4. Michael Ajayi taking a step back
The one brightspot for the Bulldogs in the UConn loss was the Pepperdine transfer scoring 14 points on 4/4 shooting. But Ajayi didn’t produce much in the past week, scoring 10 points combined in just 39 minutes against Bucknell and Nicholls.
An even bigger concern is that after going 0/3 from deep, Ajayi is now 4/25 on the season, good for 16% from three-point range. It’s a far cry from his 39/83 (47%) campaign a year ago with the Waves. At some point, Gonzaga may not want the senior to shoot the ball at all, limiting what kind of impact he can have going forward.
5. Could there be a 3-point defense regression coming?
Gonzaga’s defense has been good for the most part, especially on the perimeter. During the season, they’re allowing just 26% from deep, which is good for the 5th in the nation. They also only allowed six makes on average per game, but in the past week, they allowed 10 made threes in both games.
Part of that will be inferior teams with small size wanting to shoot more to try and stay in the game against Gonzaga. But the Bulldogs aren’t going to have every game go in their favor on the perimeter. Their next opponent (UCLA) ranks in the top 100 in three-point shooting, so they’ll be a good test for the Bulldogs on Saturday.