Gonzaga Basketball: 3 keys for Bulldogs to beat No. 3 Iowa Hawkeyes

1. Slow down Luka Garza

Well, if it was so easy, someone would’ve done this by now. Unfortunately for all of Iowa’s opponents, stopping Luka Garza is next to impossible.

The senior center is running away with the Wooden Award this season. He’s averaging 29.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. He’s dominating first halves so much that he doesn’t even need to step foot on the court during the second half. Garza has scored at least 34 points in half of his games this season and has only failed to eclipse 20 points in a game once, the 13-point win over North Carolina.

The daunting task of stopping Garza will largely fall upon Drew Timme. The Gonzaga center was a solid defender off the bench a season ago, but the advanced stats don’t look as favorable for him in the early going of 2020-21. In fact, Timme is currently sporting a negative defensive box plus/minus through his three starts

Center Oumar Ballo only averages 7.3 minutes per game, but he sports a positive defensive box plus/minus so far this season. It might make sense to put Ballo on the court for moments when Gonzaga needs a defensive stop.

Stopping Garza is simply not possible. Slowing him down is, though. If Gonzaga can hold Garza to less than 20 points, beating the Hawkeyes becomes a much more likely.