No. 2 Gonzaga aims to reach the 100-point mark for the fifth time in seven games when it visits improving San Diego in a West Coast Conference game on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs (17-2, 6-0 WCC) lead the nation in scoring at 90.8 points per game. They’ve been even more prolific in WCC play, averaging 102.2 per outing. Gonzaga has won its six conference games by an average of 29 points and has won 10 in a row overall.
Even the team’s perceived weakness, 3-point shooting, is on the rise after the Bulldogs made a season-best 18 during Saturday’s 104-72 home win over Portland.
Through the first 10 games of the season, Gonzaga was 32.9 percent (73-for-222) on 3-pointers. But in their the past nine games, the Bulldogs shot 40 percent or better seven times and made 42.6 percent (98-for-230) from behind the arc to raise their season mark to a WCC-leading 37.8 percent.
Some Gonzaga players said they felt insulted that Portland was daring them to take 3-point shots. Gonzaga hoisted a season-high 41 attempts from behind the arc, making 18.
“They were trying to pull some tricks out of their sleeve,” forward Anton Watson told reporters. “I don’t know why because we’ve got shooters on this team all-around. It’s kind of weird playing against that.”
Guard Andrew Nembhard (game-high 22 points) and big man Chet Holmgren (12 points) each made four 3-pointers against Portland. Eight players hit at least one.
“They were readily available,” Bulldogs coach Mark Few said. “They picked their poison, I guess, and chose not to guard us. This is a good shooting team. At the end of the day, we had 104 points. It’s all good, just different.”
The approach could be interesting against San Diego, which allows opponents to make just 29.5 percent of their 3-point attempts. That’s third-best in the WCC, just behind BYU (29.1) and San Francisco (29.2).
The Toreros (13-9, 6-3) are also hot, with six victories in their past eight games. But like most WCC programs, they have struggled against Gonzaga, losing the past 14 games and 47 of the last 50.
However, San Diego comes into this game with a 7-2 home mark and is in third place in the WCC. The Toreros beat Loyola Marymount 69-65 on the road last Saturday. It was their seventh consecutive game decided by eight or fewer points; they’ve won five of them.
“I think we’re an older group of guys who have experience under their belt,” fifth-year senior guard Joey Calcaterra told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “That’s what helps us win these close games. Stay patient, come on the last couple of minutes. That allows us to pull out most of these games that come down to the end.”
Calcaterra scored a team-high 16 points against Loyola Marymount for his third straight double-digit outing and seventh in the past nine games. He went scoreless in the other two.
Marcellus Earlington leads San Diego in scoring, averaging 13.5 points per game. Jase Townsend averages 10.7 and Calcaterra is next at 9.3.
San Diego’s last victory over Gonzaga was on Feb. 22, 2014, a 69-66 home win.
The contest is the Bulldogs’ second true road game of the campaign. They drilled Santa Clara 115-83 on Jan. 15 in the first.
–Field Level Media
