No. 3 Gonzaga seeks big showing vs, Texas Southern

Gonzaga coach Mark Few wanted to see more confidence this season from his junior forward Rui Hachimura.

As the No. 3 Zags (1-0), who host Texas Southern on Saturday in Spokane, Wash., began their 2018-19 push toward a 21st straight NCAA Tournament bid with a 120-79 thrashing of Idaho State on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Few got a glimpse of what he has been looking for.

"He's made a big jump," Few said of Hachimura, who scored 33 points to lead the Bulldogs. "He's being really aggressive. I've been on him to own it a little bit more, and I think he's starting to own it."

Hachimura made 13 of 18 field-goal attempts and was 7-for-9 from the line.

"You see he can flat-out score," Gonzaga guard Zach Norvell Jr. told the (Spokane) Spokesman-Review. "And it's always good to have teammates behind him that support him. We want to keep feeding him. If he could have got 100 tonight, everybody on the team would have been happy."

Hachimura didn't need 100 points and had plenty of help as Gonzaga reached its highest point total in 24 years.

"If you double-team the post, you kick out and Snacks (Norvell) and Perk (point guard Josh Perkins, who had eight assists) and I will shoot 30 3s," sophomore wing Corey Kispert said. "If you one-on-one in the post, Rui will have a night like tonight."

Earlier that evening in Waco, Texas, the Bulldogs schedule got a little more interesting.

Texas Southern, a team the Zags routed 97-69 a year ago, beat Baylor 72-69.

"I'm thrilled and excited for our team, our program and our school," Tigers coach Johnny Jones said after his team erased a 17-point deficit, according to the Spokesman-Review. "To see our players, who have worked so hard to have some success have that work pay off, it was a lesson learned that regardless of the deficit we were able to fix some of the things that were going on."

Texas Southern, which is led by former LSU guard Jalyn Patterson, a graduate transfer, has put together a typically challenging early-season schedule.

In addition to Baylor and Gonzaga, the Tigers, in November and December, have road games against Iowa State, San Diego State, Oregon, Arizona State, Georgia and Texas A&M (the Zags opponent on Wednesday).

"We formed our schedule where we have a couple of opportunities for our fan base to watch us play before conference begins in early January," Jones said. "We're going to play a couple of games on the road where we might have the opportunity for a home-and-home."

Jones, who took over for Mike Davis when Davis left for Detroit after last season, brought in Patterson, who had 23 points and six assists on Tuesday, and forward Jeremy Combs, who also played at LSU. While Patterson played under Jones at LSU, Combs did not.

At LSU, he had some great nights when he had to step up and other nights he didn't have to score," Jones said of Patterson. "But he's been really good taking care of the ball and creating opportunities for teammates. He's extremely unselfish, but when the moment calls for it, he was able to step up and make huge plays."

Texas Southern returns two players, 7-foot-2 center Trayvon Reed and guard Derrick Bruce, both of whom started against Gonzaga last season.