Four Zags face off as Grizzlies defeat Wizards Saturday

Former teammates at Gonzaga NBA squared off in the NBA and made a few impressive plays against each other in the Grizzlies 20-point win

(From left to right) Killlian Tillie, Corey Kisper, Rui Hachimura and Brandon Clarke were all on the court for Gonzaga during the 2018-19 season (photo credit of the Memphis Grizzlies on Twitter)

Four former players from Gonzaga were on an NBA court at the same time during Saturday’s game between the Washington Wizards and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Rui Hachimura and Corey Kispert suited up for the Wizards while Brandon Clarke and Killian Tillie were part of the Grizzlies winning effort. The four players were all at GU during the 2017-18 and the 2018-19 season, but Clarke was only on the floor with the others in 2018-19 after redshirting the year before.

In Saturday's game that the Grizzlies pulled away with 115-95, all four former Zags got considerable minutes for their teams coming off the bench. There were stretches when all four were on the floor together, including a signature moment at the start of the fourth quarter.

After Tillie splashed a three to make it an 18-point game, Kispert attempted to respond with a three himself but missed off the back iron. Hachimura recovered the offensive rebound, and dished it to teammate small forward Deni Avdija.

Avdija took it up into the key and attempted a short one-handed jumper, but Clarke was there to meet him at the rim and sent the ball back onto the floor. GU’s single season block leader finished the game with 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting and recovered six rebounds to accompany that lone block.

Wizards guard Spencer Dinwiddie scooped the ball off the floor and found a seemingly open Kispert posted up in the corner. Kispert set his feet from behind three and was getting into his shooting form as Tillie started to close out on Kispert after finding himself sucked in toward the hoop. Kispert got his shot off just as Tillie was getting up and Tillie was able to swat the 3-ball out of bounds for his first block of the night.

Tillie also had 6 points on 2-for-3 shooting all from deep on Saturday. The second year forward from France is shooting 34.2% from beyond the arc this season.

In the second quarter, Hachimura blocked Clarke on a mid-range jump shot attempt, which Kispert scooped up the rebound.

Hachimura had four points on 50% field goal shooting to go along with two rebounds and assists in 18 minutes of action. The 2018-19 Julius Erving award winner in college played his 10th game of the season Saturday after missing the beginning of the season for personal reasons.

He’s been shooting 47% from the field and 33% from three while averaging 16 minutes of play time a game so far this season.

Kispert, who had five points and five rebounds in 25 minutes against a few familiar faces Saturday, has been shooting 31.5% from beyond the arc and is averaging 11.4 per 36 minutes so far in his rookie campaign.