WCC Semifinal Recap - As Expected Zags and Gaels to face off in Title Game

 The Orleans Arena was “neutral” only in terms of geography, as the crowd heavily favored Gonzaga for the Semifinal tip off yesterday vs. Loyola Marymount.  I counted perhaps 25 students in the Loyola Marymount Student Section, but they were raucously cheering on their squad as they gave Gonzaga quite the run for their money in the first half (pun intended - this is Vegas after all).  As a Gonzaga alum and fan, the first half yesterday was probably the worst half all season.  To be perfectly honest, it was embarrassing and I was thankful that the rest of the nation would likely be watching the Duke/UNC battle instead.

The first half was atrocious, Gonzaga was shooting in the mid 20% range, Kelly Olynyk was taking good shots, but none were falling, and the pesky Lions managed to hang tough throughout.  The LMU student section was chanting, “Over-Rated” within minutes of the game beginning and weren’t silenced until mid-way through the second half.  It was one of those “is this really happening?” type halves, where all we could hope was that the team would come out of half time with a chip on their shoulders.  And that, they did.

The second half was much better than the first.  The team played with more emotion, more heart, more determination and a will to win.  They showed which team had the most talent and they quickly pulled out a 12, then 15, then 20 point lead.  Overall, the Zags shot 43.5% for the game, 35.7% from 3pt range, and only made 67.7% from Free Throws (21-31).  They outrebounded LMU and had less turnovers.   Was it a win for the record books?  In terms of play, definitely not.  But, Gonzaga did capture their 30^th win of the regular season and will advance to the Championship game Monday night.  It is important to note that Elias Harris had an amazing night, scoring 21 points, 8 rebounds (it seemed like more), 3 steals, and 2 blocks.  He was tremendous tonight when Kelly was having an off night.

 The second game of the night featured San Diego and Saint Mary’s, and neither team had much of a fan base in attendance.  The majority of the crowd was Gonzaga supporters who stayed to cheer on San Diego.  This game was much more of a battle throughout its entirety.  The scrappy duo of Johnny Dee and Christopher Anderson gave Delly and the SMC squad numerous challenges.  San Diego had a strong lead early on, but the Gaels fought back to a 3 point deficit heading into halftime.  Dellavedova had a rough shooting night making 7 points on 2-12 field goals, but he did earn 12 assists.  Brad Waldow also lost a tooth in the second half while fighting for a rebound.  The game came down to a 3 point USD lead with mere seconds left in the 2^nd half.  Had San Diego fouled, SMC would have gone to the line shooting 2.  Instead, they opted to take their chances that their defense would prevail.  What happened instead is Dellavedova (king of crazy buzzer beater makes) had the ball and shot and made a 3 at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.  Saint Mary’s ended up winning 69-66. 

 This sets us up for yet another Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s West Coast Conference Championship Game Monday night.  The Gaels and the Bulldogs have faced off in the Championship Game every year since the event moved to Las Vegas in 2009.   Last year, the Gaels were the better team as they beat Gonzaga to earn the West Coast Conference Regular Season Championship and in the title game for the West Coast Conference Tournament Championship.  This year, the Zags are hot for revenge.  They have already reclaimed the Regular Season crown, and now they will fight to reclaim the Tournament crown.  If the Zags come out flat like they did in Saturday’s first half, it could be a scary game.  But, I expect our team to come out with fire and ready to show the Gaels what a number 1 team is capable of.  We will find out for sure on Monday night.   

ZagUp!