Stockton, Dower rev up Gonzaga,
After heavy losses, Bulldogs ride with inside-outside duo
SAN DIEGO Sam Dower always had the talent. What was missing was the motor.
David Stockton always had the motor. What was missing was enough game to lift him into the starting lineup.
Now, all that is different, and a Gonzaga team that lost a lot from its No. 1-seeded squad last year is back in the NCAA tournament, this time a No. 8 seed that could disappear this afternoon or stick around a while.
Gonzaga’s leading scorer is 6-9 senior forward Dower, who is averaging 15.0 points and 7.1 rebounds after scoring 6.9 points a game last year and frustrating coach Mark Few with his laidback demeanor.
The Zags’ leading playmaker is 5-11 senior guard Stockton, who has started every game and averages 7.5 points and 4.2 assists a year after starting one game and averaging half as many points.
What happened this year, a year after Gonzaga lost leading scorers Kelly Olnyk and Elias Harris, is that Dower’s motor and Stockton’s game revved up considerably and, joined with the inside play of 7-1 center Przemek Karnowski, the shooting of guard Kevin Pangos and the versatile play of guard Gary Bell, the Bulldogs went 28-6 and won another West Coast Conference title.
They open play today against No. 9 seed Oklahoma State and star guard Marcus Smart.
“I’m not going to deny that I have been one of those guys frustrated with Sam in the past,” Few said of Dower. “But going into this year I think we both accepted Sam can really score the ball and he can score it in different ways than you probably envision your 6-9 guy doing. We were able to adjust the offense to find what we call his wheelhouse.
“He’s had a heck of a senior year. The guy is clutch. He’s got ice water in his veins. At one point in the conference tournament he was 23 out of 23 (on free throws), and to have that touch at the 3 (position) and to shoot midrange jumpers like he does so prolifically ... .”
Dower said it took some time for him to get more serious about his game.
“This past summer I took it to heart, and before that I didn’t take it seriously about getting better,” he said. “This past summer I focused on making myself better every day, and that helped with my conditioning.”
Many of Dower’s shots are set up by Stockton, who followed father John Stockton, a Hall of Famer, to Gonzaga and has heard inevitable comparisons.
From the beginning, Few was a huge fan.
“He never had one iota of entitlement,” Few said. “You would have thought his dad was a bricklayer from a little town in eastern Washington with that chip that he plays with on his shoulder. He’s a ferocious competitor. He will go down in history as one of the best competitors to come through the program.”
Stockton’s struggle to get more playing time took a while.
“You just have to be willing to fight every day in practice,” he said. “You try to work your hardest, and hopefully that gets you playing time at the end of the day. You can’t control what coaches think for the most part. You just play your game and control the things you can control, which is your effort and how you play.”