‘Fuel to the fire’: Gonzaga not lacking sources of motivation entering crucial postseason games
Gonzaga spent the past five months adding various items to its bulletin board, but the Bulldogs needed to clear some additional space on Tuesday morning.
Sources of motivation haven’t been hard to come by for a Gonzaga team picked second in preseason West Coast Conference polls.
National pundits and analysts were reluctant to pencil the Bulldogs in as an NCAA Tournament team until their Feb. 10 win at No. 17 Kentucky, and individual players haven’t been immune to criticism at different points of the year – much of it coming when GU lost four of eight games in late December and early January.
The WCC’s postseason awards, unveiled earlier this week, may have provided more lighter fluid as the Zags prepare for the conference tournament semifinals Monday in Las Vegas.
“We’re a competitive group, so I don’t know if we necessarily needed extra motivation, but if we did, I think that certainly provided it for some guys,” redshirt freshman forward Braden Huff said. “I think it’ll only help us.”
Despite an eight-game winning streak to close the regular season, a recent jump to No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25 and dominant individual performances from Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard down the stretch, Gonzaga didn’t pick up any of the WCC’s individual awards handed out Tuesday morning.
Those included: player of the year, Augustas Marciulionis, Saint Mary’s; coach of the year, Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s; defensive player of the year, Mitchell Saxen, Saint Mary’s; newcomer of the year, Jonathan Mogbo, San Francisco; sixth man of the year, Deuce Turner, San Diego; and freshman of the year, Ryan Beasley, San Francisco.
“First of all, props to those guys,” said GU junior forward Ben Gregg, a candidate for sixth man of the year. “You can’t really blame them for getting those awards. The coaches voted for them, but I think we all obviously felt that Graham and Ryan should’ve gotten at least one of those awards. Can’t do anything about it now. Hopefully, we just get a trophy in Vegas and that’ll be that, and not really have to worry about the individual awards.”
Ike, the conference’s second-leading scorer (16.9 ppg) and fourth-leading rebounder (7.3), and Nembhard, the only WCC player averaging more than six assists, both were in the mix for the conference’s top honor.
If neither captured player of the year, it still seemed like a safe bet one of the two would take home newcomer of the year. Instead, that went to San Francisco Mogbo, who averaged a double-double (14.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg) but was largely held in check by Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara while the Dons went 1-5 against the WCC teams seeded Nos. 1, 2 and 4.
The Zags still had three All-WCC first-team selections with Ike, Nembhard and Anton Watson, one second-team selection in Nolan Hickman and an all-freshman selection in Huff.
“I joke, I kind of say I cheated the award system with the redshirt year,” Huff said. “It’s really cool getting that recognition. Obviously, some other awards, some guys aren’t too happy. I think there’s some motivation for some guys on our team and I think we’re going to use that and come out strong these next couple games.”
As the No. 2 seed at last year’s WCC Tournament, Gonzaga fully leaned into the underdog narrative to mow through San Francisco and Saint Mary’s for the conference tournament title.
According to VegasInsider.com, the Zags are favored to win this year’s WCC Tournament – GU opened as minus-140 – despite entering as the second seed again.
It’s unlikely that bit of information will come up as Gonzaga prepares for the conference tournament, but the all-conference awards might get another mention at some point between now and tipoff on Monday evening.
“The chip on our shoulder only got bigger and we’ve heard all the doubters all year, especially in the preseason,” Gregg said.
“Everybody was hating on us. Especially with these awards coming out, I think some guys will have a little bigger chip on our shoulder. But it’s all just fuel to the fire.”