Coming off a loss in Madison Square Garden against the UConn Huskies, Gonzaga Basketball has just one main non-conference battle against UCLA next Saturday. But first, they had to take on two “buy game” opponents, Nicholls of the Southland and Patriot League opponent Bucknell.
In the first game, the Bulldogs faced Nicholls. The Colonels had an early lead in the first half before a late run gave the WCC team a 43-29 lead at the half. The second half allowed Gonzaga to blow them out for a 102-72 victory, led by 25 points off the bench from Braden Huff.
The game against Bucknell on Saturday wasn’t as high-scoring, but Gonzaga maintained a comfortable lead. The final score was 86-65, with Graham Ike leading all scorers with 25 points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes of game action.
These two wins put Gonzaga at 9-3 overall, with just the UCLA game next week as the non-conference finale before WCC play. Although these were two expected wins for the ranked team, plenty remained to take away from the results. Here’s a look at five specific takeaways from the past week.
1. Nolan Hickman “get right games”
The UConn game was the worst performance for Hickman in a Gonzaga uniform, going scoreless in 12 minutes. He got back on track this past week, producing 11 points and five assists against Nicholls and 14 points versus Bucknell.
Hickman continues to be the best shooter on the team, shooting 7/12 from three-point range to raise his number to 45% from deep. Gonzaga needs him not to disappear, mainly so that the team can remain a threat from deep.