HARDER TO HANDLE
Gonzaga steps up in class in facing Big 12’s Oklahoma
The wait was long for Gonzaga — 11 agonizing days to play its first-round NCAA Tournament game. But it was well worth it, a 98-55 rout of No. 16 seed Norfolk State on Saturday night in Indianapolis.
“I think that’s the longest we’ve ever waited to play an NCAA Tournament game,’’ Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “From a coaching standpoint, that causes anxiety. Sitting around watching all the [underdog] seeds jumping up and grabbing us [favorite] seeded teams was a little bit unnerving through the last few days.’’
Few’s No. 1 ranked and No. 1 overall-seeded Zags step up in class at 2:40 p.m. Monday for their second-round game, which comes against No. 8 seeded Oklahoma, first-round winners over Missouri on Saturday.
Now, as Gonzaga (27-0) tries to keep its magical undefeated season intact and attempts to become only the eighth team since 1939 to win a national championship without a loss (and the first since Indiana in 1976), waiting won’t be the hardest part.
Waiting, in fact, won’t be an issue at all, because now that the tournament is churning, it comes fast and furious as long as you stay alive.
“This tournament comes at you quickly,’’ Few said. “Obviously, playing so late [Saturday night], we got a very, very quick turnaround to play a really good Oklahoma team that’s had some bigtime wins all year, and do some interesting things that we’ll have to adjust to quickly.’’
That adjustment shifts to an Oklahoma team (16-10) led by Austin Reaves, who averages 17.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. Reaves has either made or assisted on 41 percent of all Oklahoma field goals over the last three games — 18 field goals and 12 assists in that span.
Gonzaga’s counter to Reaves is sophomore forward Anton Watson, who was an igniter for the Zags on Saturday, producing 17 points on 7 of 7 shooting, adding seven rebounds and three assists on a night when Gonzaga had 24 assists.
“This team needs that desperately out of Anton,’’ Few said. “We’ve been asking and begging, yelling and doing whatever we got to to try to get him more aggressive and more assertive in every phase of the game, quite frankly — shooting, driving, making post moves, rebounding, defending the rim, all of those. Just kind of hustling.
“[Saturday] was a good first step against an athletic front line. Norfolk had legit size and athleticism in and around the rim. I thought that was a really, really good sign for us and for Anton moving forward in this tournament.’’
Oklahoma will again play short-handed without guard De’Vion Harmon, the Sooners’ second-leading scorer, producing 12.4 points per game. Harmon was ruled ineligible to play this weekend after testing positive for COVID-19 and has been confined to his hotel room. After the win over Missouri, the Sooners had a FaceTime session with him from the locker room to his hotel room to include him in the celebration.
Oklahoma, in the win over Missouri, was led by Reaves’ game-high 23 points along with 16 points and 10 rebounds from Elijah Harkless and 19 points from Brady Manek. Both of exceeded their respective season averages. And for Oklahoma to pull off the upset of Gonzaga, both likely will have to do that again.
Oklahoma is 0-6 when scoring fewer than 65 points and is 16-4 when scoring at least 65.
So, the formula is in place. The question is whether it will be good enough against the best team in the nation.
Norfolk State’s Kyonze Chavis, after the loss to the Zags, said it felt like his team had just played “against a bunch of pros.’’
“The game speed was, like, a thousand miles per hour,’’ Chavis said. “They were moving a lot. The ball was moving. Never stick. They’re a pretty good coached team. They do everything right. Limited mistakes.’’