🏀 Reversal of Fortune
I watched my first Gonzaga Men's basketball game in quite a while tonight. It was a rematch with Oregon State who upset the Zags in overtime a little over a week ago. I'd thought that previous game had been a home game, but I was mistaken, tonight's rematch was here in Spokane. Of course any game with Oregon State is of interest to me because their coach, Wayne Tinkle, was the best player on my dad's first team at Ferris back in the early 80s. He was a senior that year and went on to have an outstanding college career at the University of Montana. My dad also got his master's degree from Oregon State and as someone who was born in Oregon I've always preferred OSU to U of O, particularly since the Phil Knight/Nike-powered UO athletics renaissance.
The game ended up being a comfortable 98-60 win for the Zags. Graham Ike dominated the paint early with a succession of quick post-ups and Nembhard finding him. Defense was much improved with Emmanuel Innocenti getting the nod and Khalif Battle thriving in a sixth man instant offense role. Mark Few is too good of a coach to not figure out how to make the most of this talented squad. Offense has never been the issue, but I'm impressed that we're starting to get the defense turned around significantly after a pretty bad January lull. The Zags are looking much more ready for their big game at SMC on Saturday.