Injury Laden Gonzaga Faces Saint Mary’s in WCC Rivalry Game
By Josh Horton
Saint Mary’s Gaels (10-3) at Gonzaga Bulldogs (12-2)
Date: Thursday, January 2nd, 2014
Location: McCarthy Athletic Center, Spokane, WA
Time: 6:00 p.m. PST
TV: ESPN2
Radio: http://www.gozags.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPID=90846&db_oem_id=26400
http://www.smcgaels.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPID=12536&db_oem_id=21400
LiveStats: http://www.smcgaels.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?SPID=12536&DB_OEM_ID=21400&LIST_SPORT_KEY=M_BASKETBALL or ESPN.com
Last Season: Gonzaga won all three matchups
PROJECTED STARTERS
Gonzaga
David Stockton, 7.5 PPG, 4.7 APG
Kevin Pangos, 17.6 PPG, 4.2 APG
Kyle Dranginis, 6.6 PPG
Drew Barham, 7.0 PPG, 4.1 RPG
Prezmek Karnowski, 9.9 PPG, 8.0 RPG
Saint Mary’s
Stephen Holt, 13.2 PPG, 5.3 APG
Kerry Carter, 9.5 PPG
James Walker III, 12.3 PPG
Beau Levesque, 11.8 PPG
Brad Waldow, 16.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG
The injury bug has hit Gonzaga at the most inopportune time. Saint Mary’s will travel to the Kennel to take on the Bulldogs in an always important WCC rivalry game.
Keys to the Game
Gonzaga
Defend the Three: Year in and year out, fans claim that the Bulldogs have trouble defending the three point line. From a statistical standpoint, this is in inaccurate (Gonzaga has ranked in the top 3 in three-point field goal percentage in the last two years and continue to this season) but it doesn’t mean that Saint Mary’s are not capable of burning the Zags from deep.
The Gaels feature four players in its starting lineup that shoot better than 43.0 percent from beyond the arc (Carter .468, Levesque, .436, Holt .439 and Walker III .458). Saint Mary’s loves to feed Brad Waldow in the post and let him pass out of the post to open shooters. If Gonzaga takes out this facet of the Gaels offense, a victory would be highly feasible.
Saint Mary’s
Shut Down Pangos: With Gary Bell Jr. out and Sam Dower likely to be out, the Bulldogs will rely much more heavily on junior guard Kevin Pangos. Even Pangos is a little banged up with a bad toe.
The Bulldogs have a lot less scoring options if the aforementioned players do not play, and Pangos will be crucial to their offensive success. The Gaels can cause the Zags to struggle if they force players such as Kyle Dranginis, Drew Barham, Przemek Karnowski, etc. to beat them. If the Gaels do that, it could get ugly.
Matchup of the Game
Waldow versus Karnowski
These two centers have had very contrasting seasons based on their respective preseason expectations.
Waldow was expected to struggle without Matthew Dellavedova running the point, but he has done just the opposite. Waldow is averaging 16.8 points and 7.0 rebounds, and will be in the running for WCC player of the year.
Karnowski on the other hand, was expected to have his breakout season due to an excellent performance on the international circuit and slimming down a bit. The Polish native hasn’t done a lot of breaking out, and is struggling to produce consistent offense and rebounding for the Bulldogs.
Karnowski obviously has the height and size advantage with him being 7-1 and nearly 300 pounds, but Waldow is perceived as the more refined player. Karnowski cannot let Waldow conduct his crafty post moves and use his quickness to get easy looks. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Waldow cannot let Karnowski’s size prevail over him.
The X-Factor
Angel Nunez: Nunez has only played in two games this season, but has shown flashes of brilliance. His 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks in 13 minutes during Gonzaga’s win over Santa Clara on December 28th was a very positive sign for the Bulldogs, considering Nunez gives Mark Few yet another athletic option that he can go to on the bench.
If Nunez has a breakout game tonight, Gonzaga’s chances of winning this game increase exponentially. Plus, Nunez is the best option to matchup with Saint Mary’s forward Beau Levesque due to his size and athleticism.
Other Things
– According to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, Gonzaga guard David Stockton is sick with the flu, but will still likely play tonight
– Gonzaga forward Samuel Dower Jr., who has missed the last two games with a bruised hip, is a game-time decision.
– Saint Mary’s forward Garrett Jackson will not play tonight due to a knee injury.
– Gary Bell Jr. is out 4-6 weeks after breaking his hand against Santa Clara on Saturday. Kyle Dranginis will start in his place.
– Head coach Randy Bennett will not be on the Saint Mary’s sidelines. He is suspended for the first 5 WCC games due to NCAA sanctions placed upon the program. Assistant Coach Eron Ganot will assume head coaching duties in his absence.
Prediction
The Gaels looked much better in their win at Pacific on Monday, but showed a lot weaknesses in the Diamond Head Classic. The injury bug has hit Gonzaga fairly hard in the last week or two, but the Bulldogs still have a good amount of weapons at their disposal. Zags win a nail bitter. Gonzaga 82, Saint Mary’s 80.