Recap: Gonzaga @ Michigan St.

Final Score:Michigan St. 75 Gonzaga 71

Box Score Snapshot
Scorer: Robert Sacre/Elias Harris 17 Points
Rebounder:Elias Harris 9 Boards
Passer: Matt Bouldin/Steven Gray 4 Assists
Swatter: Steven Gray 3 Blocks
Thief: Elias Harris 3 Steals



Game MVP: Elias Harris
17 Points, 9 Boards, 3 Steals, and an Assist

Team Comparison: Zags/Spartans
Points: 71/75
Assist to /Turnover Ratio: 1.09/0.75
Rebounds: 30/43
Shooting Percentage: 36%/44%
3pt Percentage: 22%/27%

What it means for the future (Analysis):
What a great Game! The Zags played their hearts out. Its not often you see a Mid Major team with 9 freshman travel across the country and almost walk away with a win. For 37 Minutes of the 40 Minute game, the Zags were the better team. Overall it seemed that the Zags played like a much better team than many expected.

Robert Sacre looked amazing, if it was not for foul trouble he may have scored twice his 17 points. His Jump Hooks and around the basket offense was on full display, definitely one of the better offensive centers in the country. As Tom Izzo said, He is built like Adonis.

Elias Harris continued his excellent all around play showing the country that the Zags have yet again struck gold on the recruiting trail. He Played with the spunk of a seasoned vet, and in all honestly is quickly making Zag Fans forget about that Austin Daye kid. I think he is further along at this point that Daye is now in the pros.

That being said for as good as our frontcourt played, our backcourt was just as bad. Matt Bouldin seemed to press things at times, playing more like a Freshman than the Senior he is. He really needs to slow it down, and be more selective with his looks, he had 4 turnovers and a couple of those were just plain bad. Steven Gray seemed to be pressing things quite a bit and shot 3-14 from the floor and 1-8 from three, he really needs to get his shot back, if not he is nothing more than a defensive specialist. Dmitri Goodson continues to play great defense and he doesn't make a lot of mistakes on offense, but he also really does not contribute much. He had his hands involved in only 3 points all night, 1 for himself and 2 for his one assist. All in all the backcourt finished 8-34(23.5%) from the floor and 3-16(18.8%) from three, really the big difference in the game.

The bench looked lost. Kelly Olynyk is really playing like a freshman right now, not that he shouldn't but his extended minutes have been hurting this team. I cringed every time he got on the floor, he put up bad shots, play porous defense, and looked all together confused by the speed of the game and MSU's defense. He also didn't move his feet much on offense, at times he would kind of hang about two feet from the three point line and just watch the team go to work. I think he will get better over time, but right now he is a liability. GJ Vilarino played well for the most part, but he is nothing more than a Dmitri Goodson clone, which means he plays great defense but is having trouble contributing much of anything on the offensive side of the ball. Will Foster was the bright spot off the bench, in 12 minutes off the bench he ended up with a nice shot and 3 boards. Manny Arop played 1 minute and looked like a Project, he took a bad shot and gathered a rebound.

In the end, we all expected this game to be tough, but i dont think many (other than me, i predicted 75-70) expected the Zags to come this close to an upset. They played very well as a whole and came into this game with a fire and intensity that they have lacked in seasons past. Expect this team to continue to learn more about themselves through the early season schedule with games against IPFW and the Maui Invitational coming up. GO ZAGS!