Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau and Gonzaga Nation reporter Cole Forsman break down the Bulldogs' road matchup against the Lions following their win at Kentucky.
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00:00 Dan Dick out here, Gonzaga Nation, alongside our tremendous journalist, Cole Forsman, breaking
00:07 it down before Gonzaga goes to LA and plays Loyola Marymount in the second game of the
00:14 series this year.
00:16 The first one, Gonzaga won 92 to 58, and might have been, before the Portland game, it might
00:23 have been Gonzaga's best 40-minute stretch throughout a game where they won 92-58.
00:29 They held LMU to 37% field goal shooting, as well as shooting nearly 60% themselves,
00:38 led by Nolan Hickman, a career-high 24 points.
00:40 Graham Ekay had 20, while five guys were in double figures.
00:45 Hopefully, there is that type of balanced production at Gerstin Pavilion on Thursday
00:51 night.
00:52 So, sorry for the long intro, Cole.
00:54 Glad to have you.
00:55 Let's get your quick take of what this game looks like.
00:58 Yeah, Dan, good to be here.
01:01 Yeah, LMU on the schedule once again.
01:05 Second time, as you mentioned, they faced off in Spokane.
01:10 For Gonzaga, you know, in that game against LMU, forced 20 turnovers, scored 29 points
01:15 off of them.
01:17 LMU this whole season has just kind of, their offense, they got a lot of playmakers, a lot
01:21 of great talent.
01:24 It just can't take care of the ball and execute on offense.
01:27 They're 360th in Ken Palm in turnover percentage, and they don't create a lot of turnovers
01:34 either.
01:35 So, for Gonzaga, I think a lot of it is, like we saw in that first matchup, just making
01:40 the right basketball plays.
01:42 In particular, the guards, Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard, you mentioned Hickman had 24
01:49 points in that one.
01:51 And really, a lot of it was just coming off the screens and making the right play, out
01:58 of pick and roll sets.
01:59 That was something Mark, you talked a lot about.
02:01 LMU really tried to push, go over the top of screens and chase Gonzaga's guards, which,
02:07 I mean, if I were Nolan Hickman or Ryan Nembhard, I would welcome that and really try to get
02:14 downhill.
02:15 They only combined, also, let's see, three turnovers.
02:19 So, really clean game.
02:20 You figure LMU, which they haven't won, they've lost four in a row at this point, they've
02:26 been dealing with a lot of injuries.
02:29 You'd figure they would come out a little more ready, a little more eased into this
02:35 game down there in Gerstin Pavilion.
02:37 But I know, I understand, you've heard that they're kind of dealing with some injuries,
02:42 correct?
02:43 Yeah, it sounds like Kelly Leyapepe is still out.
02:47 He's missed a number of games now.
02:49 It sounds like Dom Harris is not going to play as well.
02:53 That was a big storyline going into the game in Spokane, just because Dom was obviously
02:58 in Spokane for three years.
02:59 I thought Gonzaga did a tremendous job on him defensively, limiting him to 11 points,
03:05 4 of 13 from the field in that game.
03:08 Obviously as a competitor and someone who is talented like Dom, you know he wanted to
03:13 play well in Spokane.
03:15 He couldn't quite get it going.
03:17 The reports are that he's not playing, but I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to find
03:23 a way to heal up as best as possible in the next 36 hours before tip-off.
03:30 Because as a competitor, especially going against one of your former teams, you want
03:37 that opportunity to prove yourself.
03:39 You want that opportunity to go against what's perceived as the best in Gonzaga.
03:45 As of now, he's out, but I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to make a late go of it.
03:51 You had the comment that Gonzaga was really good in pick-and-roll situations in that first
03:55 game.
03:56 I talked to assistant coach Brian Michelson shortly after that game, and he said Nolan
04:03 was nearly perfect in his pick-and-roll reads in the game against LMU, whether it was a
04:09 stop behind three, whether it was quick decision and it advanced it to the next guy, whether
04:14 it was hold the ball, drag the defense, find the right decision.
04:21 That shows growth right there.
04:22 I thought Ryan Nemhart showed a lot of those same capabilities against Kentucky on the
04:28 road.
04:29 You're seeing growth in different areas of different players right now.
04:36 It being February 14th, that is enormous because three and a half weeks out, they're playing
04:42 in the WCC Conference Tournament with the thought that as of now, you still got to win
04:51 the Conference Tournament.
04:52 I don't know if that's necessarily the case.
04:54 If they beat St. Mary's and they beat San Francisco on the road, I would think they're
04:58 in, but you don't want to leave anything to chance.
