Pepperdine came out on fire on Saturday night, knowing what a win could mean for them in the WCC standings. Before Gonzaga could blink, the Waves had a 16-7 lead at the first media timeout. Whatever the coaching staff said to the Bulldogs during that time-out seemed to work. They increased the intensity and watched the Zags being number one all season long. Six Zags finished in double digits when they decimated Pepperdine 97-75 to improve to 17-0.
It was Aaron Cook who was the catalyst for Gonzaga’s great first half. Like the Saint Mary’s game in Moraga, Cook got off the couch and gave the lethargic Bulldogs a massive boost. He started the game 5-for-5, attacked Colbey Ross and had this incredible pass.
With Jalen Suggs on the bench with two errors, Cook scored 12 runs in the first half. Andrew Nembhard added six points and six assists. Drew Timme and Corey Kispert both delivered double digits and Gonzaga shot 61 percent to a halftime score of 49-34. Pepperdine scored 16 points in the first 4:19 of the half and had 18 points in the final 3:41 pm.
With Oumar Ballo still out with a thumb injury, Gonzaga went with a seven-man spin with a lot of small ball. The Waves had no answers for all those setups. Nembhard finished with 17 points and eight assists from the bench. Cook added 15 points and three stems. Timme, Kispert, Joel Ayayi and Anton Watson all ended in double digits.
In a match where Suggs was limited and Ayayi was silent until the last minutes, the Zags still scored 97 points on 60 percent shooting. They shot an overwhelming 82 percent (28-for-34) in the bow.
It’s really hard to nitpick this performance outside of the first four minutes. The offense was sharing the ball as good as they have all season, locking the defense for the 25 minutes it took, and they won a 20+ point road race against a Pepperdine team that just beat BYU.
This will be an interesting week for the Zags. Their game against Santa Clara on Saturday has already been postponed. Their game against LMU on Thursday could follow, with the Lions announcing a positive test this morning. Will they find a non-conference opponent to sneak in this week? Will the World Council of Churches adjust their schedule to give Gonzaga a game or two this week? We will wait.
Oh, and shout out to Anton Watson for covering the 21.5-point spread with this breathtaking dunk. That made some people happy.