At the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Washington, the third ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs extended their home court winning streak as they handled the Memphis Tigers easily, winning by a score of 82-64.
Memphis hung around in the first half of play, always being within a couple of points of their opponents, but they could never erase the gap completely. Kyle Wiltjer opened the score with a three after just 54 seconds ticked off the clock and that set the pace of the game tonight. Przemek Kranowski was a handful down low throughout the opening twenty minutes. It seemed as though he was able to get anything he wanted in and around the rim. He scored his first points coming from the charity strike extending Gonzaga's lead to six with a little over nine minutes remaining in the half. Then the TIgers shooting really cooled off. They did not score a single basket for four minutes and two seconds before Austin Nichols made a jumper to cut the Bulldogs lead to 14.
Gonzaga came storming out of the gates to start the second half. They hit three, after three, after three, extending their lead little by little. First, it was Wiltjer to open the scoring in the second, then it was Byron Wesley, followed up by Gary Bell Jr. The visitors tried to answer back, but they could only make two's, opening up an even bigger gap. Then something strange happened. The Bulldogs offense went cold and did not score for about three minutes as the Tigers went on an 11-1 run. Luckily for Mark Few's boys, they had built up a big enough lead that as the run ended, Gonzaga still had a 17 point lead.
There were five Zags who finished in double digits tonight, which is extremely impressive. Kranowski finished the night as the schools leading scorer, finishing with 17 points, while going 4 from 6 from the field is good, he made nine out of twelve attempts from the charity strike while also bringing down six rebounds. Kevin Pangos had a good night as well, scoring eleven points and dishing out six assists.
It is back to league play for Gonzaga taking on Santa Clara on Thursday and the Memphis Tigers are will be playing hosts to Jacksonville State Gamecocks on Wednesday night.