What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after win vs. Portland

The Bulldogs ran away with a 31-point win over the Pilots

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Gonzaga put down the clamps to knock off Portland, 81-50, Thursday night in a West Coast Conference tilt from the Spokane Arena.

The Pilots (5-11, 0-3 WCC) might've been content with giving up open looks from the perimeter every now and then, but the Bulldogs (11-4, 2-0 WCC) barely gave up an inch on defense. After Austin Rapp's 3-pointer at the 17:31 mark, Portland went over six minutes before its next field goal broke up a 20-0 scoring run from the home team. The Zags held their opponent to just 7-for-28 from the field and forced 10 turnovers in the first half, propelling them to an 18-point lead before eventually riding out another blowout victory at the Spokane Arena.

Here's what Gonzaga head coach Mark Few had to say after the game.

Thoughts on Gonzaga's effort on defensive end in the first half:

Gonzaga seniors Graham Ike (left), Khalif Battle (middle) and Ben Gregg (right). / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

"I thought it was great. Portland does some different actions that you don't often see and I thought we were alert and competitive. We were physical and we had multiple guys in there on the glass, which is what we talked about with the quick turnaround. We didn't have a whole lot of time to prepare so kudos to the guys."

On the team's response against Portland following the California road trip:

Gonzaga men's basketball team. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

"I think everybody gets a little angst and stuff when you drop a game and you get frustrated, maybe sometimes your shots aren't going in or plays aren't happening. I thought they did a great job of responding. Portland's the type of team that kind of challenges you mentally as much as physically ... I thought they handled it almost perfectly."

How Gonzaga held Portland's leading scorer, Austin Rapp, to a season-low six points:

Gonzaga Bulldogs senior Ben Gregg. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

"Ben [Gregg] and Mike [Ajayi] did a nice job and then we had some very good switches where we talked our way through them. We were alert, which we weren't especially in that second half against Pepperdine so, job well done. And then after kind of a little bit of a ratty kind of start [against Portland] we took good care of the ball."

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

• Gonzaga Bulldogs 81, Portland Pilots 50: Live score updates recap, highlights from WCC men's basketball game

• ESPN Bracketology projects San Francisco will win WCC over Gonzaga

• Gonzaga basketball plane nearly collides with Delta jet at LAX

• Gonzaga's Drew Timme is on the move following NBA G League trade

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Continue to follow our Gonzaga coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Instagram and Twitter.