National Basketball Association
Gonzaga 98, Virginia 75
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 26, 2020
Where: Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, Texas
Officials:
# Bert Smith, # Kipp Kissinger, # Terry Oglesby
Attendance:
2795
By Field Level Media
Corey Kispert scored a career-high 32 points and matched a school record by making nine 3-pointers as No. 1 Gonzaga cruised to a 98-75 victory against No. 16 Virginia on Saturday afternoon in a nonconference game played at Fort Worth, Texas.
Drew Timme added a career-high 29 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs (7-0). Kihei Clark led the Cavaliers (4-2) with 19 points. Trey Murphy III scored 15 and Sam Hauser had 10 for Virginia.
Not even Virginia's stingy defense could slow the Bulldogs, who shot 60.3 percent from the field (35 of 58) and committed just seven turnovers.
The Cavaliers, who entered the game ranked fourth nationally by allowing just 54 points per game, gave up 44 in the first half.
Virginia had not allowed more than 64 points in a game this season while Gonzaga hadn't scored fewer than 87.
The Bulldogs built a 33-point lead at 91-58 with 5:46 remaining before pulling their starters. Kispert's nine 3-pointers tied the mark set by Dan Dickau in 2001 and matched by Dickau in 2002 and Kevin Pangos in 2011.
Virginia committed turnovers on its first three possessions of the game, falling behind 7-0 before attempting a shot.
The Bulldogs took an 18-5 lead on Andrew Nembhard's jumper with 14:18 remaining in the half and the Cavaliers never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Kispert scored 18 first-half points, shooting 5 of 7 from 3-point range, as Gonzaga took a 44-31 lead. The Zags shot 16 of 30 (53.3 percent) from the field before the intermission.
Bulldogs freshman sensation Jalen Suggs didn't score while going 0 for 4 from the field in the half, but had six assists and five rebounds. Suggs finished with eight points.
The Bulldogs led by as many as 20 points in the first half before Virginia closed with a 7-0 run, capped by Murphy's 3-pointer from the top of the key with four seconds left.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Gonzaga |
|
Virginia |
|
Corey Kispert 32 |
Scoring |
Kihei Clark 19 |
|
Andrew Nembhard 8 |
Assists |
Reece Beekman 4 |
|
Drew Timme 8 |
Rebounds |
Jay Huff 6 |
|
Drew Timme 11 |
Free Throws Made |
Kihei Clark 4 |
|
Jalen Suggs 4 |
Steals |
Sam Hauser 1 |
|
Drew Timme 1 |
Blocks |
Jay Huff 3 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Gonzaga
|
98 |
60.3 |
10-20 |
18-23 |
26 |
30 |
2 |
8 |
7 |
| Virginia
|
75 |
48.1 |
10-25 |
13-16 |
14 |
25 |
4 |
4 |
15 |