January 11, 2013

St. Mary's vs. Gonzaga Player Rankings

Honestly for this game there should be two sets of player rankings, a first and second half, but as you can't win a basketball game only playing one half (although both teams tried) I will be taking both halves into account and giving the players what they deserve.  Feel free to sound off in the comments below.


Gonzaga
Kelly Olynyk- Olynyk came up big time and time again for the Zags and scored near his season high netting 31. He became the first Zag to score back to back 30 point games since Adam Morrison. Unfortunately he also shot his sixth worst percentage of the year (although it was still over .500) and seemed to stall the offense at times. The biggest concern with our Wooden snub, was he failed to rebound the ball and often forgot to play defense in the second half. Looked great hedging screens in the first half. Overall rating: 7.5

Elias Harris- Harris had a quiet 11 points and 6 rebounds, failing to match up on defense with Waldow or Levesque. Earlier this year Harris was rebounding like he belonged in the NBA, now he is doing so like he belongs in the WCC. On offense I would like to see him and KO working the high-low a bit more. Zags need to make sure to keep his confidence high. Overall ranking: 6.5

Guy Landry Edi- Where is the elite athlete Gonzaga fans where hoping to see? The lock-down defender we all know he can be? Edi played just five minutes and was pulled by Few.  He didn't have any turnovers or dumb shots, but also didn't didn't perform to his capabilities on defense. It's hard to tell if he is in Few's doghouse since he started the game, but its obvious Coach doesn't have a lot of confidence in him right now. Overall rating: 5

Gary Bell Jr.- Bell may have been the best player on the court throughout the night. He didn't get rattled by St. Mary's comeback and played solid defense throughout on Dellavedova, making him work for his 14 points. While bell didn't contribute much on the offensive end, the Zags didn't ask him to. You shut down Delly, and we will do the rest. Overall rating: 8.5

Kevin Pangos- Pangos doesn't struggle to shoot in the MAC, as he scored an easy 22 points, many of which were big shots when we needed them. While Kelly and Harris have the seniority, Pangos is the leader of this team. His size still keeps him from being a great defender and often was the reason why Holt was able to get his points, but his 3 steals led the way for a team who takes care of the ball well. Overall rating: 7.5

David Stockton- Earlier this year I wrote an apology to Stockton and hart and they are trying to make me regret it. How can a player who was doing well against big time schools struggle in the WCC? For the second game in a row Stockton couldn't handle a WCC guard. Against SCU Foster manhandled him and now Holt goes for 23. Wile he has great vision and patience on offense (as seen by his seven assists, he needs to find a way to be successful on both ended of the court. Overall rating: 4

Mike Hart- Hart is a great rebounder and a great defender...however he had zero rebounds in his 20 minutes and allowed Levesque to have a great night.  His activity level was not where it usually is tonight. According to sources he is the first player picked anytime they pick teams for scrimmages, he needs to prove that he can do more than just scrimmage games. Overall rating: 4

Sam Dower- Some may consider this a step forward for the young center, I'm not one of those people. Dower continues to struggle on both ends of the court and has refused to learn how to use his right hand in the post.  Any time he goes right he misses and when he goes left teams expect it. That being said his 4-6 was a nice change of pace, but his lack of rebounding is still a cause for concern. Overall rating: 5

Przemek Karnowski- I would have loved to see some more of PK in this one. In his limited minutes he looked solid, as he was 2-2 from the field and had a couple rebounds. His defense was solid and he is a big body that can take up space down low. While he doesn't have the speed to match up against a lot of the Gaels players, his use of his size prevented Saint Mary's from getting what they wanted on offense. Overall rating: 7


St. Mary's
Mitchell Young-Young was active in trying to make Gonzaga's big men take tough shots throughout the game, but failed to get himself going on the offensive end. He let his man settle in too deep in the post and was taken out of the game early on. When he returned he was able to make a difference on the boards. While he hit his averages in what St. Mary's expects from him, in big games he needs to step it up on the defensive end. Overall rating: 6

Brad Waldow- Waldow matched up against KO and was unable to stop him in either half. Most of the misses by Gonzaga's 7 footer were due more to simple misses then great defensive pressure. His stats don't tell the whole story as his big free throw misses (including missing the front end of two 1 and 1's) often stalled SMC runs. Overall rating: 5

Matthew Dellavedova- Both Coach Bennett and "Delly" summed it up after the game: "he has to shoot better for us to win." It is as simple as that. He was hampered all game by Bell. He shot his third worst percentage of the year and had his second fewest assists. Dellavedova never looked comfortable or had that trouty-mouthed swag GU fans are used to hating. Overall rating: 3

Jorden Page- Page is a player who is either hot or cold. He has the ability to go off for 26 (against Northern Iowa) or score only 4 against Rhode Island. Coach Bennett noticed early that Page just wasn't going to be effective and room him out in only 13 minutes. Couldn't make a 3 despite his 37% percentage on the year. Player rating: 1

Stephen Holt- Holt tied a career high against the Zags with 23 points and kept the Gaels in this game. His size (6'4) bothered the smaller Stockton. While he shot the ball well (9-14), most of his points came because he outmuscled his defender. His presence and maturity on the court kept the Gaels from throwing in the towel. Player Rating: 9

Kyle Rowley- The fifth year senior could have been the difference for the Gaels if he could have stayed on the court. His intensity was high but played just 10 minutes as he picked up 4 fouls in that time. His fouls mostly came from his lack of speed trying to keep up with KO on the dribble. Was 3-4 on offense and made GU's bigs work to keep his 280 pounds off the boards. Overall rating: 5.5

Beau Levesque- Levesque had 5 rebounds on the night and 4 of them were offensive rebounds... I think he scored a easy bucket on half of those, not to mention the steal he got by ripping the ball out KO's hands for the easy putback. In a game where SMC was struggling in the post Levesque was a bright spot. This all happened in the second half, however. In the first half he was playing reckless and got into foul trouble trying to hamper Gonzaga's big men down low. He may have been the beneficiary of the refs swallowing their whistles at times. Overall rating: 7.5

Jordan Guisti- Coming off of his biggest game of the year against LMU, the freshman guard collected 2 rebounds and an assist. He needs to be confident when he gets an open shot in the offense, but he can't be blamed for this loss as his 7 minutes were used to get Holt and Dellabedova some much needed rest. Overall rating: 5

James Walker III- While Coach Bennett took Jorden Page out early, I couldn't figure out why he played Walker so much. Walker did a poor job guarding Pangos all night, and managed just 2 points on 0-3 shooting. His 3 rebounds (2 offensive) were a bright spot but when averaging 9.6 points a game, he needs to find a way to get more than 2 in 27 minutes of play. This is his lowest output when playing more than 20 min in his career. Overall rating: 3

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