ATB: Gonzaga Has a New Star
Posted by rtmsf on January 15th, 2010
Elias Harris Introduces Himself to America/RTC Live. Gonzaga 89, St. Mary’s 82. We really hope you stayed up for this WCC tilt between the two titans of this league tonight. If you didn’t, you missed what someone less of a wordsmith than RTC might call a ‘coming-out party.’ Gonzaga’s Elias Harris not only had a career-high night in terms of scoring (31/13), but he also spent seemingly half of the game hanging from the McKeon Pavilion rims after throwing down a beyond-athletic dunk. Maybe it was the soft rims at the Moraga school, but each time Harris was doing chin-ups on their hoops, we thought the entire place might come down with him. St. Mary’s had the raucous crowd, the early three-pointers from Matt Dellavedova and Mickey McConnell, the late power game from Omar Samhan, and a four-point deficit with under a minute to go (plus the ball). But what the Gaels didn’t have at all tonight (and was clearly a concern of Randy Bennett’s after the game) was the ability to defend the Zags. GU shot a scorching 60% from the field and was +8 on the offensive glass, which means that Gonzaga’s percentage of scoring possessions was off the charts at over 71% for the game. You’re simply not going to be in a realistic position to win many games when you’re getting stops only three of every ten defensive trips. It’s a testament to how well Omar Samhan played in the second half (26 of his 31 came after the break) that SMC had a chance to win within the final few minutes. Gonzaga leaves Moraga with a 2-0 WCC record, but those two wins already represent what are likely its two toughest road games this season (@ Portland being the other). Even if Gonzaga drops two games the rest of the way, St. Mary’s would have to lose only one other game AND beat Gonzaga in Spokane to tie them for the regular season title. Good luck with that. As for Harris, he wasn’t a very highly recruited player coming from Germany, but he’s proving that once again Mark Few and his staff have a keen eye for talent somewhat off the beaten path. Tonight he appeared to be the Zags’ best player, and his 15/8 on 59% shooting this year puts him in elite company among freshmen this season.
Pac-10 Wrap. Rather than do an individual breakdown of each game in this crazy conference, since eight teams played tonight we’ll just do a wrapup paragraph tonight. The lesson in this year’s Pac-10: pick who you think will win the game… then pick the other team — there’s your winner. The Arizonas visited the Oregons tonight, and if you had Oregon getting destroyed (76-57) for the second straight game at home while Oregon State snuck past Arizona on a Lathen Wallace three with 1.1 seconds remaining, give yourself a pat on the back. In Washington, we had the NorCal teams visiting tonight, and if you had Stanford getting destroyed by UW (coming off three straight losses) and Cal winning a road game (!!!) at Wazzu, give yourself a full-on hug. Jerome Randle had a career-high 39 points, outdoing conference scoring leader Klay Thompson (18/6) in Pullman, while Quincy Pondexter dropped 27/10 on the Cardinal in Seattle. The Pac-10 standings now have Cal at 3-1, six teams with two losses, and three teams with three. Can we just set each team at 9-9 for the regular season and get on to the Pac-10 Tournament?
Other Games of National Interest.
- #10 Tennessee 81, Auburn 55. Bruce Pearl had to be concerned about a letdown tonight after UT defeated #1 Kansas on Sunday, and for the first half he had reason for concern. UT took a one-point lead into the half, but a 43-18 second half behind Wayne Chism’s 12/12/6 stls secured UT’s 13th win of the year. With news that Tatum, Williams and Goins could be back on the team relatively soon, could this unfortunate incident have actually brought the team together and made them better in the long run? It’s worth contemplating.
- #11 Georgetown 85, Seton Hall 73. Georgetown’s Jason Clark had a stellar game on both ends of the floor tonight, dropping 20 points on 5-6 shooting, including four threes, as well as acting as the primary defender to shut down the Big East’s top scorer, Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell (9 points through the first 39 minutes of action). Chris Wright added 21 points of his own in another balanced and efficient effort for the Georgetown team (1.27 PPP tonight). With the win, the Hoyas sit at 4-1 in the league with two solid home wins, but road games at Villanova and Pitt loom in the coming week.
- #22 Butler 64, Cleveland State 55. Butler’s two stars, Gordon Hayward and Matt Howard, had only three FGs between them tonight, their lowest combined output since nearly a year ago against Wisconsin-Milwaukee (another win). Willie Veasley (16 pts) and Shelvin Mack (15/4/4 assts) picked up the pace for the Bulldogs, though, as the team moved to 6-0 in the Horizon League.
- Mississipppi State 82, Arkansas 80. Jarvis Varnado came up with the second trip-dub of his career with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocks to hold off a late Arkansas push that once again fell short for John Pelphrey’s team. Dee Bost continues to show improvement in his sophomore campaign, notching 20/7/6 assts in his fourth consecutive double-figure (points) game. Arkansas got 25/8 from Marshown Powell and 20/6/5 assts from Courtney Fortson, but the woes continue for the Hawgs this year.
- Michigan 69, Indiana 45. This had the appearance of a must-win for the Wolverines, and they disposed of the visiting Hoosiers with a 21-2 run in the final six minutes to put the game away. The two-man show of Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims combined for 41/14, as the two have combined for 55% of the team’s offensive possessions this season (one of the highest such duos in the nation). The next four games will decide the Wolverines’ fate this year — vs. UConn, @ Wisconsin, @ Purdue, vs. Michigan State.
