By Sam Federman
Just two weeks into the season, Gonzaga has already picked up four wins against teams in the top 130 of KenPom's rankings. The Zags opened the season with a blowout win at Spokane Arena over Baylor. They followed that up with a home win over Arizona State, and a demolition of a good UMass Lowell team.
On Monday, they left Spokane for the first time, and did not disappoint.
Gonzaga (4-0) led wire-to-wire in an 80-67 win over San Diego State (2-1) at a packed Viejas Arena.
One of the reasons I was so high on Gonzaga this offseason was that the additional depth meant that Ryan Nembhard didn't have to play basically every single minute, but there are some nights where the Zags are better for it. Monday was one of those nights, as the former Creighton guard scored 19 points and dished out 10 assists in 37 minutes of action.
"He controlled the whole game for 40 minutes," Mark Few said. "I don’t think anybody is playing better in the country than him at the point spot. In this environment, against that defense, that kind of physicality and the difficulty communicating to your teammates, I thought he was absolutely huge."
Through four games, Nembhard has 40 assists to just five turnovers, and is leading the country with 10 dimes per game.
The Aztecs have a lot of room to grow, as for the first time in Brian Dutcher's tenure, they rank below 300 in minutes continuity. Five of the nine players that played more than four minutes for SDSU last night are freshmen or sophomores, with Miles Heide and Miles Byrd being the only two players on the team who were part of the rotation last season. Plenty of players have shown flashes of breaking out, including BJ Davis and Magoon Gwath (mainly defensively), but it wasn't close to enough.
Other Notable Storylines
McNeese picked up a big bounce-back win over North Texas in Lake Charles to even up its record at 2-2. Joe Charles controlled the game on the defensive end, helping the Cowboys force 15 turnovers and holding the Mean Green to 28% inside the arc.
Jaland Lowe's breakout season continued with a triple-double in Pitt's win over VMI. Lowe and Braden Smith are the only two high-major players averaging at least 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals per game.
Wisconsin escaped a scare against UTRGV after trailing by seven early in the season half. John Blackwell scored 30 points, and the Badgers once again cashed in on their many free throw attempts. Greg Gard's team is 2nd in the country, shooting 88.6% from the stripe.
Tuesday's Games to Watch
Lipscomb at Kentucky, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Hofstra at Florida State, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Milwaukee at Duquesne, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Samford at Michigan State, 8 p.m., Peacock
Purdue at Marquette, 9 p.m., FS1
UC Riverside at Santa Clara, 10 p.m., ESPN+