What USF coach Chris Gerlufsen said after two point loss to Gonzaga

Gonzaga got a stop on the final possession to secure a gritty 68-66 win on Saturday over USF

USF Dons guard Legend Smiley (13). | Photo by Myk Crawford

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs picked up a 34th straight win over the San Francisco Dons on Saturday, squeaking by with a final score of 68-66 after Barry Wang's three point attempt in the final seconds just missed.

It was another classic game between these two programs, who have played three games determined by five or less points over the past three seasons.

Gonzaga was once again without big men Graham Ike (ankle) and Braden Huff (knee) and struggled to generate offense thanks to a horrific 3-18 shooting night from beyond the arc, and an even worse 11-22 showing from the free throw line. Still, strong performances from Jalen Warley (19 points, 7-10, four rebounds) Tyon Grant-Foster (15 points, two steals, two blocks) and Davis Fogle (15 points, nine rebounds) as well as strong defense on the interior got it done for Gonzaga.

San Francisco coach Chris Gerlufsen discussed San Francisco's final possession, the team's scorching hot shooting, Warley's impact, and more after the game:

On USF's final possession

"We definitely are going to shoot a three on the last possession. Coming here and having a chance to win in regulation, even if we score a two the odds of winning in overtime are probably drastically smaller than than going for [it in] regulation. It was a little bit of a broken play. We were trying to get [Vukasin] Masic a three on a run behind, because he had just hit two. But at the end of the day, we had two on the ball, and we made a pretty good play throwback to Barry [Wang], and I thought Barry's been shooting incredibly high percentage and that play, for him to have a wing three relatively clean look, our guys say [he] might have got fouled, but I don't know, they're not giving you that in that moment anyway. But I would take that in a moment. I thought it was good when it left his hand and I thought we had a chance to tip the ball in, too. So credit to Gonzaga, I thought they were going to give some fouls. They had some fouls to give. And so they decided just to play it out. But it was a heck of a game. Proud of our team because we could have went the other way, you know, in some of those moments where the game kind of got a haywire."

On USF's strong shooting performance

"We didn't do much in the first half. I give a lot of credit to them. Coach Few is like a chameleon, you know, he figures it out, depending on what his personnel is and being smaller, their whole identity is kind of changed on both sides of the basketball. And they did a really good job of disrupting us with their switching and getting out in the passing lanes and kind of discouraging some of our entries. They had us on our heels in the first half, for sure. Got into the locker room and I thought we made some really good adjustments in terms of what we could do from all offensive standpoint, to try to space them and get into multiple actions. And our guys stepped up and made some shots. I know to win here, we probably said before the game, you got to make between 12 and 14 threes and we got to that number and we had a chance to win on the last possession. So I would have loved to have made 15, that could have been the separator in the game, but credit to our guys for, you know, stepping up."

On preparing for Gonzaga without Huff and Ike

"We had kind of had two different game plans. One if Ike plays, and one if he doesn't, and so we didn't obviously know that until we got over here to the arena, tried to prepare our guys in terms of what it would look like, with the small ball line up. They do a really good job on both sides of the ball, they still got us in the paint without having those two horses inside, and it was a different kind of get into the paint they tried to space us out and get downhill, like they did a good job of drawing some fouls. So it was a different kind of paint distribution than what it normally looks like, but they did a good job with adjusting."

On Jalen Warley's impact

"I'm a huge fan of his. You know, I always try to give credit to the guys that play the game in the way that I would want it to be played, and he's a guy who I'd love to have on my team. For a guy who's not a great shooter, [he] finds a way to impact winning on both sides. He's got a great ability to get downhill and he can rebound and push. He's a good decision maker and a good offense player. He's just a really good basketball player, regardless of what his shooting numbers say, he just really influences and affects a game on both sides of the ball. I'm a fan of his."

On getting Mookie Cook back

"It was great. As you see, Mookie looks the part out there. You know, that's a hard game to come back to when you miss so much time and you're trying to find your rhythm. But I thought he did a good job. He was on a minutes restriction. And so as time goes on, hopefully we continue to get him back into the fold, but he's ultra talented, I love his versatility on both sides of the basketball. It's been good to kind of see some rejuvenation with him, because he wasn't in a great place when we got him. So we'll continue to develop him and you know, he'll be a key piece for us coming down the stretch."