Gonzaga opens conference play tonight against a spirited Portland Pilots squad in the Chiles Center.  Portland comes into this game with a 9-5 record with wins over Pac-10 leading Oregon as well as UCLA; with equally impressive losses to Idaho and Washington.  Portland loves the home games and is 6-1 so far this season when playing at Chiles.  There will be familiar faces for Portland tonight as they return the majority of their lineup from last season, including guards Nik Raivio and T.J. Campbell as well as big men Robin Smeulders and Ethan Niedermeyer.  After breaking into the Top-25 with a 5-0 start, Portland has dropped five of their last nine and fallen back into typical WCC form.  Tonight's conference opener is a great measuring stick for both teams as they were voted 1-2 in the preseason conference polls.

Portland is a very balanced team both in scoring and rebounding, with only T.J. Campbell being the outstanding team leader in assists per game.  Raivio, Campbell and Smeulders all score in double figures, with Jared Stohl also chipping in nearly ten per game.  The Pilots are not especially skilled on the interior but shoot just a hair under 40% from the three-point line.  Portland's shooting prowess gives them a great opportunity to pull what must be considered an upset, seeing that Gonzaga has won 12 straight and 26 of the last 27 match-ups.

Gonzaga enters this game coming off of two very big non-conference victories over Oklahoma and Illinois.  The Bulldogs must be able to overcome what will be a raucous Chiles Center in order to come away with a victory.  The defense of the Zags will be key as Portland will be putting up jumpshots all evening.  Gonzaga must be aggressive on the defensive glass and seek out long rebounds from Portland misses.

Offensively, the focus will be on Elias Harris.  Portland doesn't have anyone who can match-up physically with Harris.  Staying out of foul trouble and getting shots within the offense will lead Harris to a huge game.  There will be a battle in the backcourt, as Campbell will be on Demetri Goodson and the guard play here could set the tone for either team.  Good nights for either point guard could lead that team to victory.

Gonzaga's bench production will be vital, as on paper, Kong, Arop and Olynyk are more talented than Portland's reserves.  Coach Few will likely be limiting the rotation as the conference season progressess, and minutes will continue to get tighter.

Vegas says Zags by -2.5.

Comments (1)

...
written by tom117, January 09, 2010

Portland will be playing catch up all night. Gonzaga will lead the whole game and win by 7-10 points.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Name

Email

Website

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment