Rebounding from the BYU loss

SPOKANE — On the plus side …

Yes, believe it or not, the Zags’ rather unsightly 91-78 loss at BYU Saturday night really did have a plus side.

More than one, in fact.

We can start with the notion that the Zags now officially can get off that cruise control ride they’ve been daydreaming through for the past month or so.

It wasn’t just the weak-kneed defeat in front of about 19,000 screaming Cougar fans at the Marriott Center, either.

That was simply the pretty predictable outcome at the end of a stretch that Gonzaga coaches understood wasn’t good enough.

The crash was almost certain to happen, but as Killian Tillie pointed out: “I’d rather have a loss now than in March.”

True enough, but did we see some things that suggest there could be a similar defeat in March — either at the WCC tournament or in the NCAA dance?

FIRST, LET’S look at how all the Zags’ various winning streaks came tumbling to an end.

And yes, we were warned.

That 22-point first half against San Francisco at the Kennel last Thursday night hinted that Gonzaga’s offensive rhythm was apparently subject to some stumbles and bumps.

That mud sandwich got ignored, more or less, when USF collapsed in the second half and the Zags found 49 points lying around the place — all to be collected at ease.

Such a failure to score, especially from a team averaging a tick over 88 points per game, perhaps should have provided a serious hint that if a pretty decent team chose to punch the Zags in the mouth over 40 minutes, we might not enjoy the outcome.

BYU definitely did that.

Mark Few summed it perfectly when he said: “We were out-toughed in all phases of the game.”

But here’s something to consider …

If you take all the heart, soul and effort out of that Saturday night collapse, you actually might suspect that the result came down to accuracy.

BOTH TEAMS can and did score in the paint.

They may not have looked as smooth as usual, but the Zags’ trio of bigs — Filip Petrusev, Drew Timme and Tillie — combined for 40 points and 13 rebounds.

BYU inside players Yoeli Childs, Kolby Lee and Zac Seljaas checked in with 49 points and 20 rebounds.

There were two outliers in those totals: Childs was a monster with 28 and 10, while on the Gonzaga side, Petrusev managed only two rebounds in 22 minutes.

To put that in perspective, Timme had eight rebounds in 17 minutes. Even stranger, Zags guards Joel Ayayi and Ryan Woolridge combined for 15 rebounds.

None of those numbers, though, tell you how this game played out.

It was obvious from the tipoff that Gonzaga would have to double-team Childs, and the Zags did it whenever possible.

Unfortunately, Childs either found Lee underneath or kicked the ball outside, where Jake Toolson and TJ Haws led an 11-for-27 barrage of 3-pointers.

On the other end, BYU likewise couldn’t guard any of the Gonzaga bigs one-on-one, so they also swarmed into the paint.

Predictably, that led to the Zags getting plenty of open looks, but Corey Kispert — one of the nation’s best 3-point shooters — went 1 for 10 despite rarely being challenged.

When you total up that whole mess, BYU finished 53.2 percent from the field, while the Zags clanked it up there at 41.7 — including an awful 5 for 25 from beyond the arc.

WHEN FEW referred to toughness, he was talking about bobbled rebounds (Petrusev consistently fought to hold the ball), hustle on defense, and an overall lack of willingness to battle the Cougs physically in what was a loosely-called game.

The Zags flew home in a bad mood, mostly angry at themselves.

Petrusev used the world “soft” to describe the entire effort, and Kispert blamed lack of quick rotations for Childs, in particular, being able to find open shooters when he was double-teamed.

Remember that we mentioned there were some upsides to that lost evening in the Wasatch Mountains?

Here are the two big ones:

First, the Zags weren’t overwhelmed by a team just dripping with talent.

Oh, the Cougs are pretty good, but they don’t have skills of some teams that Gonzaga hopes (and expects) to face in March.

As Few suggested, BYU just wanted it more and — especially on defense — they flew to their assignments as though being followed by Coach Mark Pope with a blowtorch.

The Zags, on the other hand, always seemed a step late.

Against a team leading the nation in 3-point shooting, you’d better be quick when the ball zips back out from the post.

ONE THING the Zags insisted was not a factor was the crowd.

Several players pointed out that they’d faced loud, hostile environments at Washington and Arizona — among other stops — and played calm, efficient basketball.

“It’s just white noise,” Kispert said. “It doesn’t bother us.”

The howling crowd did have one effect, though: It kept the Cougars revved up.

“We were feeling a lot of frustration when Gonzaga got within two points (70-68),” Pope said. “We made some mistakes. And they’re one of the best teams in the country, so if you put your head down and let them really start to play, you’re in big trouble.

“I think the crowd helped us then. We went from frustration to fighting back. We got a couple of baskets from hard work and opened up the lead again.

“A lot of kids in that crowd spent two night outside in 30-degree weather to see this game, so we HAD to keep fighting.”

OH, YES …

The second item on the “no catastrophe” list was that the Zags really didn’t lose much in terms of rankings, seeds for the NCAA tournament, etc.

San Diego State was kind enough to lose at home to unranked UNLV, leaving Gonzaga still holding the No. 1 seed in the West Region — assuming there isn’t another stumble along the way.

The Zags finish the regular season with home games against San Diego on Thursday and Saint Mary’s on Saturday.

They absolutely must win both, then with a bye into the semifinals of the WCC tournament, they almost surely will face BYU, Saint Mary’s (or both) all over again.

Tillie threw down the gauntlet by announcing flat-out that he wants another shot at BYU, and he may well get it.

If the Zags win their last four games, they will enter the NCAA tournament at 31-2 and with the top seed in West — with the first weekend set for Spokane Arena.

Gonzaga is still No. 3 in the NCAA’s overall NET rating, and won’t back up without another loss.

Of course, we’ve just now seen all the things that can go wrong on a bad night — especially a bad night when you’re not bothered enough to work hard.

Few will no doubt be doing everything in his power to prevent a repeat of that.

The Zags haven’t been out-hustled very often in the last two decades.

It would be a shock to see it happen twice in three weeks.

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Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns for The Press appear on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He also contributes the “Zags Tracker” package on Gonzaga basketball each Tuesday.

Steve’s various tales from several decades in sports — “Moments, Memories and Madness” — run on Sundays.