SAN FRANCISCO – It all comes down to this for Gonzaga in its 18th and final West Coast Conference game of the season:
• Beat San Francisco on Saturday, secure the second seed and corresponding bye into the WCC Tournament semifinals and bolster its NCAA Tournament credentials with another much-needed Quad 1 win.
• Or lose, fall to third place – which would be the lowest finish in coach Mark Few’s 26 seasons – and move closer to the March Madness bubble, not to mention facing the daunting task of three games in three days to win the conference tournament.
Yes, the regular-season finale is a big one at Chase Center.
“It’s huge, winner takes second place and that’s obviously another bye in the tournament,” said Gonzaga point guard Ryan Nembhard, who is five assists from becoming the 21st player in Division I history with 300 in a season.
Gonzaga (22-8, 13-4 WCC) rallied past Santa Clara 95-76 on Tuesday to improve to 2-6 in Quad 1 games. GU would be 3-6 but Baylor dropped from Q1 to Q2 after falling from No. 30 to No. 31 in the NET rankings. San Francisco (23-7, 13-4) qualifies as a Quad 1 road game at No. 60.
“We need it, just so we get that extra bye,” said forward Graham Ike, who scored 24 points in 20 foul-plagued minutes against Santa Clara. “It means a lot to us.”
Gonzaga trailed 44-42 when Ismaila Diagne’s dunk with 2:35 remaining in the first half started a 10-0 run. The Zags, sparked by Diagne’s contributions at both ends of the court, outscored Santa Clara 51-34 in the second half.
“It’s so important but it’s inspirational,” Ike said. “And it shows our potential, not even our potential, but who we are. That’s who we are right there. That’s Zag basketball. Continue to stay together with each other, continue to push out wins.”
The Dons are trying to add another breakthrough win after knocking off WCC champion Saint Mary’s 65-64 in early February for its first win over the Gaels since 2019.
USF’s dry spell against Gonzaga is much longer. The Zags have won 31 straight since a Feb. 2012 setback at USF’s War Memorial Gym. The latest was an 88-77 victory that followed a pattern from the last four meetings with Gonzaga having the upper hand in the second half.
Asked if Saturday is the biggest regular-season game in his coaching tenure and for the program in decades, third-year coach Chris Gerlufsen said, “That’s a good question. I try not to think about things in that scope because I don’t want to make a game bigger than what it is, but, yeah, there’s a lot riding on Saturday night.
“I would say I’m really proud that we’re in this position to be playing a really meaningful game in the last regular-season game of the year … A lot of implications attached to this game, but it’s a credit to our guys. There should be no added pressure. It should be enjoying the moment that we put ourselves in and making the most of the opportunity.”
The Dons rank second in scoring defense (67.3) and fifth in scoring (75.6) in the conference. Their 764 3-point attempts and 8.7 made 3s rank second behind Santa Clara but USF’s 3-point defense (27.4%) is easily No. 1 in the WCC.
The guard line is talented with Malik Thomas (19.3 points, 40.1% 3-point), Marcus Williams (14.7 points, 40.6% 3-point) and sixth-man Ryan Beasley, who scored 16 points in the first meeting. Freshman wing Tyrone Riley IV chips in 9.6 points and 5.7 rebounds.
“Just like these guys (Santa Clara), there are good guards all over this conference,” Nembhard said.
Ike has averaged 19 points and Ben Gregg has four double-digit scoring games against the Dons. Braden Huff and Michael Ajayi each had 12 points in the Feb. 13 contest. Gonzaga won the boards by 13 and the paint points by 22.
“You have to protect the paint; we did not do a great job protecting the paint in game No. 1,” Gerlufsen said. “Obviously, Ike is a handful and one of the best low-post scorers in the country, but we have to be able to defend the paint and do that without fouling. I think we learned a lot through our game against them.
“In terms of adjusting some of the things that we’re doing from a defensive standpoint, Gonzaga – and St. Mary’s is in the same boat, for sure – if they see the same coverages for 40 minutes, they generally adjust and make the correct adjustments to take advantage of whatever you’re doing. So, we have to keep Gonzaga off balance.”
This is the second straight year GU and USF have played at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors, instead of War Memorial Gym. GU won 86-68 last February.
“We obviously love playing on the Hilltop and I think that showed with our undefeated record here (this season),” Gerlufsen said. “But Chase Center is an opportunity to put our program in a different light on a national landscape in arguably one of the best NBA arenas there is. And hopefully, our goal with this game is to make Chase Center a home advantage for us and turn this into a city-wide kind of experience.”
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