Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few admitted he “isn’t a big bling, bling guy” but he still picked up some flashy hardware on Thursday night.
And a big-time win.
Before Gonzaga beat USF 88-77 in a key West Coast Conference matchup at McCarthey Athletic Center, Few was presented with his Olympic ring for helping lead Team USA to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics in August.
“I’m not a big ring wearer. I’m not a big bling, bling guy,” Few said after the game. “But I’ll cherish it and it’ll be put somewhere special with all the other stuff we got from USA too.”
Grant Hill made the trip to Spokane to present Few with the ring in a special pregame ceremony. Few talked about the special relationship he developed with Hill during his time with USA Basketball.
“It was awesome,” Few said. “We were talking in my office today — we were 88 days together in back-to-back summers. Literally every day. Most of the time our family’s not there so we’re having breakfast, lunch, dinner, meetings, practice, working out together.
“You develop quite a bond and quite a friendship. And (Hill) is just one of those really, really special guys. I’m just telling you, he’s just an incredible person. And he’s just accomplished so much on the floor, off the floor, what he’s doing now. But he’s just so approachable and so humble and so fun.
“It was great to get a ring and for the fans to acknowledge the whole USA thing. It was a special, special summer.”
Few is hoping for a special March as well. Gonzaga (19-7, 10-3) took over sole possession of second place in the WCC with the win over USF, and is in a position to earn another high seed in the NCAA tournament.
Here’s everything Few had to say after Gonzaga’s win over the Dons:
Few on Gonzaga’s team effort
Gonzaga’s Braden Huff (34) and Ryan Nembhard (0). / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford
“I thought everybody that got in that game contributed. Even Dusty (Stromer) got in there and that one three kind of popcorned in and out, but he made some really nice plays on both ends of the floor. (Braden) Huff got in there in that stretch in the second half and really delivered. That’s kind of when we got a little bit of a separation.
“I thought we were really good down the stretch there. We didn’t turn it over against the press. We made our free throws. We got a couple extra possessions on the glass there, and Emmanuel (Innocenti) made a big difference on the defensive end being able to slow (Malik) Thomas down a little bit. Thomas is a heck of a player.”
Few on Ryan Nembhard’s big game
Gonzaga Bulldogs senior guard Ryan Nembhard. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford
“Ryan just takes what they give him. He just makes the basketball read. They were plugging on some screens and kind of getting themselves extended a little bit so he took full advantage of that. He went under him on a couple of those screens and he’s been making people pay when they go under on those ball screens. … That’s 40 minutes against some good pressure. When that little (Ryan) Beasley comes in he can really pressure the ball. (Malik) Thomas can pressure the ball and (Marcus) Williams can pressure the ball. So that’s a heck of an 18 and 12. (Nembhard finished with 18 points and 12 assists.)
Few on Michael Ajayi’s double-double
Gonzaga senior guard Michael Ajayi. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford
“It was great. Mike got in there, I thought he really gave us a presence on the defensive end and on the glass. He got us a couple extra possessions on the glass. He finished some plays obviously that was huge. And Graham (ike) got off to a really slow start but then he just kept kind of plugging away, plugging away and he really delivered in the second half too.”
Few on USF being an ‘NCAA caliber’ team
San Francisco Dons head coach Chris Gerlufsen. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford
“They’re a really, really good team. So we’re not going to blow them out in the first half. That’s just not going to happen. I mean they’re an NCAA-caliber team, I think. So there are just going to be hard-fought games like this.
“I think we got the pace going a little bit (in the second half). That helped. We got out in transition which kind of alleviated some of their pressure. And then hey, it wasn’t perfect but like you guys have talked about here everybody kind of delivered in their own way, which is good. We weren’t quite as Graham and Ryan dependent tonight.”
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW
MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Continue to follow our Gonzaga coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Instagram and Twitter.
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
