alt=Jeff CallSPOKANE, Wash. — As BYU has learned from past successes at The Kennel, knocking off Gonzaga — not to mention a No. 1-ranked Zags team — requires a steady, consistent performance on both ends of the floor for a full 40 minutes.
But the Cougars weren’t able to deliver Saturday night.
Sure, BYU hung with the top-ranked team in the country for a while but ultimately, the Zags ran away with a 92-69 victory. It marked the Cougars’ most lopsided loss of the season.
“Hey, we got punched in the mouth tonight,” said guard TJ Haws, who scored a team-high 17 points to go along with six assists. “They’re a great team. They made shots, they got stops. That’s what they do. They run in transition. And if you let them get going, they’re very capable of making big runs like that.”
Gonzaga put a stranglehold on BYU in the second half, shooting 74% from the field (17 of 23). The Zags outscored the Cougars 12-2 in second-chance points and 19-3 on fast break opportunities.
“We knew it was going to be a fight all night. They’re really good in transition and they have really good that rebound the ball really well,” said forward Dalton Nixon. “It was one of those nights where we fought, but they hit big shots down the stretch, broke us down defensively in the second half and went on a big run to stretch the lead. But I’m proud of our guys. This is definitely something we can learn from and get back to work so we can get better.”
Coach Mark Pope was disappointed in the Cougars’ second-half performance.
“They ate offensive rebounds in the first half. They made all their shots in the second half so there wasn’t many offensive rebounds to be had,” he said. “We just have to guard. Twenty-three percent of their possessions were in transition. We did a great job in the first half and then we fell to pieces in the second half. That’s on me. I’ve got to fix that and we will. They picked up the pace in the second half in how they were running their offense. And we didn’t respond. We let them get downhill and it just unraveled.”
BYU trailed 38-31 at halftime, but the Zags eventually took control. A 15-2 run extended their lead to 24 points, 81-57, with four minutes remaining.
The Cougars were out-rebounded 37-21 and they made just 6 of 20 shots from 3-point range.
“I felt like we didn’t get as good of looks that we usually get,” Haws said. “I had a lot of contested 3s. They’re really long and they’re really good defensively.”
Gonzaga entered the week clinging to its No. 1 ranking after not looking as impressive as usual to start the conference schedule.
Well, Gonzaga coach Mark Few is happy with the way his team is playing now, after a 50-point victory over Santa Clara last Thursday and Saturday’s result.
“For us to hold that team to 69 points is a very good statement by our defense,” he said of BYU. “That’s an excellent offensive team.”
The Zags extended their overall winning streak against BYU to six games. What does that mean to his program?
“It means you’ve earned them. BYU doesn’t give you anything, man. You’ve got to earn it,” Few said. “You’ve got to tee it up and battle physically and you’ve got to tee it up and battle mentally just by being dialed into the little tricks they do with their slip screens and backcuts and they’re a potent team. They play hard.”
With the win, Gonzaga earned its 33rd consecutive regular-season conference game, surpassing Pepperdine for the West Coast Conference record, a mark the Waves set from 1991-93. It is currently the longest streak of its kind in the nation.
Gonzaga improved to 20-1 overall and 6-0 in the WCC. BYU dropped to 14-6 and 3-2.
While the Cougars were without injured star Yoeli Childs, the Zags lost Filip Petrusev to an ankle injury early in the second half. But Gonzaga simply raised it game to another level and outscored BYU by 16 points after losing Petrusev.
Five Gonzaga players scored in double figures — Killian Tillie (22 and 10 rebounds), Corey Kispert (19), Joel Ayayi (14), Admon Gilder (14) and Ryan Woolridge (11).
Meanwhile, prior to the game, Childs was dressed and on the floor, warming up after suffering a dislocated finger on his shooting hand on Jan. 7. But he didn’t end up playing. He’s now missed four straight games.
“He still has essentially an open wound. It’s got some healing to do before he can take a hit and endure it. We’ll just check every day and see how it’s going,” Pope said of Childs’ injury. “Hopefully, we can get him back soon. But in the meantime, we’ve got to win games. We can’t fall to pieces like that. We have to be better than that. I have to be better than that. My staff has to be better. And we will. We will start getting better right now and we’ll get better Monday and Tuesday.”
Life doesn’t get any easier for the Cougars this week as they travel to Pacific Thursday and San Francisco Saturday.
BYU (14-6, 3-2) at Pacific (15-6, 3-2)
Thursday, 8 p.m. MST
Spanos Center
TV: Stadium
Radio: 1160 AM, 102.7 FM