Gonzaga Game Notes vs. USD

San Diego Game Notes vs. GU

Gonzaga (22-5, 13-3 WCC) vs. San Diego (12-14, 6-10 WCC)
6:00 p.m. | Thursday, Feb. 23 | McCarthey Athletic Center
TV: None
Radio: Magic AM 790 KJRB Gonzaga IMG Radio Network
| Live Video

HOW TO WATCH
- The game is available online at THEW.TV.

GU BEATS PACIFIC IN STOCKTON
- The (RV) Gonzaga Bulldogs used a dominating second half to down Pacific 74-58 on the road on Saturday afternoon.
- Emma Wolfram had her first double-double of the season and second in her career with a season-high 13 points and career-high 14 rebounds. Elle Tinkle (14), Jill Barta (13), and Kiara Kudron (12) joined her in double-figure scoring.
- Gonzaga dominated the rebounds, 54-29, and points in the paint, 44-20.

SERIES HISTORY
- Gonzaga leads the all-time series 40-23 and is 21-9 in Spokane, and 12-1 inside the McCarthey Athletic Center.
- Gonzaga snapped a three-game skid against USD on January 26th of this year. Laura Stockton found a cutting Jill Barta in traffic as time expired and Barta kissed the ball off the backboard for the 57-55 come-from-behind win
- Prior to the three-game skid, Gonzaga had won 15-straight games overall from 2009-2015. The Zags won 13-straight games at home from 2003-2015.
- The Zags last win at home was on December 30, 2014, 67-49. In 24 minutes, Elle Tinkle finished with 26 points, the most by a Zag that season in a single game to that point. Tinkle made eight of her 10 shots from the field, with 5-of-6 coming from three-point range.
- The game has gone to overtime on three occasions, the latest being in 2002, with Gonzaga winning all three.
- The Zags lead the series 37-22 all-time in regular-season West Coast Conference meetings.
- The Toreros won in Spokane last season and won three-straight games in Spokane from 1990-1992.

SCOUTING THE TOREROS
- The Toreros enter the week in the top four in the conference in turnover margin (2nd; +1.5), offensive rebounds per game (3rd; 12.6), scoring defense (4th; 64.0 ppg), field goal percentage (4th; .408), rebounding margin (4th; +1) and free throw percentage (4th; 64.0).
- Ten of the Toreros' 12 wins have come at home. In these games, Sydney Williams is USD's active leading scorer at 10.7 ppg, while Aubrey Ward-El is scoring 10.3 a game.
- The last three conference wins for the Toreros have been followed by two losses. USD defeated Santa Clara 60-58 on Saturday.
- Overall, Ward-El leads USD in scoring at 10.4 ppg and William is second at 10 per game. Caroline Buhr leads the Toreros on the glass at 5.7 rebounds per game.

KUDRON A LEADER IN MANY WAYS
- Redshirt senior Kiara Kudron has been a force on the glass, dishing assists, scoring points, and grabbing steals this season.
- She is averaging 9.7 points per game on the season, second on the team.
- Kudron also averages 7.5 rebounds per game, fifth in the WCC, and first on the team.
- She is second on the team behind point guard Laura Stockton with 85 assists.
- She has led the team in scoring six times this season, led in rebounds 14 times, led in assists 11 times, and led in steals four times.
- She has three double-doubles this year, one behind Jill Barta for the team lead, and has six in her career.
- She is just three rebounds short of becoming the 17th member of the 600-rebound club at Gonzaga.
- Kudron is shooting 50.7 percent from the field, sixth in the WCC.

SENIOR NIGHT
- Gonzaga will honor their three seniors on Thursday, Makenlee Williams, Kiara Kudron, and Elle Tinkle pregame. The seniors will give postgame speeches afterwards.

SPEEDING AWAY
- The Zags have scored 40 points in transition in the past four games, and given up eight.

THIS DOG WILL FIGHT
- In conference play, the Zags have overcome deficits of 9, 3, 14, 8, 8, 2, 1, 5, 11, and 1. They have overcome deficits to win in 16 games this season.
- The Zags have a winning record, 4-3, when trailing entering the fourth quarter this season, and are 5-5 when trailing at halftime.
- Against Saint Mary's the Zags led for 3:44, against San Diego it was 7:35, and looking way back, against Northwestern it was 8:02, all games the Zags won.
- The home game against Saint Mary's saw the Zags erase an 11-point SMC lead in the second quarter. The 19 lead changes were the most this season.

70/59 IS THE SWEET SPOT
- The Zags are 14-1 this season when scoring more than 70 points.
- The Bulldogs are 17-0 when allowing 59 points or less.

COVERING THE PAINT
- In the past two games, the Zags have outscored their opponent 84-30 in the paint.
- That is the most points in a two-game stretch since they scored 98 in 2013-14.

WCC SCENARIOS
- The Zags have secured a share of their 13th West Coast Conference Regular-Season Championship
- GU already controls all the tiebreakers and owns the number one seed at the WCC Tournament and can claim sole possession of the WCC Championship Regular-Season Championship with one win this week.

CHANCE TO CLINCH
- Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier's teams are 2-0 in games where they can clinch the WCC Championship. They defeated Saint Mary's, 80-72, in 2015 to claim their 12th WCC Regular-Season Championship and defeated Pacific 74-58 on Saturday.

RESERVE STRENGTH
- The Zags bench has outscored the opponents bench in 21 of the 27 games this season, including the last nine.
- They average 24 points per game, compared to 13 points per game for their opponent.

POLLS AND RPI
- The Zags jumped into the Associated Press Top-25 Poll on November 21 at No. 25, but fell to receiving votes the following week. GU had been receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Top-25 Poll every week this season and were still receiving votes in the Associated Press Poll up to week nine. In the AP Poll, the Zags were receiving 12 votes and they garnered 15 votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll in week nine.
- The Zags were receiving votes for two-straight weeks in the AP Poll, before falling out this week.
- The Zags RPI came in at 117 in the first edition, and jumped to 77 this week, after peaking at 62.

SWEET HOME SPOKANE
- The Zags numbers at home this year are staggering. Besides the 13-1 record, GU is averaging 72.9 points per game inside McCarthey Athletic Center and beating their opponent by an average of 21.6 points per game.
- GU is shooting 41.4 percent and holding their opponent to 34.4 percent from the field.
- The Zags have controlled the glass as well, averaging 43.1 rebounds per game, an 11.5 rebound per game advantage over their competitor.
- The Bulldogs are averaging 16.8 assists per game while only seeing 9.7 per game headed in the other direction.
- The Zags have blocked 60 shots in 14 games, and have only had 23 of their shots blocked in 560 minutes of action in The Kennel.
- GU is dialing 37.4 percent from long range and their opponent is struggling at 23.9 percent behind the arc.