Recreation Preview: Gonzaga Hosts Campbell in a Homecourt Tune-Up

[ad_1] The Bulldogs will return to the Kennel on Wednesday evening for a matchup with the Campbell Combating Camels. Tipoff is ready for six:00 PM PST on the McCarthy Athletic Middle, with protection on ESPN+. The Zags carry a 10-1 document again onto their residence flooring after their 10-point win over UCLA in opposition to a Campbell group sitting at 5-5 on the season. The Zags enter the week ranked No. 7 within the AP Ballot and No. 2 on KenPom, whereas the Camels arrive out of the CAA properly outdoors the nationwide analytic image, and contemporary off a slim 69-64 win over Ball State.

Gonzaga stays unbeaten at residence this season and nonetheless appears like a gaggle enjoying properly under its eventual ceiling, with rotations, timing, and position readability sharpening by the week. Campbell is organized and aggressive sufficient to punish sloppiness, however this matchup features primarily as a tune-up earlier than a street journey to Oregon and the flip towards convention play, giving the Zags house to wash issues up, stretch the bench, and reinforce habits that matter much more in March than they ever will on a December evening on the Kennel.

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Meet the Combating Camels Campbell involves Spokane with a résumé that swings wildly from one excessive to the opposite, which actually makes them just a little extra attention-grabbing than the typical December customer. They've some ugly losses together with a 99-51 journey to Wake Forest, they usually have video games the place the offense completely demolished the competitors, like a 149-point (not a typo) outburst in opposition to DIII Virginia-Lynchburg, a recreation the place Campbell racked up 41 mixed assists and grabbed 70 whole rebounds (22 of these for Chris Fields Jr. alone).

The group is led by senior guard DJ Smith, who averages just below 20 factors per recreation whereas taking up a heavy utilization and carrying the offense for lengthy stretches. Dovydas Butka, the 6’9” Lithuanian sophomore, gives the secondary punch and an actual inside presence, placing up 16.4 ppg whereas knocking down almost 9 boards per evening. The aforementioned Chris Fields Jr. cleans up all the pieces else, main the group in rebounding with 9.6 per recreation whereas doing just a little little bit of all the pieces defensively. When Campbell performs properly, it normally appears the identical: Smith serves as the first playmaker and appears to attain or work it inside, Butka finishes possessions and tries to work across the rim, Chris Fields Jr. works the glass very aggressively, and the Camels grasp round lengthy sufficient to make groups uncomfortable for so long as they'll.

The final time Gonzaga and Campbell shared a court docket was again in December of 2012, a 74-52 Zag win filled with its personal weird stats. In that recreation, Elias Harris someway handed out six assists, Kevin Pangos swiped 5 steals, and Kelly Olynyk got here off the bench to attain 13 factors and went an ideal 10-for-10 on the free-throw line. 13 years later, the task for Campbell stays the identical: survive the Kennel, climate the primary wave, and hope the margin stays respectable.

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Issues to Look For: There actually aren’t “keys to victory” right here within the conventional sense. Consider it as an opportunity to see who appears comfy, who appears decisive, and who makes use of the minutes to sharpen moderately than float. As an alternative, listed here are some issues to look out for.

1. A get-right recreation for Tyon Grant-Foster Grant-Foster’s evening in opposition to UCLA summed up the place he’s at proper now. He performed 18 minutes, scored seven factors, missed each of his threes, and by no means fairly discovered a rhythm. The trouble is there each possession, the athleticism pops instantly, however the match nonetheless feels unsettled, particularly when he begins looking photographs as a substitute of letting the sport come to him.

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That is the sort of matchup the place the trail ahead might be simplified. Grant-Foster doesn’t have to house the ground with pull-up threes. He must rebound like a maniac, dash the ground, reduce exhausting, and assault the rim or get to his midrange recreation rapidly, earlier than the offense stalls. When he performs quick and vertical, Gonzaga will get one thing it doesn’t have from many different bench items. If these habits present up early and infrequently on Wednesday, that’s a significant win whatever the rating.

2. Taking the fitting photographs This most likely by no means turns into an elite three-point capturing group, which raises the significance of shot choice greater than uncooked share. Gonzaga can stay with out quantity capturing nights, nevertheless it must turn into extra discerning about which threes it takes. In opposition to UCLA, Steele Venters and Emmanuel Innocenti mixed to go 0-for-4 from deep, and the misses felt extra about context than confidence.

The good things stays apparent. Nook threes in transition work once they are available in rhythm. Pull-ups can stretch a protection and maintain perimeter defenses sincere. The issue reveals up when these photographs substitute the offense moderately than emerge from it. Traditionally, Gonzaga basketball has seemed finest when it units its spacing, strikes defenders, and delivers the ball to shooters already set, squared, and prepared. Suppose Nolan Hickman threes. Ft planted. Time to load. Area created by movement and motion.

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When this group settles for fast pull-ups, above-the-break appears with a hand within the face, or threes for Ike/Huff, the possession can painfully stall out. A recreation like this provides room to gradual issues down, belief the units, and ensure the fitting guys are taking the fitting photographs from the fitting spots.

3. Lineup experimentation Video games like this exist exactly so Gonzaga can get bizarre with its rotations. I, for one, suppose it’s time to let Mario Saint Supery take a breather, to let Braeden Smith relax for a bit, and to lastly let Jalen Warley play the place he’s spent the overwhelming majority of his school profession enjoying: level guard. This recreation is the right alternative at hand Warley the ball, let him cook dinner, and simply see what the offense appears like when a 6’7″ decision-maker is steering issues as a substitute of setting screens and dealing the ball inside from the wing.

When you go there, the following step is apparent (when you’re deranged): with Warley on the 1, you possibly can put Davis Fogle on the 2, Steele Venters on the 3, Tyon Grant-Foster on the 4, and Ismaila Diagne on the 5. That’s 4 guys at 6’7″ surrounding a real seven-footer within the low publish. Switchable all over the place. Size in each passing lane. It will be pure chaos, a cursed circus of Slendermen all looking their very own photographs and completely disregarding the circulate of the scripted offense. I see nothing flawed with this lineup.

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Would it not be bizarre? Completely. Would it not work for lengthy stretches? Most likely not. However in a recreation like this, the upside comes from discovering out, and the ground stays hilariously excessive. Jalen Warley was a three-year starter enjoying level guard within the SEC. Somebody please clarify why a lineup of 4 6’7″ dudes and a seven-footer wouldn’t at the very least sort of work, or on the very least be extremely enjoyable to observe.

Closing Ideas This one sits firmly within the December utility class. The outcome will fade rapidly, however the minutes nonetheless matter, particularly for a Gonzaga group that continues to look superb whereas nonetheless feeling unfinished.

The actual takeaways right here come right down to who appears comfy, who performs quick with out forcing the problem, and which lineup combos really feel price circling again to when the stakes rise. Gonzaga has already dragged itself by a nonconference gauntlet, so there’s room for this one to breathe just a little. A loud evening within the Kennel, some lineup tinkering, and some gamers taking full benefit of expanded alternative would make this greater than sufficient purpose to tune in.