05:01 I know that the thought process is geared up to win the Conference Tournament.
05:08 I agree.
05:12 Yesterday you talked with Steven Gentry, assistant coach at Gonzaga, about LMU's ability
05:20 to adjust, the adjustment to the adjustments.
05:22 I wonder if they look back at the film and how they defended Gonzaga if they want to
05:28 try a few things differently.
05:30 Gonzaga on offense, especially in the pick and roll, they looked unstoppable against
05:36 Kentucky.
05:37 Kentucky, we can look at and say, "Well, not a great team regarding the pick and roll."
05:43 But I think Gonzaga also really just made a lot of right plays.
05:47 Ryan Emhard was throwing a lot of passes.
05:52 So I'm interested to see, following that Kentucky win, it's the biggest win of the season to
05:57 this point.
05:59 How do you respond after that, facing a loyal AmeriMount team that's, I'm looking right
06:05 now, 168 in Kempom, it's probably going to be a quad three or four game, three at best.
06:13 And then after that, and we'll talk about these games later, you've got Pacific at home
06:17 and then Portland before that last stretch against Santa Clara, San Francisco and St.
06:23 Mary's.
06:24 So for Gonzaga, they've handled their business to this point.
06:28 We saw before Kentucky, they came out laser focused against Portland.
06:32 Before that, before the St. Mary's game the week before, they really crushed LMU.
06:36 So I'm hoping that this team, or I'm looking for this team to still stay laser focused
06:42 on the road.
06:44 They have that Kentucky win on the road now to say, "Hey, we've come into a building and
06:48 Gerstin Pavilion is not a rep arena."
06:50 But regardless, it's still a hostile environment.
06:54 You know that that LMU crowd is probably more geared up to see Gonzaga play than they are
07:00 any other WCC team, maybe St. Mary's, but I'm really looking for more than X's and O's,
07:07 just Gonzaga's focus coming out.
07:09 Can they get out to another 19 to one start like they did against Portland?
07:14 I know they jumped out really big on Loyola-Mare Mountain, forced, I think, three turnovers
07:20 in that opening five minutes or so.
07:22 So attention to detail is sort of what I'm looking out for here for Gonzaga.
07:27 Yeah, I think attention to detail at this time of the season is key.
07:31 And you're seeing that being an important characteristic of teams across the country.
07:37 And a lot of it is due to the mixing and matching of lineups and teams and rosters year to year.
07:44 It takes a while to build chemistry.
07:46 It takes a while to build the experience of knowing where guys are going to be at in certain
07:52 situations, or coaching staffs knowing what they want to rely upon down stretches of games
07:58 that there's a big possession or two that is a big of value.
08:04 So I think there's lots to be said in regards to that.
08:08 The focus has been tremendous as of late.
08:11 And you would expect that, knowing everything that's on the line.
08:15 Guys come to Gonzaga because they want to play in big games.
08:17 Guys come to Gonzaga because they want to play in the NCAA tournament.
08:21 Nobody on this roster wants there to be a slip up so that this is the team that stopped
08:29 that magical 25-year run of going to the NCAA tournament.
08:32 So I think the energy around the program is really good right now, especially after that
08:38 Kentucky win.
08:39 I think the excitement is there.
08:40 The buy-in is clearly there from the guys.
08:43 And the execution has gotten better over these last few weeks.
08:47 So all in all, it's almost March.
08:50 It's time to let it rip and just go for it.
08:52 So that's all I got.
08:53 You got anything else to preview this LMU game, Cole?
08:58 I would just kind of end on LMU is deeper than I think people give credit for.
09:03 Justice Hill off the bench, you're going to see a lot more probably.
09:07 And Will Johnston, if Dom Harris indeed doesn't play, even if he does play, I think you're
09:12 going to see a lot of them.
09:14 Hill had 14 against Gonzaga.
09:16 So again, to our point that we've kind of been making here, attention to detail, knowing
09:21 the scouting report, seeing these guys deeper in the rotation.
09:25 It's not just this five that's on the floor.
09:27 It's guys coming in, it's matchups off the bench.
09:30 So I would just keep a lookout for that as well, Dan.
09:33 Absolutely good stuff.
09:34 I agree.
09:35 Justice Hill, I think, you know, has a chance to be a spark plug, especially with Dom Harris
09:39 out.
09:40 He's extremely quick, talented.
09:41 So good stuff as always, Cole.
09:43 I look forward to reading the articles that you've got coming out in the near future.
09:47 And I'm sure we'll be recording again for the preview against Pacific on Saturday.
09:52 Enjoy the road trip, Dan.