SPOKANE, Wash. – USF will have to wait one more year to try to end its long winless streak in Spokane after the Dons dropped a 86-48 decision to Gonzaga Saturday afternoon at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Gonzaga (17-5, 9-2 WCC) made 15-of-37 of their three-point attempts and used a dominant inside game to defeat the Dons for the ninth straight game and 27th consecutive time in Spokane dating back to the 1988-89 season.
Uche Ofoegbu led all USF scorers with 16 points while
Devin Watson added 11. No other Don player had more than six points. USF (11-10, 5-6 WCC) managed to shoot just 30.5 percent from the field on the night, including 4-of-25 from distance.
Domantas Sabonis, Kyle Wiltjer and Silas Nelson each had 15 points for the Zags while Josh Perkins (13) and Bryan Alberts (10) also reached double figures. Gonzaga scored 26 points off second chances and outscored the Dons 47-26 after intermission en route to its 17th win of the season.
USF, which never led in the game, missed its first seven shots from the floor and fell behind 8-0 four and a half minutes into the game. It wasn't until the 13:42 mark that the Dons made their first field goal on a long three-pointer by Watson. The Dons were able to weather the early storm, however. Trailing 21-7 with 7:33 left, the Dons went on a 15-7 run to cut the Zag lead to six at 28-22 but Gonzaga answered the Dons spurt by ripping off 11 straight points to build a 17-point, 39-22 lead at intermission.
The Dons managed to connect on just nine of 32 shots from the floor in the first half and could not take advantage of the absence of Sabonis, who picked up two early fouls and only played five minutes in the opening period. The Zags more than made up for his loss by drilling eight of their 15 three-pointers before intermission and shutting down USF's top three scorers – Watson, Derksen and Boyce – who combined for just seven first half points.
Gonzaga hit three of its first four three-pointers of the second half and extended its lead to 21 points at 52-31 with 15:13 remaining. The lead grew to 28 points at 61-33 forcing a USF timeout with 12:33 left. The Zags led by as many as 41 points at 84-43 with 4:32 remaining in the game and coasted to the 37-point victory.
"Obviously we didn't play well and I thought we were on our heels all night long," said USF head coach
Rex Walters. "It is a tough environment and quite honestly our guys weren't ready for it. The only way to be ready for it is to go through it, so we'll live and learn.
"We got some good looks early but we just didn't make them. A young team like ours might say, 'Well it's not our night' instead of grinding and defending. Our effort and focus was disappointing but we'll learn from it and get better."
USF returns home on Tuesday as the Dons host Menlo College in a non-conference game beginning at 7:00 p.m. The Dons will resume WCC play next Saturday when the Santa Clara Broncos make their annual visit to the Hilltop.
