Revenge is on the mind for the Zags.
A massive shakeup in the starting lineup before the 105-62 win at Portland this past Saturday lit a fire in the stomach’s of Gonzaga. Graham Ike and Khalif Battle came off the bench for the first time since both transferred into the program. Ike’s streak of 95 straight starts dating all the way back to February 4, 2021 during his freshman season at Wyoming ended.
Coach Mark Few replaced the two with Braden Huff and Emmanuel Innocenti. The defensive-minded Tarleton State transfer could be the missing piece to strain the woes this team has had on that side of the ball all season.
Oregon State upset Gonzaga in the Gill Coliseum back on January 16th in overtime, 97-89. The one aspect of that loss for Gonzaga that went extremely well was the crashing off the offensive glass (19). The Zags didn’t capitalize on those second-chance opportunities over and over again and have to improve on that aspect in the second go-around. The Beavers rank dead last in the West Coast Conference in rebounding with a mere 33.9 RPG so take advantage of that weak trait from coach Wayne Tinkle’s team.
The likes of Ben Gregg as well as Ike and Huff need to step up their physicality toward Michael Rataj (tied for 8th in the country with 8 double-doubles) who was getting whatever he wanted offensively in the first meeting. The 6’9, 220-pound junior finished with 29 points and 7 rebounds while showing of his versatility near the rim as well as with stretching out the floor. He does it all for Oregon State as he currently leads the team with 18.0 PPG, 8.0 PPG, and 1.9 SPG.
Player to Watch For:
Nate Kingz (junior, guard) – 12.2 PPG on 54.7 FG%/48.9 3PT%/80.4 FT%, 2.4 RPG, 1.0 SPG
Kingz was lights out from deep of the win over the Zags, finishing with 20 points on 6-9 FG/3-4 3PT/5-6 3PT to go along with 3 steals. Few’s defensive adjustments were pretty much invisible towards trying to slow down Kingz on the perimeter. The rotation was weak from the Zags as the junior seemed to be completely by himself on his three-point attempts.
From what was seen at Portland this past Saturday, Innocenti will be focused primarily on Kingz defensively if he were to get the nod for his second straight start out on the wing.
Gonzaga (15-6, 6-2 conference record) hosts Oregon State (16-6, 6-3 conference record) in the Kennel on Tuesday, December 28 at 8 PM PT on ESPN2. The Zags can’t ahead of themselves with Saint Mary’s on the horizon and need to start having authority over the pace against the top programs in the WCC. Controlling the tempo is a priority for this group if they want any chance of writing the wrongs from the first matchup against the Beavers.
These two programs lead the conference in field goal percentage with Gonzaga at 50.0 FG% and Oregon State at 49.8 FG%. As for the three-point percentage, The Beavers are first in the WCC at 38.1 3PT% and the Zags are third at 36.1 3PT%. Both programs are consistent from the charity stripe with Gonzaga at 80.0 FT% to lead the league but Oregon State close behind at 79.1 FT%.
Expect this matchup between these two Pacific Northwest foes to be yet another high-scoring affair from all scoring levels.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho