WCC Basketball: Breakout candidates from each team for 2019-20

By Andy Patton | Jul 18, 2019

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - MARCH 21: Filip Petrusev #3 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs dunks against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights during the second half in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 21, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

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STOCKTON, CA – FEBRUARY 28: Geno Crandall #0 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs goes up and gets fouled by Jeremiah Bailey #13 of University Of The Pacific Tigers during the first half of their NCAA basketball game at Alex G. Spanos Center on February 28, 2019 in Stockton, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

G/F Jeremiah Bailey – Pacific Tigers

The Pacific Tigers are losing one of the most prolific scorers in the WCC with the graduation of guard Roberto Gallinat. The primary replacement was expected to be rising sophomore guard Ajare Sanni, who averaged 8.6 points per game last year, but he announced that he is transferring to UC-Santa Barbara, leaving Pacific very short on guards.

While Jeremiah Bailey is more of a forward at 6’6, he will likely step into a bigger role in the offense alongside Lafayette Dorsey and Jahlil Tripp.

Bailey’s sophomore season can be broken into three parts. He started the first nine games of the year but struggled, only averaging 4.6 points per game and shooting just 30.4% from the field, although he did shoot 30.8% from downtown.

He was relegated to the bench after that, and across the next 11 games he only played 15 minutes per game, serving in a reserve role. His performance improved however, as he shot 38.9% from the field and 31.8% from downtown, averaging 3.7 points per contest.

That was enough to get him back into the starting lineup, where he finished the year on a big high note. In the final 11 contests of the year, Bailey was on absolute fire. He averaged 8.9 points per game in 24.3 minutes of action, shooting 41.9% overall and exactly 50% from downtown, going 20-for-40.

It’s pretty unlikely that Bailey can hold a 50% rate from downtown over a full season, but it’s clear this guy can shoot the lights out, and in a full-time role he could be a dangerous scorer.

In fact, his final two games of the season were killer: he had 15 and 5 against Pepperdine on 4-7 shooting from downtown to close out the regular season, and then exploded for 22 points and 11 rebounds against Pepperdine again in the tournament, going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.

Could that have just been the beginning?