Zags celebrate, but not too much

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few had a message for his players after their convincing 83-74 win over No. 12 Tennessee in the Old Spice Classic championship game Sunday.

“The first thing he said is we can celebrate,” sophomore forward Austin Daye said, “but know that we have a tough task at hand next week (against Indiana).”

And the week after that, and the week after that …

Gonzaga’s three-game dash through the Old Spice field will generate a higher ranking and waves of national publicity. A FoxSports.com columnist in attendance wrote that the Bulldogs appear to be Final Four worthy.

Few doesn’t mind the attention, but he’s quick to remind anyone within earshot that the season is only five games old and the calendar just flipped to December. He also pointed out that Gonzaga beat three quality opponents, not just SEC preseason favorite Tennessee.

The Bulldogs defeated Oklahoma State by 12, Maryland by 22 and had Tennessee 18 points down in the second half.

“It’s huge, really huge,” senior forward Micah Downs said. “This was the best field of any of the preseason tournaments this year and winning this is a great way to kick off the season, a great way to give guys confidence and the team confidence.

“But we can’t celebrate for too long because we have some big games coming up.”

In the next five weeks, Gonzaga will face Indiana, Washington State, Arizona, Connecticut, Portland State, Utah and Tennessee.

“Like Coach said, every week is a different battle,” guard Matt Bouldin said. “There’ll be a lot of hype after winning a big tournament like this, but we know it’s a long season and we really need to focus on each game. It’s really cliché, but we need to do it.”

GU-Tennessee, Volume III

Few half-jokingly said that he wouldn’t mind calling off the Gonzaga-Tennessee game Jan. 7 in Knoxville.

“I’d rather not go to Knoxville,” Few said, laughing. “That thing is a long way off. We’ll deal with that when it comes.”

The rematch probably won’t lack intensity. The teams met in Seattle last December, with Tennessee claiming an 82-72 win before Gonzaga returned the favor Sunday. The Bulldogs handled Tennessee’s pressure defense and didn’t back down when things got physical.

True freshman Demetri Goodson, the smallest Zag at 5-foot-11 and 164 pounds, got into a heated exchange with 6-9, 242-pound Volunteers center Wayne Chism as the teams exited the court at halftime. Teammates separated the two and officials huddled briefly with Few and Tennessee counterpart Bruce Pearl before the coaches departed for their respective locker rooms.

“With about four or five minutes left in the half I drove baseline and stepped out of bounds and he started jawing at me,” Goodson said. “I was just trying to let him know I wasn’t scared of him.”

Goodson said there were no flare-ups in the second half.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” guard Steven Gray said. “We really had to be physical and tough – all the things that were big question marks for us – to see how we responded not only in this game but in three physical games. We definitely showed we’re a lot different team than last year.”

Tennessee has a 34-game home-court winning streak.

Balanced approach

Gonzaga’s three-game tournament totals reflected the team’s balance. Josh Heytvelt was the leading scorer with 45 points and he grabbed 18 rebounds. Downs was the top rebounder (20) and added 37 points. Bouldin finished with 37 points and 14 rebounds. Tournament MVP Jeremy Pargo had 36 points, 17 assists and 14 rebounds. That performance also earned Pargo the West Coast Conference player of the week honors. Gray contributed 35 points. Austin Daye scored 33 points to go with 18 rebounds.

Gray made 4 of 6 3-pointers after going 3 of 18 in Gonzaga’s first four games.

“We should be able to start six guys,” Few said of Gray, who started 19 games last season but is coming off the bench this year. “Starting Micah has helped Micah’s confidence and it doesn’t seem to matter to Steven. We’ve all been waiting, the staff and players, for him to bust out like this, and sure enough he did.”

Gonzaga’s balance made picking all-tournament selections difficult. Heytvelt and Pargo were honored, but several Zags had strong résumés.

“That’s what you’re going to want down the road,” Gray said. “It’s definitely going to help us. That’s one of our weapons this year and we’re going to have to utilize it.”