Gonzaga Basketball: Key takeaways from the 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - MARCH 21: Killian Tillie #33 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs celebrates his dunk 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 Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

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SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – MARCH 23: Kispert of the Bulldogs reacts. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

2. Gonzaga needs to find another go-to scorer.

As already discussed, Killian Tillie is capable of being Gonzaga’s top offensive option this season as long as he stays healthy. With that said, though, there is no clear-cut scoring hierarchy behind him as the team lacks go-to scorers. Gonzaga played fairly well this week while asserting itself as a top-15 team, in my opinion, but they need specific players to emerge as consistent scorers in order to truly compete for the national title.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that the Bulldogs have the potential to be an offensive juggernaut this season and that possibility is still there. In order for that to happen, a couple of guys will need to grow into more significant scoring roles.

The clearest choice to fill one of those spots is Filip Petrusev, who is the leading scorer for the team thus far at 16.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, albeit while the team mostly played without Tillie. The sophomore big man has played quite well to begin this season but struggles against physical opponents. He also does not stretch the floor much so his impact is limited down the stretch of games. Killian Tillie is also a frontcourt contributor but he is far more mobile with regard to initiating the offensive himself and being able to either shoot the ball from distance or take his man off the dribble.

Additionally, Corey Kispert should be ready to fill a major scoring role. The junior wing was widely anticipated to be the next star in Spokane following several departures this offseason, but he is yet to really showcase that this season. Kispert has been a solid player, don’t get me wrong, but he has been inconsistent as a scorer and sometimes lacks the aggression to go get his own basket. He is averaging 13.2 points per game so far and can be a sniper from 3-point range, but has already played in five games with fewer than 10 shot attempts this season. Kispert needs to be more assertive, in my opinion.

Finally, Gonzaga’s starting shooting guard Admon Gilder should continue to find his role within the offense in the coming weeks. The former Texas A&M star is averaging 10.3 points per game so far this season but is shooting just .363/.341/.700. He is seemingly still growing accustomed to playing within the Bulldogs’ system, though, so it is reasonable to assume that his efficiency and scoring will improve moving forward.