Pregame- Gonzaga vs St. Joseph's

After that thoroughly enjoyable thrashing of a top 20 ranked SMU team less than 48 hours ago, Zag Nation will certainly be curious to see how these Zags fare vs what should be a winnable St. Josephs team. We find out at 8 p.m. tonight in the always boisterous and friendly Kennel.

St. Josephs played in the NCAA tournament last year, losing to eventual National Champion UConn. They are also the defending Atlantic 10 Champions. But, with graduation and injuries (senior Papa NDao), they are not projected to do as well this season.

This year’s edition is led by Sophomore F 6-6 200 lb DeAndre Bembry. He is long and athletic, leads the team in scoring at 10.5 ppg, second in rebounding 6.5 pg, and he can step out of the paint to drill threes, hitting .346 last season. Bembry was also named co-rookie of the Atlantic 10 last year as well as preseason First Team All Conference for this season.

Another player to keep an eye on is F 6-7 Junior Isaiah Miles. He is a rebounding machine who leads the team ave. 11.0 boards per game. One of St. Joseph’s team strengths happens to be rebounding as they come in ave. 41 per game.

Although the Hawks are a bit light on deadly shooting deep threat snipers, they are led by Chris Wilson who buried 48 threes last season shooting a respectable .353.

St. Joseph’s record is currently 1-1, losing at home to Fairleigh Dickinson 58-57, and winning on the road vs Drexel 52-49.

To sum it all up, the opponent does not have a stellar offense. This team is not extremely dangerous from deep either, and they have had problems scoring. What they do have is a pretty solid defense, rebound well, and do not give up a lot of points, ave. just 55 ppg. The Hawks also lack size, which is not a good thing when playing this Zag team, plus they are playing in the Kennel, where Gonzaga is practically unbeatable. They do have pretty good depth, but it is not the kind of depth that the Zags have. The Zags go 10 deep with basically no drop off.

With that said, I expect a double digit win and a chance for everyone to get some playing time. It should be a fun game and, among other things, it will allow us to get a feel if newcomers Wesley, Sabonis, and Wiltjer can be consistent with what so far has been very successful play.

Go Zags!!~

*Catch the game on the radio- KIXI 880 am or tune in to ESPN U