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If excitement for a Gonzaga basketball game were determined by how close the outcome was, the Zags’ 77-72 win over San Francisco in a crucial West Coast Conference home game would probably get a pretty high rating. That certainly was the case Thursday night for the ESPN2 crew of Dave Fleming and Sean Farnham.
But if your curve is based on aggressive execution, excitement, or blitz, an “E” for effort is warranted, but your game’s overall rating may be one letter away.
What they saw…
• Yes, the game was close – USF led 31-30 at halftime – but the game was highlighted by turnovers, missed rebounds and too many shots from close range. It appeared – I use the word lightly – that it was a grinder.
Farnham pointed to multiple issues, telling his partner midway through the first half that he was seeing “pretty sloppy play on both ends of the court.”
Still, as the team headed to the locker room, we also heard him say that the game did not disappoint. Except for the basketball fans watching at his home.
• Outside of a key 3-point shooting by Nolan Hickman (he made 3 and scored 11 points) and some small runs by both teams, buoyed by San Francisco’s incredible resources, especially His shooting was not up to normal. The Zags were under 37% in the first half.
As the struggles at the McCarthy Athletic Center continued into the second half, Farnham admitted he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Offensively, I’m really surprised that we haven’t seen a good run from either team yet,” he said with the score tied with about eight minutes left in the game. “You want to give credit to the defense, but it’s important to acknowledge that in many ways both teams have been better defensively…But offensively, neither team has shown any efficiency on back-to-back possessions. It hasn’t been done.”
What happened after that? The unranked Zags (14-5 overall, 5-1 in WCC play) started making shots, scoring 17 of the next 21 points and finally taking the lead.
When Gonzaga eventually built a 13-point lead, Coach Farnham said, “The Zags just started practicing on a night where we just didn’t have any rhythm offensively.”
“San Francisco’s offense just disappeared,” Fleming added.
After a tough first half, the Bulldogs shot 58.3% in the second half. Following Coach Farnham’s advice, he successfully fed big players Graham Icke (5-of-7 field goals, 19 points after halftime, 22 points overall) and Anton Watson (5-of-6 field goals). . field, 13, 15).
Despite these numbers, Gonzaga’s too many free throw misses forced the Dons into a tailspin. Watson and Ryan Nembhard each missed three of four in the second half.
“The Dons can’t stay quiet here,” Fleming said before Nembhard made two misses with 46 seconds left. In the end, Watson hit the final shot (3-of-9 overall), USF turned it around, Ben Gregg and Ike made it on the final line, and Gonzaga survived.
“This is a perfect summary of this year,” Fleming said. “It wasn’t easy.”
It hasn’t been easy for San Francisco (15-6, 4-2). The Dons were never taken off the field, and he was less than a third of his number on shots after halftime. Leading scorer Jonathan Mogbo took just six shots and scored just eight points.
What we saw…
• Even if he couldn’t name the official Thursday night, he might have remembered his face. There’s a reason for that. All three don’t play much in Gonzaga’s games, but that’s not because they aren’t good enough. In fact, this trio may have McCarthy’s best overall resume of any group.
How is it? Doug Shaws, Terry Oglesby and Jeffrey Anderson have all contributed to the Final Four multiple times, an honor reserved for the best, at least as far as the NCAA is concerned.
In fact, Oglesby, who was a substitute when Gonzaga lost to North Carolina in the 2017 title game, and Anderson, who is known for his high knee runs, played alongside Oglesby in last year’s Final Four title game between UW and San Diego State. .
“He’s the Roger Craig of officiating,” Farnham said of Anderson in the first half, referring to the running back who last played in the NFL in 1993. “Jeffrey Anderson, you’re one of the best in officiating,” Farnham added. A few minutes later.
And what about the show? He has played in the finals “only” three times, the last time being in 2019.
However, Fleming was less impressed.
“There were so many whistles in this game,” he said after the whistle blew again with nearly 18 minutes left.
Gonzaga fans weren’t particularly impressed either, but they were particularly impressed with Anderson, who called two fouls against GU when replays show there was little to no contact. In the end, they gave USF three free throws with nine seconds left.
• It’s nice to know that broadcast crews can have travel issues, too, because “they’re just like us.” Even if you are as well known in these areas as Farnham.
When Farnham arrived at the Spokane Airport on Tuesday, she was dismayed to find that the rental car she had booked was no longer reserved.
How do we know? That afternoon, he posted a Seinfeld video about booking a rental car on X (formerly Twitter). Jerry and Elaine are at the rental car counter and the clerk tells them that his mid-car is not available. The rift over the difference between “taking” a reservation and “holding” a reservation is typical. It’s different from almost everything that happened in the game.
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