Stellar point guard play from Ryan Nembhard. Posts Graham Ike and Braden Huff combining for roughly their season average point total. The bench coming up big again. And the defense putting together another quality effort.
Those have been Gonzaga’s trademarks early on this season, and all were on display Wednesday against visiting Long Beach State.
Nembhard was on track for another double-double before going to the bench when GU’s lead ballooned to 35 midway through the second half. The post tandem contributed 27 points, and top three reserves Huff, Dusty Stromer and Ben Gregg chipped in 24 points and 18 rebounds.
It added up to an 84-41 rout for the third-ranked Zags in their final tune-up before next week’s Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. Gonzaga (5-0) opens against West Virginia on Wednesday.
Gonzaga played adhesive defense early, at one point forcing Long Beach State to go 9 minutes between field goals. The offense was clicking, too, as the Zags led 9-2 at the first media break and 17-4, forcing a Long Beach State timeout.
Gonzaga continued to pull away after the break, extending its lead to 33-9 on Khalif Battle’s 3-pointer with 7:40 remaining.
“We had a really, really good week on the defensive end and obviously, the offense has continued to hum along,” Zags coach Mark Few said. “That was two good halves there. We had a little 5-minute letdown at the end of the first half, but our numbers are getting better.”
The Beach (1-4) had 9-0 and 6-0 spurts to cut the deficit to 14, but Huff’s field goal bumped Gonzaga’s halftime lead to 40-24. Huff led a balanced offense with eight points, and six teammates scored at least four points.
Gonzaga thoroughly dominated the second half, outscoring Long Beach State 44-17.
The Zags used a 14-0 burst to open up a 68-33 lead with 9 minutes remaining. GU rested many of its starters, including Nembhard, who finished with 10 points and seven assists, and many fans decided to hit the exits.
Long Beach State finished 31.5% from the field and was just 2 of 20 behind the 3-point line.
“We did a better job than we’ve done all year of really getting over the top of screens,” Few said. “We did a good job contesting. They didn’t really get a lot of good looks.”
Devin Askew, a fifth-year guard who played previously at Kentucky, Texas and Cal, had a rough shooting night (5 of 18 from the field) and finished with a team-high 12 points, five below his season average.
“That was a great defensive performance from everybody,” Ike said. “Everybody was on point, hitting coverages, the help was there on the backside. Every game we’ve been dialed in.”
“Guys are playing with great effort and great physicality,” Few said. “Against this team, we played pretty clean. They came in with guards making a lot of free throws, and we did a good job of keeping our hands back.”
The Zags were outrebounded by one in the first half and second-chance points accounted for half of Long Beach State’s 24 points. Gonzaga flipped that stat, winning the glass by 10 in the closing half and finishing with a 20-12 edge in second-chance points.
“They really hurt us in the first half, especially when they made that run at the end of the first half,” Few said. “We addressed that and, to their credit, the guys really stepped up. We got a little more physical, and our guards came and helped out.”
Ike and Battle each had 15 points, and Huff added 12, his fifth consecutive game in double figures. Ike made 6 of 7 free throws and has hit 15 of 18 in the past two games. Nolan Hickman hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points.
The Zags led wire to wire and haven’t trailed in 126 minutes and 27 seconds of game action — since the 7:21 mark in the second half against Arizona State in the second game of the season.
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