Busting Brackets
Fansided

Gonzaga Basketball: Three keys for the Zags’ trip to Creighton

By Brayley Crowe

LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: Rui Hachimura #21 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs holds up the tournament MVP trophy after the 2018 Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: Rui Hachimura #21 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs holds up the tournament MVP trophy after the 2018 Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 4
Next
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 21: Josh Perkins #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs drives. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 21: Josh Perkins #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs drives. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

Limit the Turnovers

As is the case in any away game, controlling the tempo will be crucial for Gonzaga. The home fans will certainly be rowdy and looking to motivate their Bluejays to a tasty revenge win to spoil the Zags’ No. 1 ranking. Josh Perkins has done well at the helm of the Gonzaga offense, but he has occasionally faltered back to turning the ball over.

While the season is still young, he has actually slightly increased his turnovers per game from last season, averaging 2.3 per game thus far as opposed to 2.1 last season. One promising factor is that his ratio of assists-to-turnovers has skyrocketed, with 3.5 assists per turnover. Nonetheless, a large number of turnovers could seriously hinder the Zags’ offense in their first true road game.

Hachimura and inactive Crandall are both also averaging over two turnovers per game, with Norvell, Clarke, and Kispert hovering around the one per game. This leads to a total of 12 turnovers per game. Overall, the experience of Perkins and Few’s coaching knowledge shouldn’t allow this game to get out of a hand because of careless mistakes, and the Zags probably won’t beat themselves.