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Gonzaga Basketball

Pangos leaving his name all over GU record book

Kevin Pangos will play his final home game at McCarthey Athletic Center tonight.

The senior point guard will likely wander over to the MAC Sunday night for an hour or so to put up some shots and refine his game. Same thing Monday night.

“I’ve probably spent more time in here than my own bedroom,” Pangos said. “That honestly might be close to the truth.”

Another hoop, the one outside the family home in Holland Landing, Ontario, has seen its share of Pangos, too. It’s a portable basket that usually stands in the driveway, anchored by cinder blocks, but it can be moved to the road and strategically located near a street light.

There was no traffic to worry about. Rain and snow were frequent visitors, but never enough to keep Pangos from his basketball and his shooting. So many dribbles and so many shots deep into the night that Bill and Patty had to set a curfew so their son wouldn’t keep the neighbors awake.

As he got older, Pangos measured out the free-throw line, the college 3-point arc and the NBA 3-point arc and marked each with duct tape. He read a magazine article about fellow Canadian Steve Nash shooting outside in the rain so Pangos did the same thing. When necessary, Pangos shoveled snow to clear areas where he could launch jumpers.

“He’d shoot for hours on end,” Bill said. “For him, it was his place. Even at Gonzaga he has to go in there at night. He’s working on his game but it’s also relaxing.”

Pangos’ name is stamped all over Gonzaga’s record book but he cherishes one above the others. With 116 wins, Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. form the program’s winningest senior class. They’ve basically started in the backcourt for four seasons, though Bell missed seven games due to injury.

“I remember when we first got here we were talking about being the best backcourt in the country and subtlety I think we’ve been up there,” said Pangos, who will be joined at Senior Night ceremonies by Bell and wing Byron Wesley. “Now we just have to finish it off.”

Gonzaga coach Mark Few calls Pangos the “quintessential Zag,” which entails everything from his level of play and work ethic to how he represents the program on campus and in the community.

“He’s everything this whole program is about,” Few said, “and I mean everything when you think about it. Wins, wins over personal achievement, hard work, putting his time in. You couldn’t have a better representative.”

Pangos ranks high in one more unofficial category.

“I don’t know if he broke (Derek) Raivio’s record or not but he’s tied it for sure for most appearances (at the MAC and Martin Centre), hours logged in, shots,” Few noted. “Kevin and Derek are 1A and 1B.”

• • •

Early on, Pangos’ parents weren’t sure which sport would capture their son’s attention. Their philosophy was to introduce Kevin and older sister Kayla to numerous sports and let them choose their path.

The family built a hockey rink in the backyard with portable lights. Kevin and Kayla fired pucks into the net at all hours, requiring another curfew. The siblings tried hockey, soccer, volleyball, even ultimate frisbee, but both gravitated toward basketball, which is in the family’s DNA. Bill has coached for 33 years and Patty played college basketball. Kayla, a graduate intern at Gonzaga, played for her dad at York University in Toronto, about an hour’s drive from Holland Landing.

As a sixth-grader, Kevin played against ninth-graders at the club level.

“We weren’t sure if it was a good idea or not,” said Bill, who has spent countless hours in the gym with Kevin and Kayla. “But it was a great experience and it helped Kevin work against bigger, stronger, faster players. Socially he learned how to work with older kids.”

Pangos played for Canada’s cadets team, which included Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, in the U-16 world championships. The team won a bronze medal, Canada’s first medal in decades.

In 2010, Pangos became the youngest player to suit up for the Canadian senior national team. He was rarely involved in the AAU circuit, but he more than made up for it with his experiences with Canada basketball.

“The national team experience for me was so much more beneficial,” he said. “I got to see the world and learn.”

Pangos also played on the Canadian junior national team for coach Greg Francis, who was friends with Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd.

“He was like, ‘Hey, we have a kid at tryouts that has Gonzaga written all over him,’ ” Lloyd recalled. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

Pangos, however, needed to hear more. He narrowed his list to Michigan and Gonzaga, which usually requires an 8-12 hour travel day from the family home. While Kevin was thorough in researching schools, Bill and Patty were “comfortable with Gonzaga from Day One.”

“They knew before me,” Pangos said. “It was just the perfect fit, but I wanted to take my time and make sure I was making the right decision. When I told them I wanted to commit, it was, ‘All right, it’s about time.’ ”

• • •

Pangos began his career on the bench, behind David Stockton in the 2012 season opener versus Eastern Washington. Three days later, Pangos started against Washington State and buried nine 3-pointers en route to 33 points, prompting Robert Sacre to say Pangos was like a “vending machine. You know what you’re getting when you put a coin in.”

But the vending machine had some limitations. Over the last four years, Pangos has become a better ball-handler, penetrator, passer, shooter, defender and leader.

“People say maybe my freshman year stats-wise was my best and blah, blah, blah, but as far as on the court, I feel 100 times better than that first WSU game,” he said. “What people don’t see is the nerves and the jitters when I was on the court. I had it repped out where I could catch-and-shoot 3s, but now at this point … I’ve improved in every aspect.”

His role on the 2013 team that reached No. 1 and this year’s squad is similar. He’s concentrating on getting others involved but quickly shifts gears if he’s called on to score. He’s second nationally with a 3.72 assists-to-turnovers ratio. In 2014, despite nagging toe and ankle injuries, Pangos put up career bests of 14.4 points and 3.3 rebounds.

He’s turned out to be a capable recruiter. He developed a friendship years ago with Przemek Karnowski, who played for Poland against Canada at the U-17 world championships. He was teammates with then-Kentucky forward Kyle Wiltjer on the Canadian national development team.

“He gave me my space, but I was with him a lot of that summer (in 2013),” Wiltjer said. “He was able to give me the rundown on Gonzaga.”

Teammates needle the 6-foot-2 Pangos for never dunking in a game. He said he has dunked after practice, but it would be too risky to try it during a game.

“Me and Perk (freshman Josh Perkins) and some other guys always joke that Coach Few is going to enjoy having an athletic point guard again,” Pangos said. “He hasn’t had one since (Jeremy) Pargo.”

It should come as no surprise that Pangos is goal-oriented, often putting them down in writing. Dunking doesn’t make the list.

“There’s a few I haven’t checked off,” he said.

Does one involve Indianapolis, site of the Final Four?

“Yeah,” Pangos said, “and it’s not as a spectator.”