SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — For the second night in a row, Joel Ayayi put up a double-double as top-ranked Gonzaga beat an overmatched foe.
Ayayi had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Corey Kispert scored 25 points and the Bulldogs beat short-handed Dixie State 112-67 on Tuesday night.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few said it took some prodding to help Ayayi break out of a recent scoring slump, and that is paying off.
“He’s hunting his shot better,” Few said. ”He has a knack for tracking the ball down and knowing where it’s going.”
Ayayi had 17 points and 10 rebounds in Monday’s win over Northern Arizona.
“I’m amazed he’s had back-to-back double doubles,” Few said of the slightly-built Ayayi, a junior who is 6-foot-5 and 180 pounds. “Who’d had thought that with the body he has?”
Ayayi added six assists and was 8-of-9 shooting from the floor.
“He’s too good to be held down for long,” Kispert said of Ayayi.
Kispert, who leads the team in scoring, made 10 of his 16 shots.
Oumar Ballo added 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting for Gonzaga (9-0), which has won 43 consecutive home games, the longest streak in the nation.
Cameron Gooden scored 20 points, Jacob Nicholds had 11 and Jacob Greene 10 for Dixie State (4-2), which is in the first year of its transition to Division I basketball. The Trailblazers were down to nine players because of COVID-19 protocols and injuries.
“When you play a team like this you have to play the best game of your life to beat them, and it wasn’t ours tonight,” Dixie State coach Jon Judkins said. “You can learn from wins and you can learn from losses, and tonight we hope that we can watch the film and get better.”
