The last time St. John’s met Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament, the Bulldogs were ending the Johnnies 2000 campaign.
Eleven years later, St. John’s has a chance for some payback.
Sitting at 15-9 following a loss to Memphis, Gonzaga did not have much – if any – room for error if they wanted to make the NCAA tournament for a 13th straight year.
The ‘Zags went on a season-ending nine-game winning streak that saw that them beat their top conference rival St. Mary’s twice, once on the road and the second time in the conference title game, earning Gonzaga an automatic tournament bid and sending the Gael’s home.
Coming out of the West Coast Conference (WCC), Gonzaga relies on the trio of senior guard Steven Gray, junior center Robert Sacre and sophomore forward Elias Harris for the bulk of the scoring.
The impetus behind the Bulldogs’ winning streak was defense, with Gonzaga allowing only two teams to shoot over 40 percent over that span.
WCC Newcomer of the Year Marquise Carter has been a spark for the team of late scoring 10 or more points six times during the winning streak, after doing it just twice previously. He’s also averaged over two steals a game over that nine-game span.
While watching the game you also may notice a familiar name, both to Gonzaga and basketball history. David Stockton, son of NBA and Gonzaga legend John Stockton, is a reserve point guard for the team that has earned more and more playing time as the season has worn on, often now seeing more minutes than the starter.
If St. John’s wants to continue into the second round, they better be ready for a defensive slug-fest with a team coming in hot and that should have more fans in the crowd, due to the short plane trip to Denver from Gonzaga.
Luckily for the Johnnies, playing defensive struggles during a rigorous Big East schedule has perfectly prepared them for this game.
