Braden Huff Drops Career High 37 Points, Gonzaga Cruises Past Campbell 98-70
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="6213"]
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Braden Huff (34) is fouled by Campbell Fighting Camels guard D.J. Smith (9) in the second half at McCarthey Athletic Center. Gonzaga Bulldogs won 98-70. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images [/caption]
SPOKANE, Wash. – Braden Huff has done plenty of impressive things on a basketball court. With his 6-10 frame and beautiful left-hand touch, he makes post work look relatively easy. But after flushing each of his first 13 attempts from the field on Wednesday against Campbell, Huff couldn’t think of a more impressive personal feat on the hardwood.
“I think this might be the first time (hitting 13 shots in a row),” Huff said. “…But yeah, it felt pretty good.”
The redshirt junior finished with a career-high 37 points on 16-for-18 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and six assists, powering No.7 Gonzaga (11-1) in its 98-70 victory. 26 of those points came in the first half, where Huff shot 12-of-12, being the first player in the Mark Few era to make his first 11 shots in a game. Setting a record at the McCarthey Athletic Center for made field goals, he was truly unstoppable, even with the Fighting Camels pulling out all the stops to slow Huff down.
“He was just incredibly efficient. I thought Campbell did a great job there, applied a lot of ball pressure on the perimeter,” said Few. “Their posts were kind of rugged and physical and bodying us up…but to put 37 on that is amazing… He handled their myriad of fronts and digs and double teams and just the physical play, you know, kind of the whole game, and yet still delivered.”
After making his first shot out of the break, a true question was posed of when Huff’s first miss would come, if at all. His fellow uber-talented frontcourt scorer, Graham Ike – who had 14 points and 11 rebounds – got into foul trouble and was subbed out for the game after picking up his fourth foul midway through the second half. Huff continued to carry the load and did just fine as the team’s primary scoring option.
Outside of Huff’s dominance, the Zags had a run-of-the-mill operation for the most part. 64 of their points were scored in the paint. GU also forced 20 turnovers while keeping a commanding hold on the rebounding battle. But there were a couple of stretches where Campbell showed signs of life, aided by the Bulldogs turning the ball over, something they haven’t done much of this season.
After jumping out to a 13-4 lead, including a 9-0 run within the contest’s first five minutes, the Camels cut into the lead after the Zags gave the ball away five times in four minutes. This span coincided with the team’s second unit checking in, as the quartet of Braeden Smith, Tyon Grant-Foster, Adam Miller, and Jalen Warley subbed into the game along with Huff.
Gonzaga opened things up by the end of the period, heading into the locker room with a 19-point lead. But the sloppiness returned after the intermission, as Campbell chopped the deficit to as low as 10 points, where they racked up seven turnovers by the eight-minute mark, already eclipsing their first-half total. It took a deep Smith three-pointer with the shot clock winding down for the Zags to snap out of their slumber, as the shot sparked an 11-0 run to put the game away.
Smith had another impactful game, posting 11 points and five assists. He even got some run with GU’s other point guard, Mario Saint-Supéry, who also tallied five dimes. The two played together in short spurts for the first time during the regular season.
Saint-Supéry and Smith are the two faces — but not the only ones — of the Bulldogs’ ability to open up opportunities for their teammates. Gonzaga has the most assists (240) in the WCC and sits just behind Portland for most assists per game (20). The facilitating stretches across the entire roster as well. Aside from Ike’s double-double, he also dished out five dimes, with his favorite target being Huff.
With the immense depth the Bulldogs possess, most of the players have to take a backseat to an extent, but they are all-in on doing what is best for the team, and their frequent deferring regarding scoring is a prime example.
“It's a testament to the selflessness of this team, the ball's popping. We have multiple playmakers out there, and other guys are finishing shots,” Smith said. “So I just think it shows our togetherness and just how comfortable we are out there with one another on the floor.”
Jalen Warley added three assists as well, as he once again stuffed the stat sheet with six points, seven rebounds, and five steals. His motor and relentlessness stands out in each game for GU, no matter what the score is, and his versatility to size up on defense makes him a true swiss-army knife for this squad.
“We needed every one of those plays, just steals, (Warley’s) defensive pressure, and he was guarding a guy four or five inches taller than him and outweighed him by a lot,” Few said. “Just great effort. Great, great heart.”
Another welcome contribution was the standout play of Steele Venters. The redshirt senior had 13 points and three steals, while also connecting on three of his five attempts from deep. But his biggest play was taking the ball off-the-dribble in the second half and throwing it down with one hand. Coming off two lost seasons for Venters, where he tore his ACL and Achilles in the preseason, pulling off a dunk in that fashion was a sign of how confident he is feeling at the moment, with more games under his belt.
“Surprised myself, not gonna lie,” Venters laughed. “It felt good, felt like I was 18 again…Trainers have done a great job getting me back to where I am. Yeah, I feel super comfortable.”
Few added: “I think that just shows confidence in his Achilles, and confidence in his ACL repair, and you know, kudos to Josh [Therrien], our trainer, and Travis [Knight], and you know our doctors here, orthopedic guys that help us with all that. I mean, that's a team deal, and then that's an athlete that is playing with confidence and believes that his knee and Achilles are back to normal. I think they're probably even stronger than normal now. So it's pretty cool to see.”
Although it isn’t the first time Venters has flushed one since returning from injury, the style of dunk was the real surprise for his coaches and teammates.
“Well, he’s done a couple in practice, but we were not expecting that,” Smith said. “Just a one-dribble punch, so that was pretty cool.”
Huff and Venters shared that they have a friendly wager going on to see who can land more dunks this season. Currently, both are at two, and even though it might be a low-scoring final tally, the competition will likely come down to the wire – and dinner is on the line.
The Zags have one final non-conference matchup before WCC play begins, as they will travel to Portland for a contest against Oregon (6-5) in the Northwest Elite Showdown on Sunday, December 21, at 3 PM PT.
