Klay Thompson and the Washington St. Cougars made Gonzaga look like... well like a team from a bottom tier conference. I have not seen the Cougs play that well since the 2nd round win against Notre Dame in 2007. They were hitting open shots, playing team defense, and looked like a team that will make some noise in the pac-10 this year. They led from start to finish and the game was never in doubt the last 12 minutes.
The Cougs starting the game in the 2-3 zone took me by surprise but with the length that Gonzaga has in the front court I can see why. You could tell right away that the Cougs were going to play hard, and you didnt get that sense from Gonzaga. When the first tv timeout came and Gonzaga hadn't scored a bucket I thought they were going to be in trouble. What I did not think was that they would have more turnovers than field goals made. This is a recipe for disaster.
The Cougs led 25-6 after some clutch shooting by Patrick Simon and then Gonzaga started to creep back. I think most Cougar fans were feeling like this was a repeat of last years game, especially when Gonzaga came all the way back and only trailed by six at halftime.
Now I do not know what Ken Bone said in the locker room at halftime but he could not have been pleased with the last five minutes of basketball his team played. The Cougs came out in the 2nd half and started attacking the rim. Led by Klay Thompson, who hit only one bucket in the first half, he drove to the rim and scored on his first three shots in the 2nd. Then he got hot. The driving to the bucket got him some room on the 3 point line and he took advantage. Klay drilled 3 three-pointers and the game was out of reach.
MVP: Well it has to be Klay Thompson right. 24 pts 7 stls 6 rebounds 6 assists and not one shoulder drop. That is one of the best college stat lines you will see this year my friends, and I think it was the best game of Klay's career. Hopefully he can build off of this and continue to mature like he said, because if this team plays like that all year they will be a force.
How did I do on my 5 keys?
Rebounding: Advantage Gonzaga and a pretty big one too at 36-25 (0-1)
Free throws: Again Advantage Gonzaga hitting 81% and the Cougs only hitting 58% (0-2)
#2 scorer for Gonzaga: Well the only one in double figures was Sam Dower, so they didn't have a number 2 scorer so I'm counting it. (1-3)
Reggie Moore's first start: 8 pt 3 assists 2 rebounds a couple of wicked crossovers on David Stockton. I consider it a success. (2-4)
How will Klay respond: I think he responded pretty well (3-5)
So what was the biggest difference in the game.
Turnovers.
Gonzaga had a whopping 24 turnovers, which isn't going to win against pretty much anyone, especially when your opponent only has nine. Gonzaga was very sloppy with the basketball and everytime one of their bigs brought the ball down, which seemed like every play by the way, there was a Coug to slap it out of his hands. If I'm Mark Few I'm telling Sacre and Olynik to not drop the ball below their head if they have it in the paint!!
While I am very impressed with the Cougs, I can't help but be worried about the Bulldogs. I know Mark Few likes tough schedules, but this is borderline ridiculous as they still have Baylor, Wake Forest, Xavier, and Notre Dame. Right now they are 4-4 and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see them with a losing record going into conference play. While this team has a lot of length they are not tough at all, and it worries me to see that. Mark Few teams have more success when they have less talent, and this is a very talented team that doesn't have a lot of work ethic. They kind of remind me of the Huskies, but with a lot less talent. That isn't a good combination.
As for my prediction I was only two points off on the Cougs score and I correctly picked the winner, so for that I am saying it was a success and I am 1-0.
Game for 12-9: The game I am going to blog about tomorrow is probably going to be Butler-Xavier, a rematch of a thrilling game last year that I don't think anyone quite knows still how the game ended.
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