By Kenneth Cross
No. 8 Gonzaga looked like it might take its first loss in WCC play at BYU on Thursday night. However, Julian Strawther, who was just 4-of-12 from the floor, nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key with nine seconds remaining to lift the Bulldogs to a 75-74 win at BYU. 
“I guess that is the ability to have all these big shotmakers,” commented Strawther. “Every time we need a big shot or a big three, someone steps up and knocks it down. We don’t like being in this situation all the time in having to hit the big shot, but I am glad they keep coming.”
The last nine seconds showed how the Bulldogs have won these last three games as Anton Williams’ defense on BYU guard Spencer Johnson on the perimeter secured the victory.
“I feel like that is what I do is get stops, so I saw the switch coming before so I switched onto him and I thought he was about to pull it,” explained Williams. “I had to get that stop. I knew it was going to be for the game.”
Johnson started his dribble to the left and came back right and when he picked the ball up to try to shoot, Watson blocked his shot. The play lifted the Zags to their third consecutive WCC win as those three have been by a combined eight points.
“Anton was making plays, including that little thing at the end,” Few commented. “That was good. He had his hands going and was guarding several different people there. Nine seconds is a long time. I thought he did a nice job on the glass. I thought he did a good job battling their bigs.”
Few was surprised that his Bulldogs once again stepped up and won a highly contested road affair after Gonzaga fought off it’s third road challenge from San Francisco, Santa Clara, and now BYU.
“When you are ingrained in this program, you expect to win,” said Gonzaga head coach Mark Few. “Hopefully, they’re learning how to win as all our other groups have. I don’t think they ever count themselves out.”
BYU went on an 8-0 run when Gideon George hit a three as the Cougars took a 66-56 advantage with 7:28 remaining.
“We can execute a little better, make some better decisions and come up with better plays, but overall I thought the guys played really hard,” said BYU head coach Mark Pope. “They were composed and played really aggressively, so I am super proud of them.”
Cougars guard Jaxson Robinson brought the Cougars back from a 44-39 halftime deficit as he hit back-to-back threes to tie the game at 48-48 with 14:24 remaining.
Then, Spencer Johnson nailed a pair of threes to start an 18-4 BYU run that saw him post eight of his game-high 18 points as the Cougars assumed the aforementioned 66-56 advantage.
Gonzaga then was able to control the game in the stretch as Strawther hit a triple before Nolan Hickman’s three with 1:01 remaining cut the Cougars’ lead to 73-72.
“We were really good at our in game stuff,” said Few. “We trapped when we needed to trap. We fouled when we needed to foul. We switched up our defense and we finally got some stops. We couldn’t stop them for a while.”
Gonzaga outrebounded BYU, 47-32, which was a surprise because the Cougars outrebound their opponents by 6.9 per game and they also find 11.4 offensive rebounds per outing.
Few pointed to last weekend’s 77-75 win over San Francisco where the Dons outrebounded the Zags, 40-23.
He noted that it was a week where rebounding was a primary factor in the practices and in the win over Santa Clara where the two teams were even on the boards all evening before the Bulldogs were outrebounded by the Broncos, 38-35.
“We got our rear ends kicked on the glass last weekend,” said Few. “We spent a good portion of this week addressing that. That was one thing we took to heart. BYU is an excellent rebounding team.”
Drew Timme led the Zags with 19 points and 13 rebounds while Watson popped in 18 points. Johnson led the Cougars with 18 points while Robinson and George had 17 each.
BYU was 13-of-25 from the three as Robinson led with five.