Gonzaga defeats 87-82 victory over West Virginia

The top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs went through a whirlwind of emotions against West Virginia on Wednesday night, which seems to happen every time these two teams face off. With a few rosters filled with stars, it was Florida transfer Andrew Nembhard who had his breakout match in a Gonzaga uniform. His contributions in the second half led the Bulldogs to an 87-82 victory.

The first half of that game was quite the opposite of the opener against Kansas. A slow, methodical and laborious first half seemed to lack a lot of energy. West Virginia quickly took the lead as both teams struggled to hit shots from all over the field. Gonzaga locked down defensively, holding the Fighting Huggy Bears scoreless for nearly five minutes and took their first lead of the game. Then a potential disaster struck. Jalen Suggs walked over to the basket and his left leg slipped to the floor, causing him to fall in a pile of pain. He put very little weight on that leg as he stepped off the pitch and eventually into the locker room.

Gonzaga was completely killed on the glass. Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe combined for 17 rebounds in the first half, two short of the entire Bulldogs team. Combine that with a struggling Drew Timme (1 for 9 in the first half) and the Zags saw a 39-34 deficit at the break.

Somehow, Suggs got back into the game at the Under-16 time-out. Even with him limping, Gonzaga immediately threw a 7-0 run to regain the lead. The two teams traded leads several times in the second half before Joel Ayayi worked on the offensive glass. His rebound in the final six minutes gave Gonzaga several second chance points to keep Gonzaga’s advantage. Ayayi finished with a record 21 points, with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

It was never pretty. Suggs pushed his way through the second half. Timme climbed to 17 points. The teams combined to shoot 9 for 33 from depth. Four different players fouled, and Gonzaga didn’t exactly set up a clinic on how to finish the last 30 seconds of the game. But in the end the difference was Nembhard. He was the best player on the floor in the second half and finished with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds. He finished at the rim and distributed the ball brilliantly.

It was like Kispert was relatively calm, but you look at the box score and he racked up 19 points on 6 of 11 shots with five rebounds.

Oumar Ballo had his best performance of the season. He went an impressive 4-for-5 from the foul line and grabbed some rebounds. He looked to be a lot more comfortable, and in a game where Timme struggled and Watson struggled, Ballo took over.

We are now waiting to see if Suggs’ injury persists for any time. He played the last 16 minutes of the game without a break and in the final seconds he had enough rebound to block a shot which is encouraging.

Gonzaga improves to 5-0 against West Virginia and now expects Baylor on Saturday morning. The Zags faced their first adversity of the season with the physicality and rebound of the mountaineers, along with Suggs’ injury and plenty of whistles from the zebras. But they passed the test and are 3-0.