Fazekas will be a load for Zags

SEATTLE – When Gonzaga coach Mark Few was trying to put together this year’s Battle in Seattle last spring, Nevada’s Nick Fazekas was still weighing the option of foregoing his senior year as a member of the Wolf Pack men’s basketball team and declaring for the NBA draft.

“We knew back then that if he came back, Nevada was going to be very, very good,” Few recalled.

And guess what?

Fazekas came back.

Which means Few and his Bulldogs (9-4) will have their hands full this afternoon when they entertain Fazekas and the 24th-ranked Wolf Pack (11-1) in the fourth annual Battle in Seattle in KeyArena.

Tipoff is set for 3, and when the basketball goes up, look for GU’s defensive focus to be centered on Fazekas, a versatile 6-foot-11, 240-pound forward who is averaging 20.7 points and 12.7 rebounds for a Nevada team that is coming off Thursday’s impressive 89-69 home win over Maine.

“He’s definitely a player-of-the-year candidate,” the Bulldogs’ Sean Mallon, a fifth-year senior forward, said of Fazekas earlier this week.

“He’s really, really good – especially this season,” added the Zags’ David Pendergraft. “He’s rebounding the ball very well, he’s a very smart player who is very skilled with both hands, and he can shoot the outside jumper or post you up inside.

“His arsenal is pretty full.”

Gonzaga, as part of the most grueling schedule in the school’s history, has run into its share of talented post players this winter. Names such as North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, Texas’ Kevin Durant and Washington’s Jon Brockman come immediately to mind.

But none of them has a resume that can stand up to that of Fazekas, a four-year starter and the Western Athletic Conference’s two-time reigning player of the year.

Fazekas has done it better – and longer – than anyone the Bulldogs have faced. Few sees no reason to think he won’t cause some major problems for his staggering Zags this afternoon.

“What strikes me first is just how efficient he is,” Few said of Fazekas, who is shooting 58.1 percent (100 of 172) from the floor while also leading the Wolf Pack with 21 blocked shots. “He’s results-oriented, and that’s what you want in a player.

“I think, sometimes, different guys get caught up with how high guys jump or how spectacular they are, but this guy just gets it done. He makes baskets and he secures rebounds. He’s not, maybe, aesthetically pleasing all the time, but the bottom line is, he’s a very efficient player.”

Fazekas, who torched Maine for 18 points and 13 rebounds, seems bent on savoring every moment of his final season with the Wolf Pack, and has no qualms about passing on a chance to jump early to the NBA.

“It was the best decision I could have made,” he said. “We’re having a good year so far, and we’re hoping to keep things going.”

Nevada, behind the steady play of Fazekas and junior guard Marcelus Kemp, opened the season with seven straight wins, including a 75-47 rout of Oregon State on the road. The Wolf Pack’s only loss came at home against UNLV (58-49), but they responded by putting together the four-game winning streak they will bring into this afternoon’s showdown against Gonzaga.

“No one ever thinks we’re going to do anything down here,” Fazekas said. “But we came into this season with the mindset that we’re going to win as many games as we can no matter what anyone thinks.

“So far, it’s been a fun year, but we still have a long way to go.”

In Gonzaga, the Wolf Pack will face a team that has lost three of its last four games. But Fazekas isn’t giving much weight to the Zags’ recent struggles.

“They’re still a great team,” he said of GU, which is coming off back-to-back losses to Georgia and Duke. “They’re probably the best team we’re going to play all year. They’ve just played one heck of a schedule.”

The Bulldogs seem eager to make amends for the stumbles they’ve taken in late December.

“It’s something new for us,” Pendergraft said. “But they were games we should have won. I mean, it’s not like we’re getting blown out by 20 or playing our best basketball and getting beat by 30.

“That last game (against Duke), we didn’t play very well, but we were still right there and should have won, but didn’t execute down the stretch. And against Georgia, we played like crap but still shot 59 percent on offense, so, really, we should have won them both.”

Jeremy Pargo, GU’s sophomore point guard, said simply playing well against Nevada won’t cut it.

“It’s important for us to win,” he said. “After coming off tough losses like we’ve had, you have to go out and win a game.

“I think we’ll be ready.”