Few: Cougars off to solid start
Washington State’s men’s basketball team is off to its best start in nine years, but Gonzaga coach Mark Few insists he is more impressed by the Cougars’ early-season offensive numbers than by their 4-1 record.
“They look really good right now,” Few said of the Cougs, who invade McCarthey Athletic Center tonight for a 6 p.m. non-conference showdown against 9th-ranked GU (4-2). “They’ve got a lot of guys who can play. They’re terrific defensively, like they have been, but they look really potent offensively, too – much more so than I remember them the past two years.”
Since taking over at WSU two years ago, Dick Bennett has built his program on a solid, aggressive defense and methodical, grind-it-out offense that seems to cherish every possession.
This year, however, he seems to have loosened the offensive leash a bit, and it is showing up on the scoreboard.
The Cougars come into tonight’s regional rivalry averaging 67.6 points per game – almost 11 more than they averaged during Bennett’s first two seasons – and boasting a better shooting percentage (.498) than Few’s high-scoring Zags (48.7).
Sophomore point guard Derrick Low is averaging a team-high 12.8 points and 5.2 assists for the Cougs, who are playing their first road game of the season after knocking off Kansas State 58-57 at Friel Court last Saturday. And four of Low’s teammates are averaging more than seven points a game.
Few said the WSU team he’s watched on video looks good enough to be a “legitimate top-three or four Pac-10 team” and NCAA Tournament contender.
“They got a lot of guys and lot of answers right now – kind of the opposite of us,” he said, in obvious reference to the injury problems plaguing his own team.
Three of Few’s top seven players are dealing with major aches and pains. Two of them – senior forward Erroll Knight (knee) and redshirt freshman forward Josh Heytvelt (broken ankle) – won’t play tonight, and the status of junior point guard Derek Raivio has come down to a game-time decision following a hard fall that forced him to the bench midway through the first half of Sunday’s 99-95 loss at Washington.
WSU associate head coach Tony Bennett, the son of head coach Dick Bennett, said earlier in the week the Cougars are preparing as if Raivio will be back running GU’s offense, despite the badly bruised lower back and hip he suffered in his fall against UW.
“I would be surprised if he didn’t play,” the younger Bennett said of Raivio, who is averaging 14 points and three assists per game. “But if he needs a break, I think he should take it for our game, no question, because they’ve got a big one coming up against Oklahoma State (in Seattle on Saturday).”
Bennett admitted that the absence of Raivio changes Gonzaga’s backcourt dynamics.
“But our system is our system,” he added, “and I don’ think we’re going to adjust and make big changes – especially if you don’t know if he’s going to play or not.
“We’re not good enough to prepare two game plans. We’re having a hard enough time just having a good practice.”
Whether Raivio goes or not, the Cougars will have their hands full dealing with the Zags’ Adam Morrison, a 6-8 junior shooting guard who leads the nation in scoring with an average of 29.7 points per game.
“Obviously, one of the staples of our game is trying to not let teams get out and run in transition,” Bennett said. “You can’t give a player like (Morrison) that many freebies. He’s going to get his own, but you just try to make him earn all he gets.”
When asked about the importance of tonight’s game, Bennett said, “It’s not the end-all, be-all in terms of an evaluation of what we’re going to do this year. But if we can hold some poise, battle and compete … and be there at the end, that’s going to be a good sign for us.”
“Being our first road game this year, a lot of our staff is curious as to how we’ll respond if it gets a little hairy in there.”
Notes
Few downplayed his team’s No. 9 ranking this week, especially with the Zags’ injury situation being what it is. “Everybody runs around talking about our ranking,” he said, “but our ranking wasn’t based on Jeremy Pargo, Larry Gurganioius, Mamery Diallo and David Pendergraft playing the kind of minutes they’re playing.” … WSU leads its series with Gonzaga 95-44, but has lost six in a row to the Zags… . The Bulldogs haven’t lost back-to-back games since the 2002-03 season, when they fall to Stanford on Dec. 28 and Saint Joseph’s on Dec. 31. Since then, they have played 88 games… . WSU is 32-189 all-time against nationally ranked opponents and 5-106 against teams ranked in the top 10… . GU’s current home winning streak of 27 is tied for the second-longest in the nation with Illinois’ and trails only Washington.