Kevin Pangos' Historic Night Pushes Gonzaga Past Pacific

Gonzaga has a reputation of consistently stellar point guard play, dating all the way back to John Stockton. The Zags' current point guard, Kevin Pangos, helped cement his place among the program's greats when he hit the 288th three pointer of his career.

Pangos entered the game sitting at 285 career three pointers, second all-time at Gonzaga behind Blake Stepp (2001-2004).

His first three came on the Zags' third possession of the game. He didn't miss a three until after tying Stepp for first place. Once he claims the record for himself he'll also be higher up on the Zags' all-time scoring list. He currently sits two points behind Jeff Brown with 1,644 career points.

While Pangos was up to his usual business, playing fantastic offensive basketball, his teammates were up to their usual business, playing fantastic offensive basketball.

The Zags shot 60% from the field (67% in the first half) and scored at a blistering rate of 1.42 points per possession. Pangos connected on three shots from downtown, as did Gary Bell Jr., but it was freshman Silas Melson who led the way with four three pointers. Gonzaga hit 11 of 25 from deep.

Pacific actually managed to hold the lead for a brief moment in the early going, which is pretty much the only thing that kept this game from being a complete domination by the Zags.

Dulani Robinson hit a three in the first minute that gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Pangos' first three followed Robinson's, and the Zags ran away with it from there.

Gary Bell Jr. put to rest all fears that the senior shooting guard was in a scoring slump. His shot was falling tonight, especially in the first half as he provided the backcourt scoring to push Gonzaga out to a comfortable lead.

In the paint it was Przemek Karnowski who led the way for the Zags. He led the scoring in the first half with nine points.

Offense wasn't the only story tonight. Gonzaga's defense has been stifling all season long, and Pacific became its latest victim. The Tigers connected on just one-third of their shots from the field, scoring only 0.952 points per possession.

T.J. Wallace cut into a 20 point Gonzaga lead when he hit a lay-up with 4:24 to play in the first half. By the time the Tigers next field goal came, Gonzaga led by 33. That next field goal came ten minutes later. Not just unable to score, the Tigers had a hard time holding on to the ball. Three consecutive turnovers early in the second half led to eight points for the Zags.

The Zags led by as many as 36 points late in the second half.

The final minutes saw a collection of bench players and walk-ons get some game action. Sophomore Connor Griffin, who had shown flashes of exceptional athleticism in his limited minutes this season, finally got the impressive slam dunk he had been looking for all season.

Final: 91-60, Gonzaga.

Gonzaga is off to its best-ever start, with a record of 20-1 (9-0). The Zags have won 20 or more games every season since 1997-98. Pacific falls to 10-11 (2-7).