Written by Ryan Palencer at Bloguin
While the Gonzaga Bulldogs’ game in Japan on Friday against Pittsburgh turned into a slip and slide, it still revealed what GU needs to address. While the cancelled game was not a fair showing of what Gonzaga is capable of, it did show some liabilities for the Zags.
Kyle Wiltjer is not one of them. He was as advertised against Pitt, just as strong as he was last year on the offensive end. Wiltjer hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor, including three 3-point shots.
The issue for Gonzaga: Where is Wiltjer going to get the help?
Due to the loss of the backcourt trio of Kevin Pangos, Gary Bell, Jr., and Byron Wesley, Gonzaga is extremely inexperienced at the guard positions. Josh Perkins takes over at the point and steps into the large shoes Pangos left. He got some minutes last year; however, a broken jaw early in the season stunted that development.
Perkins was just merely all right in the opener, and Eric McClellan was not any better. Perkins gave the offense some pace and knocked down one shot in four attempts while adding a pair of assists. However, it was hard to gauge the play of Perkins with the slick floor. The offense did not have a lot of flow and turned the ball over at will, but some of that could have been caused by the skating rink that was interpreted as a basketball court. Stay tuned, because Perkins may be the x-factor for the squad on the offensive end.
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