Gonzaga hits reset button in blowout victory over Mississippi Valley State

Despite ranking near the bottom in most defensive categories, the Delta Devils' zone defense posed an interesting obstacle Gonzaga had not seen much of this season, let alone for an entire ballgame. At first, the defensive scheme presented little resistance — the Bulldogs got off to another hot start shooting, as they made eight of their first 11 attempts en route to an early double-digit advantage. A lot of that had to do with attacking the middle of the interior through Graham Ike, who racked up seven of his team's first 17 points with hooks and layups over the undersized Delta Devils. 

But it wasn't long before the 3-point shooting woes stymied the offense. After misfiring on all nine attempts from distance in the second half against Washington, the Bulldogs started 1-for-9 on 3-point attempts Monday, with the only make coming in transition before the Delta Devils could set up their zone defense. The Zags trudged into halftime missing 10 of their final 12 attempts from the field, a sluggish offensive stretch that was slightly off-set by a strong defensive effort on the other end.

The different look from Mississippi Valley State was likely the first time facing a zone defense for an entire game for most of Gonzaga's players. For Braden Huff, who played a lot of zone defense while at Glenbard West High School, he finally got to experience what it's like on the other side.

"We played zone a lot in high school and yeah, now I kind of know how it feels to be on the other end of that which is kind of different."

Even if the zone defense is seemingly out of style, the Zags will still have the experience under their belt moving forward.

It's no secret Mark Few is having to develop Gonzaga's young talent faster than expected following Steele Venters' season-ending knee injury. In the last home game, Few admitted the decision to start Jun Seok Yeo was simply a way of getting the Korean forward more minutes on the floor. That trend continued Monday, as Yeo and freshman guard Luka Krajnovic were featured more than they had been as both logged season-highs in minutes played against the Delta Devils.

The results were better than what their shooting splits might indicate — Krajnovic and Yeo were +13 and +18 when on the floor, respectively, though they combined to shoot 3-of-12 from the floor as well. For Yeo specifically, Few noted that the overall aggression in his drives to the rim and spot-ups in the corner was a positive sign from the sophomore.

"Especially his second run, I thought Jun was a lot more aggressive," Few said. "I think that's really encouraging. Build that up and get him to be that guy — more assertive, not think as much."

Yeo attempted a career-high eight field goals and six 3-pointers, which nearly matched his season total heading into Monday's game. He was involved defensively with two blocks and four rebounds, as he used his 6-foot-8, 215-pound frame to stay with Mississippi Valley State's wings on the perimeter. It wasn't his cleanest game per se, but nonetheless a step in the right direction.

One of the more underrated aspects of the 2023-24 Bulldogs has been their attention to detail defensively. Ranked 19th in defensive efficiency according to KenPom, the lack of a true 7-footer who can protect the rim hasn't played much of a factor in the ascension from where last season's team stood in the defensive rankings. Instead, it's been a collect effort from all five players on the floor.

Considering that the roster lacked experience playing together is noteworthy when considering that Gonzaga hasn't allowed 80 points in a game through its first 10 games — the longest such streak to start a season for the program since the 2016-17 campaign. Much of that has to do with a more tempered pace on offense (Bulldogs rank 80th in adjusted tempo per KenPom, the slowest pace in the last seven seasons), but even then the team has held opponents to shoot just 37.3% from the field and 27.9% from deep. They're one of four teams in the top 25 on KenPom that ranks in the top 50 for both 2-point field goal percentage defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense, with Auburn, Virginia and Houston being the others. Among those teams, only Auburn has played more efficient offenses this season.

The trend continued on Monday, albeit against the worst offense in the country according to KenPom. The 40 points allowed to the Delta Devils were the program's fewest since giving up that many to Denver in December 2018. There weren't many clean looks for Mississippi Valley State to capitalize on, aside from a few second-chance opportunities, as the Bulldogs even forced a 10-second call and a shot clock violation in the first half.

Friday will be the biggest test against UConn, which has the No. 4 offense in college basketball according to KenPom. The Huskies (9-1) rank first in 2-point field goal percentage on offense and are top-10 in the nation in effective field goal percentage and offensive rebounding percentage. With an array of scoring threats in Tristen Newton, Donovan Clingan and freshman Stephon Castle, Gonzaga will need all hands on deck.

"We gotta be ready," Stromer said. "We got to have a chip on our shoulder from taking that loss that we didn't want to take and just hit them early."