Naysayers not rattling Gonzaga

Nigel Williams-Goss hears the doubts being voiced about top-ranked Gonzaga and dismisses them.

The leading scorer for the only undefeated team remaining in Division I firmly believes this year’s Bulldogs can make their first trip to the Final Four.

“I want the national championship bad to put to rest all the naysayers,” Williams-Goss said.

A junior in his first season in Spokane after transferring from Washington, Williams-Goss has yet to lose in a Gonzaga uniform. The Bulldogs are 26-0 and seem unlikely to fall during the regular season.

However, despite 18 consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, Gonzaga has never gotten beyond the Elite Eight. Critics say that’s proof the Bulldogs are overrated because they play in the relatively weak West Coast Conference.

Williams-Goss rejects such notions and sees parallels between himself and his team.

“I feel a lot of times I’ve been overlooked and had to work for everything I’ve gotten,” he said. “I feel like (I have) the worker’s mentality coming from a small city (and) small school. We both pride ourselves on being gritty, putting the work in and letting the results speak for itself.”

Williams-Goss is averaging 15.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and more than four assists. He is a finalist for the Wooden and Naismith awards.

“The kid’s a winner,” coach Mark Few said. “He’s just a flat-out winner.”

Cavs need to close: Virginia is heading into a stretch likely to determine whether it can win the ACC regular-season title, and the No. 14 Cavaliers are hoping to learn from recent failures.

A double-overtime loss at Virginia Tech on Sunday was their third straight road defeat in which they’ve held a double-digit lead during the second half.

“My hope is we’re getting closer,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “Every time you’re in that spot you keep trying to be a little sounder, a little tougher and sometimes you need a couple things to happen for you. I guess we’ve got to crack through that to get our confidence.”