Gonzaga Tougher, Wiser After Loss

The Gonzaga Bulldogs weathered their first loss this season, 79-71 at home to BYU, ending their perfect season. But could their loss be the wake-up call they need?

The Gonzaga Bulldogs appeared to be on their way to yet another double-digit conference win early in their loss to the BYU Cougars on Saturday. They started the game on an 18-2 run in front of a sold-out crowd on Senior Day in Spokane. BYU, to their credit, tightened up the efficiency on both ends of the floor and bit deeply into the first-half lead. They trailed by only six points at halftime and managed to slay a giant on their home floor in the second half.

The BYU Cougars ended up taking only the third second-half lead by a Gonzaga opponent all year and outscored the Bulldogs by 14 in the second half. The Bulldogs were unable to contain BYU forward Eric Mika, who scored 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, four on the offensive glass. Gonzaga forgot how to close teams out: they missed free throws, got beat on loose balls, and suffered too many turnovers.

Some blamed the loss on close-game inexperience. Gonzaga has been so dominant this year in the West Coast Conference that it hasn’t faced much adversity. Head coach Mark Few has simply run out his deep rotation of players every time and they have routinely run opponents out of the building, sometimes out of their own building.

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But Gonzaga hasn’t been a scarier NCAA Tournament team than it is right now. With the loss at home, after building several double-digit leads to spoil what would have been the first undefeated season in Zags’ history, the Bulldogs now have close game experience, complete with a lesson on what happens when you don’t put an opponent away.

Gonzaga has obviously fallen from its perch as the best team in the nation after the loss. With a weak schedule the rest of the way, excluding a presumed WCC championship date with St. Mary’s, they are unlikely to overtake Big-12 Champion Kansas at this point. But they are still a number-one seed with the talent, and now the experience, to compete in the Final Four.

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