Analysis: Gonzaga strengthens its defense and beats the overwhelmed Warner Pacific 109:52 in the last duel

Mark Few urged Gonzaga to step up its defense after the Bulldogs gave up a listless 96 points to USC during Saturday's exhibition in Palm Desert, California.

Gonzaga got the message about 10 minutes into Wednesday's matchup against Warner Pacific — an NAIA club from Portland — at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The Bulldogs went on their biggest run of the game – fueled by numerous turnovers from Warner Pacific and fast break opportunities in the other direction – and maintained the momentum until the end of the game to secure a 109-52 win in their finale earn preparation before Monday's season opener against eighth-seeded Baylor.

Gonzaga led 21-19 when a lineup of Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Dusty Stromer, Michael Ajayi and Graham Ike rolled to a 12-0 victory that turned into a 36-3 with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first period -Run passed half.

The Zags did this with aggressive on-ball defense that led to deflections on many of WPU's passes and forced the Knights into 15 turnovers in the first half, 23 total and seven during a 7-minute stretch in the first half.

“It was much, much better,” Few said of GU’s defense. “I thought, of course, a different level of competition, but much, much better. More active, more attentive, doing more of what we want to do.”

After taking a two-point lead with 10:38 left, the Zags took a 64-27 lead into halftime, scoring 88 of the game's final 121 points.

Ike attributed the defensive adjustment to Gonzaga playing with “a little more drive.”

The veteran forward expanded on that thought, saying: “Everyone was talking a little more, a little more active on that side of the ball, and that affected the play defensively.”

Few experimented with a different starting lineup after opening the USC exhibition with a five-man unit that included Nembhard, Khalif Battle, Ajayi, Ben Gregg and Ike.

Nembhard, Battle and Ike were the three holdovers, but Hickman replaced Ajayi and Braden Huff took Gregg's place Wednesday night.

All 11 scholarship players got at least 12 minutes, and three walk-ons all saw floor time in a game in which Gonzaga led by as many as 58 points in the second half.

The Bulldogs have scored at least 90 points in every home game they have played since 2006 – most against teams at the NAIA, Division II and III levels – and are averaging more than 101 points per game in those contests.

Hickman accounted for seven of GU's first 14 points and led the Zags with 19 points, knocking down three of six 3-point attempts and scoring on a variety of mid-range shots.

“He's been shooting the ball well throughout camp, so I don't think anyone was surprised and they went down and tried to pack in the paint,” Few said.

“He really made them pay for it, and that’s definitely what he can do. I thought he had a really good game, I thought he was a lot more active in his defense. His hands were moving, he was breaking away on balls, he seemed a lot more confident, especially after we got through that second media timeout.”

Ajayi and Huff both finished with 14 points, Nembhard had nine points and seven assists, Gregg had eight points to go and 11 rebounds and Ike finished the game with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Six players had multiple steals, but Stromer led the group with eight points, four rebounds and four assists with four to go.

Warner Pacific's leading scorer and willing shooter was Matt Solomon, who scored 14 points on 5 of 13 shooting from the field and 4 of 9 from the 3-point line in 23 minutes.