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Kyle Wiltjer had 18 points in his Gonzaga debut, Byron Wesley added 12 and the freshman, Domantas Sabonis, pitched in 14 off the bench. As a team the Zags shot over 50% from the field and over 40% from three point range. After the early game jitters had passed the Zags rarely led by less than double the Hornets' score.
Mark Few always has his Zags among the nation's elite on the offensive end. This year will be no different, but don't let this result get blown out of proportion. Brian Katz has coached the Hornets for six seasons. Not once have they finished in the top-200 nationally in either two point or three point field goal percentage defense.
Dylan Garrity led the Hornets with 13 points. Cody Demps added 10.
Very little positive can be taken from this game, from the Hornets' perspective, other than they played a full 40 minutes against Gonzaga — well, actually three Hornets fouled out of the game. Consistency came only in the form of scoring droughts and turnover streaks.
Gonzaga's second half numbers fell off a bit, as to be expected in a rout like this, but take a look at these first half stats.
- 22-37 FG
- 6-10 3pt FG
- 13 assists
- 5 turnovers
- 8 steals
- 20 forced turnovers
- 24 points off turnovers
- 1.54 points per possession
- 0.73 points per possession allowed
These numbers aren't to be expected when the Zags play the higher level teams on their upcoming schedule — SMU visits the Kennel on Monday. There are real takeaways from this game, however.
Gonzaga's offense is as sharp as ever and the reserves aren't too far behind the starters. Speaking of the starters, I haven't yet mentioned any of the returning starters from last season, and not because they didn't play at their usual level. One, Kevin Pangos, made his 243rd career three pointer. He's now tied with Derek Raivio for fourth all time at Gonzaga.