Gonzaga guard living dream dad never got to chase
Teammate calls Zach Norvell Jr. ‘our emotional leader’
“Confident” Zach Norvell Jr. and No. 1 West seed Zags on cusp of another deep NCAA tourney run.
When Zach Norvell Jr. dives on a loose ball or muscles his way into the paint to grab a rebound, the scrappy, savvy sophomore basketball guard for Gonzaga is simply playing the only way he knows: tough.
Growing up on Chicago’s South Side, where streetball courts are often packed three deep with spectators and “only the hungriest dog wins,” Norvell learned quickly that being soft wasn’t acceptable.
His father, Zach Norvell Sr. — once a budding hoops star himself — stressed to Junior that his gifts on the court could serve as a ticket out of a city rife with violence, where both men watched multiple friends die at the hands of gangs and gun violence.
“In Chicago, basketball protects you from the streets,” says Zach Sr. “If you play ball, no one messes with you. People will even come up and tell you, ‘Hey, something’s about to go down, you need to get out of here.’ ”
On Thursday, Norvell, a 6-5, 205pound sophomore guard, and Gonzaga, the No. 1 seed in the West Region, take on fourth-seeded Florida State in the regional semifinals in Los Angeles. The Zags, who broke through and advanced to the school’s first Final Four two years ago, have one holdover from that team (point guard Josh Perkins) who played significant minutes. That squad finished as national runner-up to North Carolina, but this one might be even better, with more depth and athleticism.
Norvell, who had nine points, seven rebounds and five assists in the second-
round win over Baylor, will play a crucial role this week and beyond. He’s driven by the naysayers who dismiss Gonzaga as a cute mid-major rather than a basketball powerhouse. But he’s motivated more by his father, who taught him the game and pushed him to dream big.
Basketball provides outlet
Basketball, say father and son, saved them. It would have been easy to detour into a life of gangs and drugs, two activities readily available in the Chicago projects, where both were born.
“You never get used to the violence, and you can’t describe what it’s like to grow up with someone and then have them taken away by a senseless crime,” Norvell says, shaking his head.
Zach Sr. was 18 and a senior at DuSable High in Chicago when Junior was born. After a year at Northeastern Illinois, the family, including mom Tonja Hall, packed their bags and headed west, where Zach Sr. had a scholarship waiting at New Mexico State.
Norvell’s earliest memories are from Las Cruces, when he tagged along with his dad to practice. He’d watch the Aggies run full-court drills under legendary coach Lou Henson, desperately wishing he could join. “Man, I lived for those days,” Norvell says now.
After Zach Sr. played professionally in Mexico for three years following college, the family moved back to Chicago when Norvell was in the fifth grade. At home, dad preached focus. “I used to tell him, ‘You’re the best thing that ever happened to me — but I didn’t get to pursue my dream in the way you can,’ ” Zach Sr. says. “I would tell him to wait on having a family. It’s the best thing, but you don’t have to do it at 18.”
Norvell immersed himself in basketball and baseball, his other favorite sport. Just like in basketball, where he is praised for his versatility, he could do it all in baseball, too.
Simeon Career Academy boasts a tradition of basketball talent that includes players like Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker. There, Norvell stood out for his hustle, his shooting and his leadership. A mentorship with fellow Chicago native and former Gonzaga standout Jeremy Pargo, who played in Spokane from 2005 to 2009, planted the seed that the Zags might be a good fit.
When Gonzga coach Mark Few watched Norvell drain 15 threes at a back gym during a Vegas AAU tournament, he thought Norvell would be a good fit for the Zags, too. What Few loved most, though, was that on a high school team stacked with future NBA stars, Norvell was the vocal one.
That’s translated in Spokane, where point guard Josh Perkins says Norvell’s bubbly, positive personality is key to the Zags’ chemistry. “He’s our emotional leader, our glue guy off the court,” Perkins says. “He makes everyone laugh, and you need that. He’s good at reminding us that basketball is something we do for fun. He knows how to celebrate life.”
He’s not scared of the big shot that leads to celebrations, either.
Waiting his turn while injured
Knee surgery in late summer 2016 forced Norvell to the bench his first year on campus. He went through the famed Gonzaga redshirt program, shedding fat, building muscle and learning how to play defense at the collegiate level.
He watched Gonzaga’s finish as national runner-up from the bench in Phoenix, then spent the early part of last season trying to get his body in even better shape, eager to contribute. He dabbled in pescatarianism (his favorite fish is tilapia) and did a month of the Whole 30 diet, trimming 11 pounds. Then when guard Corey Kispert got hurt, Norvell got his shot.
“I don’t think people remember this, but he wasn’t starting at the beginning of last year,” says assistant Tommy Lloyd. “He was pressing, doing a lot of things out of context because he was almost trying too hard. But when Corey sprained his ankle and Zach got an opportunity, he built a lot of confidence and ran with it.”
That moxie was on display in the first round of the 2018 NCAA tournament, when Norvell drained the go-ahead three-pointer with 20.8 seconds to play in the first-round game against North Carolina-Greensboro. He might have been in his first season, but the 2018 West Coast Conference newcomer of the year never thought about deferring to veterans.
He followed that big shot with 28 points and 12 rebounds in a secondround defeat of Ohio State.
“I wasn’t surprised — that was the fourth or fifth big shot he hit last year. I was crashing the boards so I didn’t get in trouble, but I knew it was going in,” Perkins recalls, laughing. “He’s a confident dude, and he’s been willing to take shots like that since he was a young guy. That’s a Chicago thing.”
When this is relayed to Zach Sr., who considers himself a Chicago guy to the core, he nods emphatically. He had doubts about his boy going across the country to a small school in eastern Washington — “there’s not a lot of glamour to sell,” the father deadpans — especially when it meant he picked Gonzaga over glitzier programs like Georgetown and Thursday’s opponent, Florida State.
But Few and his staff have a reputation for developing players, a major selling point for both father and son. And now, on the cusp of another deep tournament run and potentially an early entry in the NBA draft, they know Norvell made the right decision.
The past few years, dad has learned how to sit in the stands and be a fan, not a former player. He doesn’t want to live through his son in the way other parents sometimes do, when children cripple under the pressure of expectations. He just wants to be his boy’s biggest fan.
Junior, in return, wants to make him proud.
“I’m living out a dream he never got to chase,” Norvell says. “It’s a ton of motivation.”