Now that was a fun game to watch. Gonzaga had the benefit of watching the first three days of the WCC Tournament, during which two teams that played in the first round advanced all the way to the semifinals. There were no upsets brewing in this game, however, as Gonzaga once again showed why it is head and shoulders above the rest of the conference. Nobody loves Las Vegas more than Killian Tillie. He looked like he was moving pain free, but didn’t look totally comfortable during the first few possession that he was on the floor. However, once he checked up good players in Colbey Ross and Kessler Edwards without issue and then sank a three at the other end, his confidence looked like it was all the back. Can we arrange for all of Gonzaga’s tournament games to be played at the Orleans Arena? Tillie could probably break the tournament record for made 3’s, if so. Gonzaga’s inside-out game was really sharp for throughout the game. Pepperdine’s defense isn’t the best, by any means, but there was no answer for how to slow down Gonzaga’s attack. When the Zags are rolling like that, I really don’t think there’s any defensive scheme that can stop them. Pepperdine’s offense is heavily reliant on drive-and-kick action to generate good 3-point attempts. Gonzaga did a good job of taking that away by defending the paint without having to collapse the defense, and forcing the Waves into taking mid-range jumpers which is not their forte. Gonzaga is deadly in transition, so it was pretty stunning that Pepperdine put no effort or thought into effectuating any type of plan to slow down the Zags on the break. Pepperdine didn’t take care of the ball and didn’t control the boards. That’s a bad recipe to keep the score close against Gonzaga. Zach Norvell’s off-ball movement was phenomenal. He’s an excellent finisher around the basket, so when he’s slashing to the rim he’s a complete menace. Colbey Ross has mastered the art of drawing a foul by throwing his head back at the slightest contact when driving to the rim. It’s annoying, but I respect it. Pepperdine’s 14-2 run during garbage time against the bench mob will give Mark Few something to harp on during practice. Everyone comes away from this game happy! Shout out to all the Gonzaga fans in attendance at the Orleans Arena. It looked and felt like a home game at The Kennel. You have to appreciate Gonzaga’s consistency of effort. This team didn’t just rely on having the significant talent advantage to win, they made sure they outworked Pepperdine in all facets of the game too. That is championship culture. The first 10 minutes of the second half was as good as basketball gets. It’s incredible to watch a team play so selflessly and in complete harmony. It’s a rare thing. Don’t ever take it for granted.<doc-sep>It has been nine days since the Gonzaga Bulldogs played, and they will face the No. 8 seeded Pepperdine Waves in the semifinals of the WCC Tournament, with the winner advancing to the championship game on Tuesday. The Zags played Pepperdine once this season, winning 92-64. Pepperdine has played as a completely different team than the one that lost six out of eight games to close conference play. The Waves defeated Pacific to open the WCC Tournament, and have rattled off upsets against LMU and San Francisco in the two days following. The win over San Francisco was a thing of beauty. Pepperdine held strong throughout the entire game, limiting Frankie Ferrari to 12 points and the Dons’ offense to 0.99 points per possession. It is going to take every effort plus some that might not even exist to upset Gonzaga on Monday. The Zags are the heavy, heavy, heavy favorite to win the WCC Tournament and enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed. Today’s game is a mere formality in the process. Game info<doc-sep>SPOKANE, WA - FEBRUARY 21: Head coach Mark Few of the Gonzaga Bulldogs talks to Rui Hachimura #21 at the bench in the second half against the Pepperdine Waves at McCarthey Athletic Center on February 21, 2019 in Spokane, Washington. Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 92-64. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images) Pepperdine and Gonzaga will meet in the first WCC semifinal; will the Bulldogs roll to another conference title or can the Waves pull more postseason magic? TV schedule: Monday, March 11, 9:00 pm ET. ESPN Arena: Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada In his return to Malibu, Lorenzo Romar has Pepperdine (16-17) playing much improved basketball. The former Washington head coach returned to the school this season, having served as head coach from 1996 to 1999. In his first year, the Waves were just 6-10 in WCC play, but have already rattled off three straight wins in the WCC Tournament, including upsets of 5-seed Loyola Marymount and 8-seed San Francisco. The Waves’ best player is sophomore guard Colbey Ross (19.4 ppg, 7.2 apg), and he’ll only develop into a star with two more years under Romar. He had 36 points in the regular season finale against Pacific and led the way with 26 against San Francisco in the WCC quarterfinal. Junior forward Kameron Edwards (14.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg) is a stud who has dealt with injuries, and his brother Kessler Edwards (10.0 ppg) has been a solid contributor as a freshman. Pepperdine ranks 153rd in KenPom and has made marked improvement over last season. They rank 130th in offensive efficiency and play at a fast pace. Unfortunately, the Waves rank near the bottom of the league in defensive field goal percentage, particularly on inside shooting. A solid team at forcing turnovers, the Waves will face quite a battle on their hands. Having already ravaged the rest of the WCC, Gonzaga (29-2) has clearly set themselves apart as the best team west of the Mississippi. They’ve won twenty straight games and have rarely struggled against their conference foes, finding themselves two wins away from another WCC Tournament title. This high-powered team may run away with this game. The Bulldogs’ lineup is full of stars. Junior forwards Rui Hachimura (20.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and Brandon Clarke (16.