Zags Need To Step It Up
With a close win Saturday night at Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga now looks ahead at two conference foes in the upcoming week. With St. Mary’s sitting atop the conference with a 5-0 record, the Zags need a win in both Thursday, and Saturday nights games to stay close.
Gonzaga is currently ranked #21 in the country, and going into the week ahead with an overall record of 13-3, and a conference record of 3-1, it is important to get a sweep out of the two California schools traveling to Spokane this week.
The Week Ahead (All records are prior to Saturday’s games.)
San Francisco
Fresh off a win against Pepperdine, the Dons come into Spokane with a record of 11-8 (1-4) to square off against the Zags.
If Gonzaga wants to remain a force to be reckoned with in the WCC, they will need to shut down the shot of leading Dons scorer Angelo Caloiaro.
The Dons conference record may be a little over shadowed at first glance, with wins against some decent Big Sky, and WAC opponents in pre-season, they are definitely a team to not be taken too easily.
Gonzaga will definitely need to rely on the shooting abilities of both Kevin Pangos
San Diego
On Saturday, San Diego visits Spokane to face off with Gonzaga. The Toreros, with a current record of 6-10 (1-3) are led by leading scorer Johnny Dee with 15.2 points per game.
San Diego are coming off a win against Santa Clara in their last game. The Toreros started off fast against the Broncos, developing a crucial 12 point lead going into the halftime break.
That lead proved to be enough as they held on to win by a score of 75-62.
Gonzaga
Gonzaga will definitely need to rely on the shooting abilities of both Kevin Pangos and Sam Dower to win both of these upcoming games.
Shooting percentage will most likely play a factor in both of next weeks games.
Coach Mark Few will be expecting another bounce back game on Thursday night. The Zags haven’t seen the kind of dismantling that St. Marys put on them last week in the thirteen years that Mark Few has been the coach at Gonzaga.
Gonzaga, like their other in-state NCAA basketball rivals, has enjoyed a certain amount of success over the last decade.
Losing by double digits is something not to be expected in Spokane, and Coach Few will have his team ready to start another winning streak Thursday evening.
About Clinton Bell
