San Francisco guard Malik Thomas is one of the frontrunners for the West Coast Conference Player of the Year honor and has won the conference’s Player of the Week Award four times this season. This upcoming matchup with the Zags will be one of his toughest tests through conference play in the always loud McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane. Thomas spoke about how Gonzaga’s duo of guard Ryan Nembhard and forward Graham Ike have been excelling this season as well as the reason for all the success the Dons have achieved thus far.
The 6’5 guard transferred from the USC Trojans to the City by the Bay after his sophomore season. Since then, his numbers have increased across the board with San Francisco coach Chris Gerlufsen putting all his faith in the scoring threat. The Fontana, California native leads the WCC in scoring with 19.2 points per game on a impressive shooting split of 47.0 field goal percentage/39.5 three-point percentage/83.3 free throw percentage.
Thomas can also get it done on the defensive end when he gets in the passing lanes. He leads the conference in steals with 1.8 per game.
The Dons are on an impressive four-game winning streak which includes a 65-64 win over Saint Mary’s at War Memorial Gymnasium on February 6th. As the country knows, beating the Gaels is no easy task anywhere. That was coach Randy Bennett’s first conference loss this season.
As for the other Dons, 6’2 senior guard Marcus Williams (14.4 points per game which is the ninth most in the conference) and 6’6 freshman guard Tyrone Riley IV are quite the compliment to Thomas in the backcourt. One of the most underrated in the country. Williams averages 2.1 three-pointers made per game on a highly-efficient 40.4 percentage. Riley IV has won the WCC Freshman of the Week Award twice this season.
Nembhard hasn’t faced this many skilled guards on one team during the 2024-25 campaign which makes for an exciting matchup. The Gonzaga floor general is coming off his nomination for the Wooden Award Late Midseason Top 20 Watch List. He leads the country in assists with 9.8 per game and has the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the nation at 4.39. Nembhard also recently broke his own program assist record with 246 and counting this season.
This first game between San Francisco and Gonzaga seems like it will come down to who will be more successful shooting from beyond the arc. The Zags are shooting 34.7 percent from deep (fourth highest in the conference) while the Dons are hitting 34.5 percent (fifth highest in the conference). Gonzaga has struggled mightily over their last three games while going 10-57 on three-pointers which translates to an ugly 17.5 percent.
Will Gonzaga coach Mark Few throw out a zone defense with active closeouts in order to defend the three-point line effectively? Contesting every shot out on the perimeter without giving up easy penetration into the paint has to be at the top of every defender’s mind in this matchup in order to come away with a victory over the Dons.
Gonzaga has been more locked in on the defensive end over the last five games so let’s hope that can continue. The Zags have limited their opponents to 62 points or fewer during that stretch.
A major weakness of this San Francisco squad is their free throw shooting abilities as a whole. The Dons are the tenth worst in the conference from the charity stripe at 70.3. The Zags must be aggressive with the ball-handlers and especially when the ball gets inside the key to bigs like senior center Carlton Linuard Jr. (43.3 percent), sophomore forward Junjie Wang (58.1 percent), and senior forward Ndewedo Newbury (73.3 percent). The likes of Ike, senior forward Ben Gregg and sophomore forward Braden Huff must be as physical as ever.
Whoever wins this matchup on Thursday in the Kennel will have full possession of second place in the West Coast Conference. Why is that so important? The top two teams by the end of the regular season will receive an automatic spot in the tournament semifinals in Las Vegas.
Gonzaga (18-7 overall, 9-3 conference record) trails San Francisco (20-6 overall, 10-3 conference record) by just half a game in the conference standing. Saint Mary’s (22-4 overall, 12-1 conference record) has a demanding 2.5 game lead for first place over Gonzaga.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho