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg) are both Wooden Award finalists who have dominated all season long. Senior guard Josh Perkins (11.0 ppg, 6.5 apg) is an elite distributor and lead the team in scoring in their last outing. Sophomore guard Zach Norvell Jr. (15.7 ppg) is a proficient shooter, both from long-range and short. This team can back quite a punch, even without the services of forward Killian Tillie. Gonzaga leads the nation in offensive efficiency and ranks second in KenPom. These Bulldogs are the best team in the nation at field goal efficiency and rank in the top five on offense in avoiding turnovers. The offense is a well-oiled machine but the defense is pretty solid too, ranking sixth in defensive field goal efficiency, with particular success down low where Clarke and Hachimura are a force. Gonzaga won by 28 when these teams played in Spokane less than three weeks ago. The Waves have got momentum on their side, but they’ve also played three times in the last four days, while Gonzaga has rested. Unless the Bulldogs really struggle initially from shooting, it’s going to be hard for the Waves to keep pace with this potent offense. They’ll need heroic efforts from Ross and both Edwards brothers with impressive defense for forty minutes. There’s no reason to diminish anything the Waves have done this past week, but Gonzaga is in a league of their own. This might be competitive early if Pepperdine can hit a few shots, but I expect the Bulldogs to pull away at some point. The top-ranked Bulldogs will play in the WCC title game and will be heavy favorites once more. Prediction: Gonzaga 91, Pepperdine 66<doc-sep>It’s been nine days since the Zags have been in action and most of us have been going through withdrawals. However, when you’re at the top of your conference, a three-round bye is what you earn for WCC tournament play. Although the rest of us may be antsy for Gonzaga basketball, the bye allows the Bulldogs to rest up and refresh themselves after playing a four-month, 31-game regular season. Most assumed that the Zags would take on San Francisco in the semi-final, but after upsetting Loyola Marymount on Friday and moving on to stun the Dons on Saturday night, Pepperdine will be the matchup. Due to the WCC’s implementation of an unbalanced schedule at the start of this season, allowing the top seeded teams to play the low seeded teams only once, the Bulldogs and Waves only met once this season. That game just so happened to be the same game in which Josh Perkins became Gonzaga’s career assist leader after completing nine assists during the contest. In that commanding 92-64 win in Spokane, Rui Hachimura scored 23 points, Zach Norvell Jr. had 21 points and Brandon Clarke added 16 to the total. The Waves’ Darnell Dunn scored 16 points, Jade Smith sank 13, and Colbey Ross added 12 of his own. Gonzaga shot 63 percent while holding Pepperdine to just 38 percent. With this defeat, Pepperdine lost to Gonzaga 36 consecutive times dating back to 2002. During their blowout 89-72 win over (4) San Francisco, (8) Pepperdine was led by Ross with 26 points while Kameron Edwards and Eric Cooper added 14 and 13 respectively. In terms of field goal percentage, both teams shot fairly evenly throughout the game. The key to Pepperdine’s success came from beyond the arc, scoring 14 of 28 three-pointers and 19 of 25 free throws. As far as the Zags are concerned, they’ve been focusing on themselves while finalizing their game plan for the tournament. In the words of Corey Kispert, “Especially since we don’t know who we’re going to play on Monday, it’s all about ourselves.” One of the many benefits of being the top team in the country is that they get to practice against the best of the best amongst themselves, which keeps the team sharp while they continue to fine-tune a few areas like defense and rebounding. In other good news, Mark Few is very optimistic about Killian Tillie getting some quality playing time in Vegas. On Thursday, Tillie practiced with the team for extended minutes and his game appearance will mostly depend on how his foot reacts after such a workout. Gametime: Monday, March 11 @ 6pm PDT on ESPN<doc-sep>
The Gonzaga Bulldogs are one game away from an unblemished run through the West Coast Conference following a semifinal demolition of the Pepperdine Waves at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Killian Tillie picked up where he left off at the Orleans Arena during last year’s WCC Tournament, converting all three of his 3-point attempts in his return to action after missing the last seven games with a plantar fascia injury. Gonzaga had six players score in double figures led by Zach Norvell’s 18 points, and two more players just a bucket away from joining them. Pepperdine’s Colbey Ross led all scorers with 20 points, though most of that damage came long after Gonzaga’s starters were resting on the bench in the second half. After securing three wins in three days, Pepperdine was out of upsets and had no answer for a full strength Gonzaga squad that is a legitimate national championship contender and the class of the WCC. The Waves kept it close for the first five minutes, but things went sideways pretty quickly thereafter as Tillie’s return catalyzed Gonzaga at both ends of the floor and sparked a 13-0 run that quickly put the game to bed. Gonzaga’s offense looked balanced and deadly, and the ball moved freely as Pepperdine failed to find any answers to slow down the nation’s most efficient attack. Losing the turnover battle didn’t help the Waves, as Gonzaga’s defense forced 12 first half turnovers and stifled their three-point shooting en route to taking a 47-26 lead at the break. Things did not get any better for Pepperdine after halftime. In fact, they only got worse as Gonzaga continued its annihilation of the opposition. Every time a Wave turned his head, a Zag was flying by for a dunk or spotting up for a wide-open three. Gonzaga scored 33 points through the first 10 minutes of the second half to take an 80-40 lead in an absolutely beautiful stretch of basketball. It was pure art in motion. Though Pepperdine put together a run against Gonzaga’s bench to flatter the scoreline, there was no doubting which team was the class of the conference. The Bulldogs are on the precipice of winning all their conference games by double-digits. If their play in the championship game against the winner of SMC-USD is anything like it was against Pepperdine, you can bet they’ll get it done.