Monmouth Presents New Challenge For Gu
On the surface, Saturday night’s game against Monmouth might seem like the ideal pick-me-up for a Gonzaga University men’s basketball team that has been in a bit of funk of late.
GU, following three consecutive road losses, returns to Martin Centre, where it has won 106 of 115 games the past nine seasons. And the Bulldogs have drawn a little-publicized opponent from New Jersey that plays in the obscurity of the Northeast Conference. But before Zags fans hail this 7 p.m. non-conference matchup as just what the doctor ordered, they might want to heed the warning of Bulldogs coach Mark Few.
“It’s not,” he insisted following a morning practice on Thursday. “Monmouth is off to a great start, and they seem really, really solid. They run a tough, true match-up zone defense, which is something different than what we’ve faced this year.”
The Monarchs (6-3) had a five-game winning streak before losing at UNLV Thursday night.
They have one of the most productive point guards in the country in 6-foot junior Rahsaan Johnson, who is averaging 20.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.9 steals per game.
Adding to Few’s concern is the fact that GU students have gone home for the holidays, which means The Kennel won’t be as hostile an environment as it normally is to visiting teams. And it doesn’t help that his own team, which hasn’t been playing all that well in recent weeks, will again be without the services of junior point guard Dan Dickau.
Dickau, who was expected to return following Christmas, remains sidelined by a broken finger on his non-shooting hand and will not be available for Saturday’s game.
It’s an injury situation that has grown increasingly more frustrating for Few.
“The most important thing, obviously, is that Dan Dickau does not step foot on the practice floor or game floor until that thing is totally healed and there’s no chance it can get hurt again,” Few said of Dickau’s slow-healing finger. “However, it would sure be nice to have him back.
“The indications (last week) were, `Hey, he’s doing great, the bone is healing nicely.’ Whether we had the wrong prognosis or what, I don’t know. But a lot of us, Dan included, thought he’d be ready to go by now and that’s just not the case.”
Few said Dickau has been shooting the basketball without pain on the sidelines during practice. But he said he will probably not use him in Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. game against New Mexico in the Arena, even if he is cleared to play.
“He’s been doing some conditioning drills and shooting the ball, but he hasn’t banged yet and he hasn’t guarded anybody yet,” Few said. “I just don’t think it would be fair to throw him into a game (on Tuesday), although there’s no question we need him.
“We’re just going to have to struggle through and hope our young kids get better.”
Few will stick with freshman Blake Stepp at the point and hope his team responds like it did in the first two games following Dickau’s injury.
3-pointers
Senior forward Casey Calvary, who leads GU in scoring (21.7 ppg) and rebounding (6.0 rpg), was named Thursday as one of 30 candidates nominated for the John R. Wooden Award as the college basketball player of the year… . Kenny Williams, a sophomore walk-on guard who played in 18 games last season, has quit the team to concentrate on academics, according to Few. … GU’s current three-game losing streak is its longest since March of 1997 when it closed its final season under coach Dan Fitzgerald with four consecutive losses.