Gonzaga walks past Saint Mary’s

The streak of over 85 points is over for Gonzaga. The winning streak continues though, and that’s more important than anything else. In a slog of a competition, the Bulldogs improved to 14-0 with a 73-59 victory over Saint Mary’s, who is now 0-3 at the CMC for the first time in 15 years.

Saint Mary opted to change her starting lineup for this game, putting 6’8 forward Kyle Bowen for first-year goaltender Jabe Mullins in the hopes of adding more length and physicality to slow Gonzaga down. For a little while, it seemed to work. The Gaels played their best 10-minute streak of the season to open the game, giving Gonzaga their first double-digit deficit of the season. Gonzaga was freezing and the Gaels controlled the tempo, hitting four of their top five three pointers.

Saint Mary would cool down quickly. They went 0 for 8 deep in the final 10 minutes of the half and Gonzaga turned that 10 point deficit into a seven point lead in intermission. Aaron Cook was the Bulldogs’ first half star. He went 3 for 3 on the field with some rebounds, a steal and an assist and was able to slow down Tommy Kuhse, who had six quick assists to open the game. Drew Timme led the team with nine points in the first half.

The second half was a real grind. Saint Mary’s just aren’t playing pretty games with this current roster. For Gonzaga’s part, they weren’t very sharp offensively and sometimes tried to force the issue. Fortunately, the Gaels’ offense offered little resistance and the Zags were able to keep them at arm’s length before pulling out in the final eight minutes.

Four Zags finished in double digits: Corey Kispert with 17, Joel Ayayi with 16, and Drew Timme and Jalen Suggs with 14 each. The game looked lousy, but Gonzaga still managed to shoot 55% from the field, while keeping Saint Mary’s at just 35.5%. The most shocking statistic is just six assists for the Bulldogs, tied for their lowest in a game in the past seven seasons.

Gonzaga will return to Spokane and wait a full week to host Pacific next Saturday night. Could they add a midweek non-conference game? Everything is possible in this crazy season. But it can be beneficial to rest a bit and work on some things as the last two games certainly weren’t the sharpest they have been, despite having pretty comfortable margins of victory.

Rare Coach with the perfect quote for this game: