Injuries to Petrusev, Watson hurt depth of No. 2 Gonzaga
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Second-ranked Gonzaga is battling injuries and will be shorthanded heading into Saturday's game against Pacific.
Freshman Anton Watson is out for the rest of the season after it was decided last week he would have shoulder surgery. Leading scorer and rebounder Filip Petrusev had to leave last Saturday's game against BYU early in the second half because of a high ankle sprain. It is unclear when he will return.
That leaves a very thin bench for the Bulldogs.
"It's part of the game,'' coach Mark Few said after the BYU game. "We've got to keep playing.''
Petrusev, who averages 16.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, is a 6-foot-11 sophomore forward from Serbia. Watson, meanwhile, averaged nearly five points and three rebounds in about 15 minutes per game.
Earlier this season, the Zags lost freshman Oumar Ballo to an academic redshirt. Freshman Brock Ravet, who was expected to contribute, left the team for personal reasons.
That leaves a rotation of six players: Corey Kispert, Killian Tillie, Joel Ayayi, Admon Gilder, Ryan Woolridge and Drew Timme. Few typically prefers an eight-man rotation.
The rest of the roster consists of role players who play minimal minutes.
Gonzaga (20-1, 6-0 West Coast) has 10 remaining regular season games.
The Bulldogs lead the nation in scoring at 88.7 points per game, and every remaining player is averaging 9.5 points per game or better.
"It's just tough when we don't have all the bodies that we're used to,'' Kispert said. ``Filip will be OK ... it's not as serious as it looked.''
But the injuries may force some adjustments.
``You've got to be smart on the risks you take, especially on defense, because we just can't afford to lose another guy to foul trouble or injury,'' Kispert said.
Petrusev was helped off the floor with 15 minutes left in the second half, but the Zags didn't miss a beat. They scored 54 second-half points on 73.9% shooting to blow open a close game and beat BYU 92-69. It was their sixth consecutive victory over the Cougars, and made the Zags the first team in the country to win 20 games this year.
Despite that performance, the Zags still dropped out of the top spot in The Associated Press Top 25 and are now No. 2.