“I think we’re a little lethargic and obviously playing against a team that’s playing with excitement,” Mark Few said after the game about his team’s start. “And I think their skill kind of shocked some of our guys.”

Then a switch was flipped. Braden Huff came off the bench and scored six straight points, giving the Bulldogs a 17-2 winning run. Although Michael Ajayi wasn’t a big factor on offense against Nicholls, he was able to get some good minutes on defense late in the first half as the Colonels missed seven of their final eight field goal attempts after Gonzaga’s 6-foot-1 forward Checked in 24/7 had 5 minute mark.

The Zags continued their momentum into the second half, eventually pulling away late behind a season-high 25 points from Huff. Graham Ike rebounded with 20 points and six rebounds, while senior Ryan Nembhard posted his sixth double-double of a game with 18 points and 10 assists.

Here’s more from Gonzaga’s head coach after the game.

On Braden Huff’s big night:

“He’s one of those guys when you throw him in a game like that, he gets it. Fives was kind of the hot receiver tonight and he understands that and he’s going to put the ball in the hole for the most part. He struggled a little bit the other night (against UConn), but overall he’ll get there if he has time, and I thought he was pretty good defensively as well.

On the Bulldogs’ red-hot second half:

“(Nicholls are) a pressure team and so it’s hard to hit the ball. It’s hard to actually go on the offensive against them. So I think our guys settled in and did a better job of seeing through that, finding the cutter, finding that slip guy who found the post and our posts were actually there for the most part because we had the ball there wanted to have. I mean we shot a high percentage at the end considering we shot a lot of layups But things around the rim We also made some nice threes, I think our guys got stronger in the second half , it’s good to see Dusty made a pair. These are all good signs for the future.”

On Gonzaga’s balanced offensive attack:

“If it’s not this guy’s night, the positive thing is that there’s someone waiting to come in. Like Huff or Ike – luckily it’s usually that guy, one of the two, his night. And one of the two, whether it’s Nolan or… (Khalif Battle), it’s their night. These “4s” somehow balanced each other out. If you combine Braden and Graham it’s pretty good (Michael Ajayi) and Ben, if you combine KB and whether KB and Nolan it’s pretty solid. Hopefully I can get Emmanuel (Innocenti) in there and make him feel a little more comfortable on offense because he’s so good on defense.

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