WCC Game 7: @ Gonzaga

League Play
21

We may have won the game, but it wasn’t pretty.

Somehow our experienced players don’t seem to know how to break a zone defense or a full-court trapping press. And we didn’t take care of the ball well during those high-stress moments. After we were up 93-80 with under 4 minutes or so left in the game, we committed FOUR turnovers.

The only thing that bailed us out was hot perimeter shooting from multiple players.

We can’t count on hot shooting every game (Exhibit A: LMU game).

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22

Wow!!! I did not expect this especially after the LMU loss. I am glad the team showed up and played hard in a tough environment. Big win, now if we can keep it up maybe we can get someplace in the post season. Congratulations and I am renewing my faith. Gotta beat SMC at least once and hopefully also take care of WSU and OSU and not have any more ugly losses. Maybe talent will come through. Good to send Gonzaga off with no title.

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23

Great effort. Tyree Bryan!!,

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24

Awesome win!! The last 3:45 caused a tremendous amount of anxiety. Agree with earlier post in wanting BK on the floor.

This team suffered a tough defeat at LMU, but showed tremendous fight and confidence tonight.

Go Broncos!!

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25

wow wowow wowow (did I mention WOW). Way to get it done through every single thing, what a hell of a moment for the boys. Well earned across the board and way to hold on

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26

Bad day to be a couch

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27

My heart is full. Go Broncos!

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28

The best part about this win: now our boys KNOW that they can beat Gonzaga if they face each other in the WCC tournament. Hopefully we can beat SMC, too, to gain more confidence. It’s pretty clear that we aren’t going to get an at-large bid, so winning the conference tournament is the only way to get into the Big Dance.

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29

Happy for the kids… that was fun to watch. Win % has to be like 99+ (against any opponent) when you drain 18 threes.
Definitely erases the shooting stinker earlier this week.

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I’ve got some bad news for you in terms of school admin working with scpd to prevent this…

31

Burning my couch at home.

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32

Bryan becomes a Santa Clara legend. Holy smokes.

A season of “what ifs”… if we beat two of NDSU, USF, LMU and Stanford we’re probably in the field.

But I’ll enjoy this one tonight.

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33

that’s the spirit we’re looking for

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34

Yes!!
I remember a game at the kennel a few years back where the Zags topped 100 and the Broncos were in the 50s, most lopsided loss I ever saw. If you broke the game into 2-minute segments, the Broncos were outscored in all 20, and the biggest Bronco “run” was the 3 points following one of the few made threes. That’s right, they never made consecutive buckets, the Zags always answered.

Tonight feels like an exorcism!

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35

Santa Clara was the first team all season to hold Khalif Battle scoreless

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36

I’ll note that today was the first time ever on this board that I picked against the Broncos in the thread prediction. I was trying to emulate @92bronc 's sober analysis. What a day to break the streak.

So yes, I will take the credit today. Thank you.

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37

I will look for a Cougs prediction on Thursday. Thank you!

38

This was better to wake up to than the Thurs. result…

What a weird and unexpected week, wonder what the Vegas odds would have been for this week’s combined result….10-1, 20-1 ???

Bryant explodes, even more noteworthy considering he had 0 pts and was 0/5 from 3 on Thurs……appears he has a short memory and supreme confidence.

Watched all the highlights I could find and perused the Zag board….some random observations:

  • The 3pointers will get the attention, but worth noting we outrebounded the Zags by 8 including by 3 on the offensive glass. Key stat especially considering the Zags are a Top 20 defensive rebounding team.
  • Battle appears to be in Few’s doghouse. A talented player who has had some big games but only played 20mins. He’s their best perimeter defender so you’d think Few would want him out there for 30+ mins when we’re raining 3’s……to our advantage that he wasn’t. Along those line……Innocenti is a role player who usually plays a few mins, was defensive player of the year in the WAC last season as a fresh and a long, athletic Jalen Williams type. You’d also think Few would give a few mins to lock down Bryant or Bal on D……but nope, he didn’t play a minute.
  • The late game TO’s and panic against the press gives other teams a blueprint….we’ll see if we encounter more press going forward.
  • Hopefully this win gives the Broncos some confidence and more importantly some resolve to be laser focused on ratcheting up all aspects of their game. Improvement on the Def end is still desperately needed, we can’t count on making 18 3’s (or even a dozen) every game.
  • The next 3 games (home vs. WSU, @ OSU, home vs, SMC) are critical. Need to go at least 2-1, and if we can knock off SMC at home (very doable, Torvik shows it as pic’em effectively) then things really get interesting in the WCC.
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39

As usual great recap Bronc. What stood out to me was that the Zags KNOW they got pounded vs when we won at Leavey last season they shot well below their season FG % and 20% from three and felt they gave it away. Nemhard missed a FT with 12 seconds left to tie the game and Few was LIVID at him…
Plus, sweeter we won this on their home court. Might be the best win in the Sendek tenure….

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40

Agree…Herb’s best win at SCU, without question!!

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