Reactions From the Gonzaga Bulldogs Preseason Scrimmage
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Every year the Gonzaga Bulldogs hosts a scrimmage called “Kraziness in the Kennel” to showcase the team. This is always a fun event that features introductions of the players, a short speech by head coach Mark Few, a shooting contest involving past and present players as well as students, a three-point shooting contest, with the night capped off with a team scrimmage.
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The three-point contest was interesting this year. The opening round started out with Silas Melson versus Kyle Wiltjer with Wiltjer winning easily. On the other side of the four-player bracket, Bryan Alberts faced Dustin Triano with Triano prevailing in this matchup.
In the final round Wiltjer faced Triano and after one round they finished tied. In a 15-second overtime, Wiltjer made eight treys in a row and to no one’s surprise won the three-point shootout.
After this the scrimmage ensued with the red team facing off against the blue team.
This year the red team faced off against the blue team.
There starters for the red team were as follows:
Eric McClellan, Dustin Triano, Silas Melson, Kyle Wiltjer, Domantas Sabonis
The starters for the blue team were as follows:
Josh Perkins, Bryan Alberts, Kyle Dranginis, Jonathan Williams III, Ryan Edwards
Only one 20-minute period was played, but in the end the blue team prevailed. I found it interesting that Przemek Karnowski and Nigel Williams-Goss did not play in this scrimmage.
After the game, Coach Few noted in a press conference that Williams-Goss had a slight ankle injury and was held out of the scrimmage.
"“Nigel had an ankle that was bothering him. He tried to come back a couple different times… We could really use him for depth at practice.”"
Williams-Goss is a transfer from the University of Washington who has to sit out this season, but he could be very helpful during practice. He would help with speeding up the pace of play.
Few also commented on Karnowski being held out of the scrimmage.
"“Przemek played hard in the European championships. He played great over there. He just got back… He got pneumonia, so he will be out for a while.”"
This is tough for Gonzaga. Hopefully Karnowski will be completely healthy soon because he has not had much practice time with the rest of the team. Having him healthy before the start of the season would be great, but ideally it would be good for him to get a little bit more practice time first.
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This scrimmage revealed that the Zags will have a lot of speed this year. The new backcourt is more athletic than the past few seasons. More players will be able to drive to the hoop. The trade-off on this is that three-point shooting probably won’t be as good this season. Kyle Wiltjer’s three point shot looks good, but losing Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. hurts the three-point shooting.
Ryan Edwards is coming off a redshirt year and will be able to play again this season. He looked a little slow still, but there is plenty of time for him to progress.
I was most impressed with Kyle Wiltjer, Domantas Sabonis, and Eric McClellan. They all finished with 11 points and played very well together. The chemistry is not quite there yet, but once it clicks this team is going to do great things.
I was also very impressed with Josh Perkins, who had 17 points on the night. He had a really nice step back three that looked smooth.
Full stats from the game can be found at gozags.com
Mark Few summed up the event perfectly when he said, “There was a buzz around campus.” Everyone at Gonzaga knows that this year is a great opportunity for the Zags to make history.
Next: ACC Basketball Season Preview
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