SPOKANE, Wash. — Corey Kispert scored 23 points and No. 1 Gonzaga brushed aside Pepperdine 95-70 to extend its winning streak to 17 games on Thursday. Box Score
Gonzaga vs Pepperdine Video Highlights
Kispert, who made 7 of 13 shots and hit six 3-pointers, also had eight rebounds as the Bulldogs (13-0, 4-0 West Coast Conference) collected their 13th victory this season and their 17th successive, dating back to last season.
Drew Timme added 20 points on 8 of 16 attempts with seven rebounds and four assists, Joel Ayayi finished 19, six rebounds, and four steals, and Jalen Suggs ended with 18 points and made 8 of 13 shots with two steals, three assists, and three rebounds for Gonzaga.
Timme started slowly, but settled down a bit more in the second half.
“He was pretty sloppy in the first half,” Few said. “He missed three, four, five shots right around the rim.”
Kessler Edwards scored 14 points, four rebounds, and two steals and Kene Chukwuka added 11 points for Pepperdine (4-6, 0-1), which fell to 0-7 versus Associated Press No. 1 opponents.
The Waves were playing their first game since Dec. 23 due to COVID-19 protocols.
Pepperdine Did Some Good Things – Romar
“They had 18 turnovers and I thought we were active defensively in the first half,” Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar said. “In the second half, we came out and didn’t have the same look.
“Whether we used it all up in the first half, I don’t know. But it was a tale of two halves for sure.”
Gonzaga led 43-39 at halftime and then outscored Pepperdine 52-31 in the second half en route to beating the Waves for the 40th straight games, dating to 2002. That includes 23 straight wins in Spokane.
“We’re not just going to blow everybody out in the first half,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “It’s not going to happen.”
Gonzaga finished the game turning the ball over 18 times, something that is unusual for them.
The Bulldogs shot 53.1% from the field on 34 of 64 attempts, but missed 14 of the 23 attempts from 3-pointers.
“We missed a lot of little shots around the rim early. We were trying to make something out of nothing,” Few said. “We are not used to turning the ball over 18 times.”
