Gonzaga isn’t in the favorite’s position but the No. 19 Bulldogs are the hottest team in the West Coast Conference as they enter Monday night’s tournament semifinal clash against third-seeded San Francisco at Las Vegas.
Gonzaga is seeded second behind regular-season champion Saint Mary’s but the Bulldogs served notice with a solid 70-57 road takedown of the Gaels in the regular-season finale on March 2.
Suddenly, a Gonzaga squad that sputtered a lot early in the season has won eight straight games and 13 of its past 14 as the Bulldogs (24-6) play their first game of the WCC tournament after receiving a double-bye into the semis.
Meanwhile, the Dons (23-9) are coming off a dominating 72-51 victory over sixth-seeded Portland in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
“It’s going to be a fight,” San Francisco forward Jonathan Mogbo said of facing Gonzaga. “We’re going to draw up a great game plan for them and we’re going to go out there and win.”
The Zags are eager to take the floor now that they are clicking. But forward Ben Gregg said none of the season-long chatter has been forgotten and that the club also isn’t happy that Gonzaga players were shut out when it came to WCC regular-season individual awards.
“The chip on our shoulder only got bigger and we’ve heard all the doubters all year, especially in the preseason,” Gregg said, according to the Spokesman-Review.
“Everybody was hating on us. Especially with these awards coming out, I think some guys will have a little bigger chip on our shoulder. But it’s all just fuel to the fire.”
Hard to believe the Zags need any lighter fluid Monday when you consider they have defeated the Dons 29 straight times.
This season, Gonzaga notched a 77-72 home victory on Jan. 25 and an 86-68 road triumph on Feb. 29.
San Francisco’s last win in the series came on Feb. 18, 2012, when it posted a 66-65 home victory.
The Dons were sharp against Portland, sprinting to a 16-2 lead and holding a 42-19 halftime advantage. San Francisco led by as many as 30 points.
Marcus Williams scored 16 points and Ndewedo Newbury added 13 to lead San Francisco, which shot 52.8 percent from the floor and held the Pilots to 32.7 percent.
The Dons lost their last two regular-season games — one was to Gonzaga — before turning it around against Portland.
However, San Francisco coach Chris Gerlufsen knows it will take a supreme effort to break that 12-year losing streak against the Zags.
“Gonzaga’s playing at an all-time high right now, an amazing end to the season,” Gerlufsen said. “We played them recently and thought we played a decent half, then just lost our way in the second half.
“I know our guys in the locker room will be determined. We’ll have an extremely uphill fight on Monday night, but I think our guys are up for the challenge.”
The Dons lost to Gonzaga in the WCC semifinals in each of the past two seasons.
San Francisco does have a memorable tournament win over the Bulldogs, beating them 80-67 in the 1998 championship game to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. That remains the lone time the Dons won the WCC postseason tournament.
–Field Level Media