in which the Tigers allowed over 50% shooting from the floor and 40% from deep on average between the two defeats. Like the Zags, rebounding was an issue for Pacific in both outings as well.

Stopping the opposition hasn’t come easy for the 269th-ranked KenPom defense that is second-to-last in field goal percentage and has the worst rebounding margin in the WCC.

While Gonzaga’s offense has a chance to get back on track, the defense will look to slow down 6-foot-8 wing Keylan Boone.

Boone, who transferred from Oklahoma State in search of a bigger role, was sidelined for six games with a shoulder injury. Since his return though, he leads the Tigers in scoring (11.7) and rebounds (4.5) while shooting a career-best 36.4% from deep.

Though he was held scoreless for the first time in his career against the Dons, Boone is an offensive threat on any given night. He earned WCC Player of the Week honors after dropping 19 points against BYU and a career-high 27 points on five 3-pointers versus San Diego.

The Tigers also boast one of the best sharpshooters in redshirt senior Luke Avdalovic, whose 56.8% clip from the deep tops the WCC even after a 0-for-2 night against the Dons last time out. He’s knocked down at least five 3-pointers on three separate occasions this season.

Defending the outside shot hasn’t been a strong suit of the Zags during conference play, as they’ve allowed the third-highest mark in the league at 40.5% in the last six games. It’ll be interesting to watch them take on a Tigers squad that hasn’t shot the ball as well as they did in the early parts of the season.

On offense, the constant double-teams and pressure Drew Timme has faced on a nightly basis has put more responsibility on the rest of the cast to step up when needed. Nolan Hickman and Rasir Bolton provided a spark on both ends of the floor in the first half against LMU, yet the Zags found themselves in too deep of a hole once the offense sputtered midway through the half.

As more teams focus on slowing Timme down, it’ll be up to the guards to control the tempo and take care of the ball, two areas Gonzaga has done well as of late. Hickman’s smart decision-making has him boasting the WCC’s best turnover-to-assist ratio at 2.35.

The opportunity for the Zags to get back on track lies ahead as they’ll square off against the Tigers at 7 p.m.

Prediction: Zags 80, Pacific 64