Battle of the big men in round 2
SALT LAKE CITY — We interrupt your 24-hour programming of three-point shooting for an honest-to-goodness battle of talented centers. When No. 7 seed St. Mary’s takes on No. 2 seed Arizona in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, big men Jock Landale and Lauri Markannen will put on a low-post showcase.
At least until Markannen starts hitting three-pointers.
“He’s the best shooter we’ve had here,” Wildcats coach Sean Miller said.
Not best-shooting big man. Best shooter. For one of the nation’s most storied programs.
Because of the way he moved, Arizona coaches thought Markannen was 6foot-6 when they first saw video of him playing in Finland and were shocked to find out he was 7 feet tall. He can drive and pull up for a jumper like a guard, and will almost certainly pull up stakes and jump to the NBA after a freshman season in which he shot 50 percent from the field and 43 percent from long range.
The Gaels’ Landale outscored Markkanen this season (16.9 points per game to Markkanen’s 15.7) and is coming off an 18-point, 13-rebound, twoblock effort in an 85-77 firstround win over VCU.
“He is as good around the basket as any low-post player that we’ve faced,” Miller said.
The 6-foot-11 Landale was bigger than he is now when he was recruited out of Australia, having dropped about 20 pounds the past two years to get down to 255.
“He’s really skilled,” Gaels point guard Joe Rahon said. “If you throw it to him to the basket, left shoulder, right shoulder, I don’t think he really cares. He can read and react to how his defender is playing him. He has great hands, you kind of just throw it in the vicinity.
“When we came in, his freshman year, he was a little bigger and slower ... but his touch around the basket was always really impressive. He has a knack for scoring.”
Landale, a junior, also worked on his defense to earn more minutes, and that will be put to a test against Arizona. Besides Markkanen, the Wildcats also start 7-footer Dusan Ristic and bring 6-11 Chance Comanche off the bench.
“We’ll need our depth on that,” St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “Jordan Hunter will be a factor, and Dane Pineau, (Evan) Fitzner, Kyle Clark. We’ll need our depth inside. …
“I’m sure they have a plan on how they’re going to defend Jock and our bigs. But we’ll adjust to it, wherever they go with it. We’ve seen teams with this size before. We have two in our league. BYU is big and Gonzaga is big.”
Neither of those teams, though, has a future NBA star like Markkanen.
“He’s a really talented offensive player,” Bennett said. “He can really shoot the ball. He can put it on the floor. He can score in the post. Doesn’t take bad shots. He’s a fun player to watch, really.
“Hopefully, we’re not watching him. Hopefully, we’re guarding him.”