Gonzaga beat Oklahoma by 15 on Saturday and looked like a team with a ridiculous ceiling still figuing out how all the pieces fit together. The important stuff was there: Graham Ike controlled the paint, Braden Huff ran secondary actions, and the defense absolutely bottled up Oklahoma from all points on the floor. Gonzaga’s depth and versatility simply overwhelmed the Sooners and systematically stripped them one-by-one of their contingency plans on both sides of the floor.
Gonzaga’s activity on the
glass created extra possessions and the half court defense reduced Oklahoma to late clock decisions. Polls released on Monday reflected that level of control as Gonzaga moved to No. 19 in the country.
Next comes Gonzaga’s second early-season mettle-test: the Creighton Bluejays. Greg McDermott’s newly Kalbrenner-less squad rolls into the McCarthy Athletic Center for a Tuesday night 7:00 PM tipoff. Coverage will be provided by ESPN.
Meet the Bluejays
Creighton is a program built on tempo, spacing, and veteran structure, a profile that mirrors how Gonzaga played when Ryan Nembhard ran the show. This is no coincidence, Mark Few went and got Nembhard out of the transfer portal after his spent two seasons running the point at Creighton because his style of play is exactly what the Bulldogs tend to favor. The matchup with Creighton provides our next meaningful reference point for Gonzaga’s development and will reveal how this roster handles a team that values precision over chaos.
Creighton sits at No. 23 in the AP and arrives with the same offensive identity every McDermott team carries, since the ball moves before the defense can react and the spacing stretches a defense as wide as any program Gonzaga will see this month.
Iowa transfer Owen Freeman has been the main storyline for Creighton since losing Ryan Kalkbrenner to the NBA draft. Consistently ranked as one of the best bigs in the country, Freeman gives the ‘Jays a real interior piece. He scored 19 in the opener against South Dakota and finished 9 for 11 from the field, and the part that jumps out is how simple he keeps every touch, because he gets position early, holds it, and finishes without hesitation. He’s a traditional back-to-the-basket big with good vision and a nice touch around the rim. Ike, Huff, Warley (and Diagne???) will have their hands full containing Freeman.
Jackson McAndrew plays beside him as a shooter who can pull a defender away from the paint, and the moment he sprints into a catch the geometry of their offense shifts, which creates easier driving lanes for the guards and a steady stream of kick out threes that reward patience.
The only clear weakness for Creighton comes on the glass, having allowed far too many second chances in their opener. Despite the scoreboard, Creighton never controlled the rebounding area with authority, even against a team like South Dakota. Everything else looks like Bluejay basketball. Especially the dead-eyed sharpshooting of (other) Iowa transfer, Josh Dix.
How Gonzaga Beats Creighton
When Greg McDermott’s teams flow, they flow beautifully. Against South Dakota, Creighton assisted on 20 of 37 made field goals and shot 50% from the floor. They scored 54 points in the paint, ran for 24 fast break points, and finished 8 dunks. When the rhythm is there, the game looks effortless.
But their season opener also exposed the exact pressure points Gonzaga can attack. South Dakota grabbed 21 offensive rebounds against the Bluejays and surrendered 48 paint points even with star transfer center Owen Freeman on the floor. McDermott said afterward that his team lacked physicality and struggled with basic help concepts in the half-court defense, including recognizing when to stay attached to shooters and when to collapse to the paint.
Gonzaga can tilt this game by refusing to let Creighton operate in a clean half court script. Mario Saint Supery, Braeden Smith, Adam Miller, and Emmanuel Innocenti need to pressure the ball early, deny the first action, and push immediately off every defensive rebound. Creighton used 12 players in the opener because the rotation is unsettled. Owen Freeman scored 19 points but recorded only 1 defensive rebound and McDermott admitted he is not where he needs to be yet in conditioning or defensive physicality. Gonzaga has to make him run every time the ball changes hands.
This is where Jalen Warley can change the game. Warley is a tempo manipulator who uses his ability to read rotations to erase ball screens and deny flow. Creighton’s offense wants structure. Warley is a structure remover. Once the ball stalls, the possession devolves into isolation or late clock creation, which produces long rebounds and transition chances.
The moment Gonzaga gets a stop, it needs to run. Gonzaga has the depth to rotate fresh handlers and bigs, forcing Creighton to guard with tired legs. Every possession that becomes random, unscripted, and chaotic favors Gonzaga. The blueprint is simple: do not let Creighton get comfortable. Take away rhythm and turn every defensive rebound into a runway.
Storylines to Watch
The Diagne Factor
Ismaila Diagne is the wildcard. In Gonzaga’s opener against Texas Southern he grabbed 6 rebounds in 11 minutes and went 1-2 from the field. Yet against Oklahoma he played less than 1 minute even as Graham Ike eventually fouled out (thanks to a bizarre technical foul not captured by the broadcast) and Braden Huff finished with 3 fouls.
Creighton feasted in the paint during its opener, and Gonzaga cannot afford long stretches without a true rim protector on the floor. Mark Few may prefer the speed and switching flexibility of Jalen Warley or Tyon Grant Foster at the 4 while cycling Ike and Huff at the 5, but Diagne’s length and rebounding give Gonzaga something no one else offers: instant rim protection. If Creighton starts getting downhill or if foul trouble reappears, Diagne becomes a solution Gonzaga has barely used.
The point arms race (Part 3)
Through the first 2 games of the season, Braeden Smith is 1-5 from three, with 0 free throw attempts in either box score, while Mario Saint Supery is 2-6 from deep and has already taken 7 free throws and drawn plenty of fouls on the perimeter. There is no debate about Smith’s value as an organizer. He controls tempo, moves defenders with his eyes, and gets Gonzaga into its actions with a composure that resembles the structure once supplied by the Nembhard bros. The problem is that, at least for the time being, the team seems to surge when Mario enters, because his downhill aggression bends the defense and injects pace. If Smith wants his minutes to remain unquestioned, the answer is not to become Mario, but to add enough scoring aggression and perimeter command to make his value obvious. Gonzaga needs the half-court offense to function with Smith on the floor, which means the threes have to fall and the possessions have to start with intent. When Smith shoots with confidence and runs the offense decisively, the choice at point guard complicates a little further in his favor.
Can a guy get a deep ball?!
The deep ball has been a point of concern since before the season even began. Unfortunately, early indicators have not been positive for the Zags. Gonzaga is 13 of 44 from deep in the regular season. If you include the exhibitions they are 24-71 (good for 33.8%). The shot volume is there. The efficiency is not. Until Gonzaga’s 25-26 Three-Point Strategy (ie: letting Adam Miller and Steele Venters pull the trigger when comfortable) falls into place, Gonzaga needs its secondary shooters to become real threats. Combined, Gonzaga’s point guards are 2-11 from deep so far. Huff is 0-3 and Ike is 0-4. The offense cannot stretch the court if only Miller and Venters shoot.
Final Thoughts:
Rarely does a game like this occur this early in the season, and its been especially rare to get them in the Kennel. Tuesday’s matchup with the Bluejays is an early proof of concept. Gonzaga has the depth, defensive disruption, and lineup flexibility to dictate tempo, but that only matters if they use it with intent. The keys are simple: protect the rim, get decisiveness at point guard, and hit enough threes to stretch the floor. If Gonzaga pushes off rebounds, controls the paint, and gets real perimeter production, they turn Creighton’s structure into a chase. If they hesitate, Creighton’s rhythm can take over. Early season or not, we’ve got a chance to once again see the boys take another step forward on Tuesday.
