The unreal offensive numbers behind Gonzaga’s first unbeaten regular season

With their 86-69 victory over Loyola Marymount on Saturday night, the Gonzaga men’s basketball team ended their first undefeated regular season – and became the first Division I team to enter their undefeated conference tournament from Kentucky in 2015.

Although this season has been fraught with uncertainty due to COVID-19 – namely shortened non-conference schedules, multi-week breaks for teams across the country and more than 1,500 games postponed or canceled – the dominance de Gonzaga and the 24-0 record stand out.

While many teams’ non-conference schedules have been cut due to COVID-19 factors, the Zags have pursued one of the toughest start-to-season lists in the country – and won big. They beat so-No. 6 Kansas double-digit in its first game of the season and dominated then-No. 11 West Virginia a week later.

After a positive COVID-19 test wiped out a potential game of the year between top teams Gonzaga and Baylor on December 5, the Bulldogs returned from a COVID-19 break to beat then-No. 3 Iowa by 11.

As Baylor’s replacement, the Zags clashed – and stomped – so no. 16 Virginia 98-75, as the Cavaliers have given up the most points in over a decade.

In the process, Gonzaga became the first team in Division I men’s college basketball history to beat four PA top 20 teams in their first seven games of the season.

It was the Bulldogs’ fourth consecutive double-digit victory as the top team in the AP poll. Today that streak has reached 21 consecutive double-digit wins, surpassing the mark held by the 1971-1972 UCLA team, coached by John Wooden and led by Bill Walton, who went 30-0 en route to a national championship. .

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only three teams (regardless of rank) in the past 60 seasons have won 21 consecutive double-digit games: 2020-21 Gonzaga, 2018-19 Gonzaga and 2016-17 Gonzaga. The previous two iterations of the Bulldogs teams failed to extend the streak to 22.

The typical blow against Gonzaga is that he’s playing in the West Coast Conference, which doesn’t compare to a major conference. KenPom.com’s Adjusted Efficiency Margin, which measures how better a team is than the average Division I team per 100 possessions, ranked WCC as the ninth best conference in ID this year – between Atlantic 10 and the Missouri Valley.

But the adjusted efficiency margin also indicates that Gonzaga is in the upper echelon, regardless of the conference. Since KenPom launched the metric in 2002, only two teams have finished a season with an adjusted efficiency margin of 35 or more. Gonzaga is set to become the third, behind the 2014-2015 Kentucky team who lost in the Final Four:

Best adjusted efficiency margin since 2002
According to KenPom.com

1. 2014-15 Kentucky +36.9

2. 2020-21 Gonzaga * +36.6 (until February 27)

3. 2007-08 Kansas +35.2

How did the Zags do it? Gonzaga has battered his opponents in the paint all season, averaging 51.2 PPG, the highest average in the past 15 seasons. There have only been five games this season in which a team has scored 70 points in the paint against a Division I opponent; Gonzaga is responsible for three of the five.

And painting’s dominance has not been solely against the WCC or against weak non-conference enemies. In Gonzaga’s five games against major conference teams – Kansas, Auburn, West Virginia, Iowa and Virginia – the Zags have scored 264 points in the paint, good for 52.8 per game, more than a point better. than their average for the season. Those 264 points in the paint are the most scored by any team in a five-game stretch against major conference opposition in the past 15 seasons. Even against the toughest competition, this team was a painting juggernaut.

As a result, the Bulldogs are shooting 64.4% from 2 points, the pace of the highest rating in the past 25 seasons, and shooting 55.3% from the field, on the highest pace since 1988- 89, Michigan National Champion. shot 56.6%.

Don’t confuse this with a hardworking team able to score only on the sidelines in the half court. Gonzaga’s average possession lasts just 14.2 seconds, the third shortest in the country, and the team is scoring nearly 23 points per game in transition, also in the domestic top five.

What does this style of play mean for March? Prior to Gonzaga, the last team to lead Division I in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency while playing in a top 10 was North Carolina in 2008-09. This team, led by Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Tyler Hansbrough, won a championship.

Gonzaga’s combination of efficiency and pace produces 92.9 PPG. The last National Champion to average at least 90 PPG was Duke in 2000-01. Overall, four teams led Division I in points per game and won the NCAA tournament in the same season:

Led DI in PPG and won the national title
Gonzaga leads DI in PPG this season

• Villanova 2018

• 2005 UNC

• 1963 Loyola-Chicago

• 1960 Ohio State

Like every year, Mark Few’s squad will be defined by their ability to do a deep race in March – and, if all goes according to plan, until April.