WAC's Nevada upsets Gone-Zaga

By Bud Withers, KRT Campus

SEATTLE—Gonzaga coach Mark Few signaled for his team not to foul, and the Zags' pain was realized. As the last half-minute ticked down in the most difficult defeat in the history of the program, senior guard Kyle Bankhead wept uncontrollably, pulling his white singlet over his eyes.

There was nowhere to hide, nothing for five Gonzaga seniors to lean on in the face of the 91-72 thrashing administered by Western Athletic Conference-champion Nevada on Saturday at Key Arena. Tomorrow would come, and there wouldn't be a practice, or a news conference, or another NCAA basketball game to prepare for.

" It feels as if someone took your life away, almost," Gonzaga freshman Adam Morrison said.

The Zags lost in the spot that their national story began, at Key Arena in 1999. Yes, the Elite Eight loss that year was hard because the Final Four was so tantalizingly close, but there was the solace of knowing that they'd been a No. 10 seed, won three games and trained a college-basketball spotlight on themselves.

Two years ago, there was the ignominious first-round exit against Wyoming, but that was almost a setup—Gonzaga, a higher seed, sent to play at altitude, to a host site from Wyoming's conference.

This was different. This was the worst. The Zags (28-3) were treated generously by the basketball committee, accorded a No. 2 seed. This wasn't Albuquerque, 1,400 miles away, two years ago. The Zags were unmasked in front of their own people.

" If you asked somebody if you could play Valparaiso and Nevada to get to the Sweet 16," Blake Stepp said candidly, "they'd think that was a pretty good draw."

It was. It was, until Nevada came out and exposed the Zags' various warts. Here's all you need to know about what kind of afternoon it was for Gonzaga: Its biggest run of the day was six points. Six niggling points, two times.

" You gotta want it," said Zags freshman guard Derek Raivio. "It seemed like they wanted it more."

The Zags were beaten six ways to Spokane. Nevada shot better, rebounded better and defended better. If there were 30 loose balls, the Wolf Pack must have gotten 28 of them. Gonzaga couldn't seem to get a break from the officials, but neither did it seem to deserve one.

Understand, this was a Wolf Pack team that hadn't been shooting well. It hadn't hit 50 percent in any of its last 13 games, and it shot .313 in its title game in the WAC tournament at Fresno State’s Save Mart Center. But Nevada made a respectable 47 percent of its shots against Gonzaga, and when it didn't score, it often outquicked the Zags to the rebound.

" We just weren't as aggressive," Few said.

Nor could they get stops. Making the inevitable run early in the second half, pulling eight behind after trailing 47-32 at half, the Zags couldn't grind out good enough defensive stands to build on the momentum.

" It was extremely difficult, man or zone," Few said. "We were trying to find something that we could string together consecutive stops with, but we just couldn't find it."

It is what it is, the saying goes. Gonzaga wasn't a turnover-causing defense all year, and it created only eight. When the Zags could have used a slashing, offensive force from the small-forward position to take the pressure off the harried Stepp, it had Erroll Knight of this year, not next year—a player still too stiff within the system to contribute much scoring.

If there's a game that ought to convince Ronny Turiaf to return for his senior year, it was this one. At halftime, Turiaf had played four minutes, and his only other box score numbers, besides zeroes, were three fouls and two turnovers.

Without great guard quickness, Gonzaga had to rely on its multiple sets to try to free Stepp, and the Wolf Pack, particularly Garry Hill-Thomas, wore him down. He shot 3 of 18, 1 of 12 from three-point range. His career numbers in the tournament fell to 24.4 percent in eight games, 16.4 percent on threes (10 of 61).

" I had pretty good looks," Stepp said. "As good as I had all season. The shot just wasn't falling—again."

Nevada’s Kevinn Pinkney led the Wolf Pack with 20 points, as all five starters scored in double figures. The Wolf Pack advances to the Sweet 16 to face third-seeded Georgia Tech on Friday.

It will be alleged that even as Gonzaga rose to national prominence, something was lost—a chip on its shoulder—even as a reputation was gained and its seeding improved.

The Zags are skeptical, because it suggests they don't want it as much as they once did. At the very least, it's apparent that down the stretch Gonzaga wasn't at the top of its game, needing an unlikely basket to beat Santa Clara, letting St. Mary's hang around, playing poorly for a long stretch against Valparaiso. Then this.

" I don't even plan on watching the game," center Richard Fox said glumly.

He'd watched it once. For him and a lot of people who expected more from Gonzaga, once was more than enough.