The Gongaza Bulldogs have a 9-4 tally and occupy the 13th place in the AP Polls. They lost their recent game against the San Diego State Aztecs by an 84-74 margin. For the Gonzaga, the best performance came from their forward Graham Ike who besotted a team-high 20 points. He was well supported by their guard Ryan Nembhard who slammed 15 points and forward Anton Watson who soused 16 points. Ike also nabbed 10 rebounds, thus having a double-double in the process. Despite reasonable performances from three players, the Bulldogs were outclassed by the Aztecs. 

This loss has raised a lot of questions with some critics even opining that the Gonzaga might not be able to make it to the knockouts this season. A detailed look into their performances and problems will give us a better idea of how the Gonzaga stand this season.

How have the Gonzaga performed?

This was just the fourth meeting between the Bulldogs and the Aztecs with the former falling down for the third time. Interestingly, the Gonzaga have won only one game against the Aztecs. This also marked the Gonzaga’s seventeenth loss in the New Kennel. They have won 272 matches before this one. For the Aztecs, their guard Reese Waters basketed 22 points and helped his team cross over the finish line.  

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The Bulldogs lost against major teams namely the Purdue Boilermakers, the University of Connecticut Huskies and now against the Aztecs. They lost by a decent margin against the Boilermakers with a 63-73 record and against the UConn by a 63-76. Against the Boilermakers Ike, Nembhard and guard Nolan Hickman contributed in double figures. The rest of the team found it difficult to cross single digits. 

Against the UConn only Nembhard and Watson pumped up points, others were more or less mired in complications. The Gonzaga have not shown a collective team effort. Barring a player or two, they have mostly found it difficult to tick boxes from their other players.

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Though they form a successful pair with Ike and Nembhard. Nembhard dominates in assists per game with an average of 5.7, whereas Ike has a swoon-worthy 14.5 points per match. But lack of team effort and also Nembhard not unraveling his full potential, has made the Gonzaga accustomed to major losses this season. They were once regarded a top team and are nowhere close now. But the problems do not end here.

A list of unticked boxes

As for now, the Gonzaga look no different from a regular WCC team. They lost their major forward Drew Timme and guard Julian Strawther. Both declared for the NBA draft. Timme had smashed an average of 21.2 points per game with 7.5 rebounds per match and 3.2 assists per contest during the NCAA 2022-23 season. Strawther dropped 15.2 points per game with 6.2 rebounds per contest during the last NCAA season.

Another of their guard Hunter Sallis transferred to the Wake Forest where he has smoked 18.2 points per match with 3.3 rebounds per game. Previously at the Gonzaga during the 2022-23 season, Sallis just averaged 4.5 games per contest. Thus, the Gonzaga would be hurting for not giving enough chances to Sallis and adjusting their plans according to his style of play. Another of their guard Steele Venters had a season ending injury in his knee due to which he has been sidelined. Thus, the Gonzaga are in trouble from all the quarters.

Their two pointer and three pointer percentage has dropped significantly. Hence, it has taken away the sting from the Gonzaga in their offense. They have fallen flat on expectations. Though it was quite obvious that the team wouldn’t be as good at shooting as it was when Strawther and Timme played for them, nonetheless the Gonzaga didn’t expect such a drastic fall this season. 

Another problem with the Gonzaga is that they lack depth. They have mostly been reliant on their top 2-3 players and that has caused a lot of trouble for them. Their highest points average comes from Ike who has smoked 14.5 points per game. And after their top five the points average drops to 7.1 points per game which is more than a 50% decline. Thus, the Gonzaga have trouble in rotating the players. 

Does this affect their chances of making it to the knockout?

Will the Gonzaga fail to qualify for the knockouts?

For the Gonzaga, this loss was a shock since they were defeated at home. What could turn things in the Gonzaga’s favor is if they can decimate the Kentucky going ahead in the tournament. The Gonzaga have to do a lot of work. They have to find good shooters and also have a co-ordination among their team players.

Another thing that the Gonzaga should do is find depth. They didn’t utilize  Sallis to the fullest and now he has been catching eyeballs at the Wake Forest. The Gonzaga will have to give time to all their benched players just to check if some of them have the potential to make things easy for them.

The Gonzaga’s tournament run this year has been quite average and if they continue such performances, they surely will make no difference to the NCAA tournament. It is quite possible that they miss qualifying for the knockouts.

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Another interesting point to note is that Nembhard hasn’t performed up to the mark since he was transferred out of the Creighton Bluejays. With the Bluejays, his gameplay just fit perfectly well, but now with the Gonzaga he seems to be a little off. And as of now, it looks difficult for the Gonzaga to make it to the knockouts.