Karnowski able to overcome
Big man battles eye injury, foul trouble to key victory
There were more than a few Gonzaga hearts in throats late in the first half of the opening Final Four semifinal Saturday against South Carolina.
Przemek Karnowski, all 7-foot-1, bearded 300 pounds of him, was lying near the north baseline, grabbing his face. He’d just taken a solid shot to the right eye from South Carolina’s Chris Silva with 5 minutes, 12 seconds left in the half. A few minutes later, Karnowski was headed to the locker room early, towel to face.
“I got blocked, but he just put the finger in my eye,” Karnowski said. “I had blurry vision, a little bit shadow. I couldn't really open it. So I just went to the locker room.”
Gonzaga had a three-point lead at the time Karnowski left the game, and it grew to nine, 45-36, at halftime, largely on the offensive wizardry of Nigel Williams-Goss, who had half of his 12 firsthalf points in the final 5 minutes. And then there were the first glimpses of freshman Zach Collins, who in the second half would burst off TV screens across the country and play a big role in Gonzaga’s 77-73 victory.
The Bulldogs had to withstand a furious second-half rally by the Gamecocks, who went on a 14-0 run to tie the game with 7:42 remaining. It’s not a stretch to think Gonzaga wouldn’t be playing for a national championship on Monday night if Karnowski hadn’t been able to continue.
“I saw the eye doctor and one of our trainers tried to take care of it,” the native of Poland said. “And by the time we were going out from the halftime, it started feeling a little bit better. And throughout the whole second half, it was getting better and better.”
Gonzaga generally runs its offense through the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year finalist, and even with Collins’ dynamic impact on the game – rebounds, blocks, key scoring – Gonzaga started to run into foul trouble. Karnowski was whistled for his third foul with 14:49 left in the second half, and Collins picked up his third about 4 minutes later. By the time South Carolina had battled back to tie at 65-all, four Gonzaga starters had three fouls.
It took every ounce of Gonzaga’s depth to navigate the final 7 minutes, with coach Mark Few deftly rotating Karnowski and Collins in and out of the lineup – just like he did all season. After all, Collins might have been handling the center position alone had Karnowski been unable to return from back surgery to relieve bulging discs that cost him most of last season.
“I'm really happy for him,” Karnowski said of Collins. “His work ethic is awesome. He's been playing well for us the entire season. Whenever I go to the bench, he gets in, and basically, our team doesn't drop a bit. So he's been huge for us. And not only this game but the entire season. And with six blocks, you know, my career high is seven, but six is still good.”
Karnowski managed to play 25 minutes and finished with 13 points and five rebounds. He, along with Collins, protected the Gonzaga rim, forcing South Carolina to rely on outside shooting. After some early success, the Gamecocks only hit 2 of 8 on 3-point shots in the second half, and overall managed just 37.9 percent shooting – Gonzaga was about 10 percentage points better.
“I think they shot 37 percent,” Few said.
“Again, sometimes our defense, it has kind of a cumulative effect on you, and at the end of the day, you hold a team like that in a Final Four game in the 30s, that's a really good thing.”