Gonzaga enters WCC tournament looking to rebound from first loss
For the first time all season, Gonzaga started practice this week with a loss hanging over its head.
The No. 4 Bulldogs were undefeated and the top-ranked team in the country before a 79-71 setback to Brigham Young at home on Saturday closed out the regular season. The defeat took perfection off the table, but the team still has plenty to play for when the West Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament begins Friday at Orleans Arena.
Not only can top-seeded Gonzaga win its fifth straight conference tournament title, it also still has a chance to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and set itself up for a deep March run.
“I think we’ve responded pretty well,” junior guard Nigel Williams-Goss, who played at Findlay Prep, said Thursday in Spokane, Washington. “Obviously it was a tough way to end the (regular) season, but (we) know that our end goals are still intact.”
The Bulldogs were 29-0 before the BYU loss because of remarkable balance, being the only Division I team to rank in the top 10 in scoring offense (10th, 85.3 points per game) and scoring defense (eighth, 61.5). Gonzaga’s production is also evenly distributed throughout its lineup, with five players averaging more than 10 points.
But the Bulldogs’ team-oriented play seemed to disappear against the Cougars, with the team committing 16 turnovers and recording only eight assists.
“I think in that loss to BYU we kind of got away from the process and what we’ve been doing all season,” said freshman forward Zach Collins, a former Bishop Gorman High standout. “What we’ve shown for 29 games, we didn’t show against BYU.”
The defeat caused Gonzaga to focus on details at practice this week, like pick-and-roll execution and defensive rotations, but its confidence hasn’t gone away.
”I think the guys realize we’re 29-1,” coach Mark Few said. “That’s an awesome season.”
Cutting down the nets at The Orleans could make a special season even better for the Bulldogs, who play a quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Friday’s first-round game between Pepperdine and Pacific. To win a championship in Las Vegas also would be extra sweet for Collins and Williams-Goss, who was named the WCC Player of the Year on Tuesday.
“I haven’t been back to Vegas since before the season,” said Williams-Goss, who made his Gonzaga debut this year after transferring from Washington. “I’m excited to play in front of my friends and family in Vegas and hopefully get this championship.”
Contact reporter Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.