Ben Gregg, the last member of Gonzaga’s runner-up squad in 2021, helps Bulldogs ‘make a statement’ against Baylor

Nov. 5—Ben Gregg played 1 minute of mop-up duty in Gonzaga’s 2021 national championship loss to Baylor, played 17 minutes off the bench in a 2022 neutral-site loss against the Bears in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and had a much bigger say in how things played out during a third career meeting with Scott Drew’s program Monday night at the Arena.

This time for Gregg, it was from the confines of Mark Few’s starting lineup, which built an early lead before Gonzaga’s top unit handed things over to a capable bench unit in a runaway 101-63 win for the sixth-ranked Bulldogs over the eighth-ranked Bears.

Five years after Baylor spoiled Gonzaga’s undefeated season with an 86-70 victory in the national championship, Gregg is the only player remaining on Few’s roster who was on the bench April 5, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

If Gonzaga players had Monday’s season opener penciled on their calendar, Gregg had it circled, underlined and highlighted — likely with a permanent marker.

“I’m winless against them until tonight, so it definitely is a game you always circle on your calendar when you play against the Baylor,” Gregg said. “Just the history of the program the last 10 years or so. So circled them on our calendar, knew it was the first game. Said before the game we just want to make a statement tonight and we did that.”

That might even be underplaying it.

Gonzaga had its first double-digit lead midway through the first half, going up 25-14 on a layup from Braden Huff, stretched the advantage to almost 20 points at halftime and built its largest lead of the game in the final seconds, when Joe Few set up Emmanuel Innocenti for a layup that made it 101-63.

Gonzaga acing its first test of the season becomes even more impressive when you consider the Bulldogs didn’t have access to the study materials they’re accustomed to. Baylor, a team with four new starters, played two closed-door scrimmages before Monday’s game, but Gonzaga had tape from just one of those — an 80-72…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ben-gregg-last-member-gonzagas-030400167.html

Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Publish date : 2024-11-06 03:04:00

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