Home fires burn again for Ronny

It was a big-picture, bottom-line, smiles-all- around Saturday for the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Start with not one but two double-doubles – in points and rebounds by J.P. Batista, who bounced back from a frustrating outing Thursday night, and Derek Raivio’s first points-assists parlay as a collegian.

Adam Morrison, in the briefest of scoring slumps a couple weekends ago, stamped himself officially cured with 22 points, including three 3-pointers in the space of two minutes to break the game open.

No team in America is rebounding as well as the Bulldogs right now, and there was an amazing defensive statistic to note: In the last 12 minutes of Thursday’s game and the first 13 on Saturday, GU’s opponents made just 5 of 42 shots, a humiliating percentage even on Hangover Sunday at Hoopfest.

And, of course, the Zags beat up on old buddy Santa Clara for the 10th straight time, the longest streak by any team against the Broncos (if you don’t count the bad old days when USF was using the rulebook as a footwipe).

But all you needed to know about the game was evident during Gonzaga’s first two trips down the floor.

Ronny Turiaf is back.

“Not back,” he demurred. “I’m getting there.”

OK, well, he can certainly get there from here.

Taking Turiaf’s temperature has been a pet pastime of Zagophiles this season, from his 40-point breakout against Idaho through Anklegate in December and the lingering aftereffects ever since. Much hand-wringing has been invested in the project – to the point, apparently, that no consolation could be salvaged from the fact that he still manages to lead the West Coast Conference in rebounding and blocked shots and is fourth in scoring even with three other double-figure producers around him.

Player supply rarely meets fan demand, but this was something else. In this case, coaches and teammates, too, were waiting for the return of, as head coach Mark Few put it, “the old Ronny.”

He didn’t keep them waiting Saturday afternoon.

First he won the tip with a slap that nearly carried the ball out of bounds. Then he sprinted directly to the right block and collected a quick entry pass. Before a double-team could arrive or even be contemplated, he turned and faced the basket and pocketed a soft jumper.

Next trip, another post-up – finishing this one with a powerful roll to the basket through a foul by the Broncos’ Mitch Henke.

Just two plays and both elementary – but with efficiency that Turiaf has, admittedly, lacked these last couple of months. His lift was straight and square. There was bounce and strength. There was, well, fierceness.

“You could see the fire in him,” said teammate Erroll Knight.

And at least one interested party breathed a sigh of relief that was almost audible amid the McCarthey din.

“The way he was bouncing it down and elevating tonight was the way he was at the start of the season,” said Few. “He had a great mentality at the offensive end that through the foul or the double-team or whatever, he was still going to deliver.

“After the game, I came in and told our staff that it was like the way he attacked Missouri last year in KeyArena in the overtime, just going at them.”

It was not, by any means, a perfect game. In fact, Turiaf would make just 6 of 15 field-goal attempts, and the Broncos’ trademark physicality got under his skin enough that he finally just whacked nemesis Travis Niesen, earning a technical foul.

But he also finished with 22 points – his first game of 20 since the Zags beat Washington on Dec. 1. And he pursued his offensive opportunities, rebounds and Santa Clara’s shots with purpose and confidence, right up through a ferocious dunk that signaled the beginning of garbage time.

There is more at work here than the power of healing, though that is certainly a factor. For it seems that Turiaf has come to realize that “I don’t have many more games left here.

“And I need to make the most of those games.”

He’s not just talking about production, though he knows the Zags count on it.

“But really I’m just trying to have some fun, because those chances are running out,” he said. “I’m seeing the end of the tunnel now. There is only a month left in the (regular) season and then the tournament and I want to get all I can out of those moments.”

Few wants that for him every bit as much.

“It’s obviously good for our team when he’s playing this way,” Few said, “but it’s great to see personally, too. That’s how you want his senior year to go. He’s so good when he has the approach he had tonight, and you just feel so good when he’s in that attack mode – whether the shots are falling or not. We haven’t seen it enough this year.”

There should be more to see. There is a chase for the championship going on, of course, and that will enhance the drama, as will two more difficult road trips. But for Turiaf, the real ticking clock is the other part of the schedule – the fact that just three home games remain in his career.

“Only three – do you believe it? I can’t,” he said. “I don’t even want to think about it right now – no, no, no.”

But he does because he can’t help it, the same way he couldn’t help thinking about it when he was weighing his professional options last spring and summer. His decision to return for his senior year, which was either agonizingly difficult or a slam dunk – he told both versions, and both had the ring of truth – was surely buttressed by visions of more of those 40-point nights and none of the hobbling and struggle.

But however it has played out for Turiaf, he will not deal in regret and certainly not in recrimination.

Which means, yes, he’s heard the criticism.

“I don’t think people always realize, but whenever I step out there, I’m giving my best,” he said.

“People sometimes criticize me because I don’t do this right or I don’t do that right. I make mistakes. I’m not always the player I want to be. But I give my heart and soul to Gonzaga basketball, and when I’m going to leave this place, I hope people understand that I love everything about it – my coaches, my teammates, the fans, this school. I will always give my heart.”

Ronny Turiaf isn’t back. In that respect, he was never really away.