Morrison amazes Westphal
Paul Westphal claims he isn’t surprised by what Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison has accomplished on the basketball court this winter.
“But I am still definitely impressed,” added the fifth-year Pepperdine coach, who brings his young Waves (5-9 overall, 1-1 in the West Coast Conference) into GU’s McCarthey Athletic Center tonight for an 8:30 WCC game against Morrison and the sixth-ranked Bulldogs (12-3, 2-0).
What impresses Westphal most is how Morrison, a preseason All-American and leading candidate for college player-of-the-year honors, has continued to improve his overall game – particularly his outside shooting.
“Last year, you didn’t want to give him 3s, but it was kind of OK if he took ‘em,” he said of the Zags’ 6-foot-8 junior, who leads all NCAA Division-I scorers with an average of 28 points per game. “And now, they’re setting screens for him to shoot those.
“His game has just continued on such an upward trend. It’s amazing. And there doesn’t seem to be any end to his potential.”
Still, Westphal knows there is much more to this Gonzaga team than Morrison.
“They’re just so balanced,” he said of the Bulldogs, who have won eight of their last nine games and are coming off an impressive WCC road sweep of Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara. “They’ve got, probably, the best inside player in the conference in (J.P.) Batista, and I’m pretty sure they’ve got the best outside shooter in (Derek) Raivio.”
Adding to Westphal’s concerns is the immaturity of his team, which had lost seven of 10 games prior to edging WCC rival San Diego 55-54 at home on Monday. The Waves, who are 1-6 on the road, have four freshmen – including starting point guard and leading scorer Michael Gerrity (15.8 ppg) – and three sophomores on their roster.
“We’re definitely young,” Westphal admitted. “But we’ve got four freshmen we really like a lot, along with a couple of key sophomores.”
Unfortunately for the Waves, two of their top young prospects – 7-foot sophomore center Russell Hicks and 6-9 freshman forward Chris Oakes – have been slowed most of the year by injuries. Hicks missed the first 11 games with a broken foot and has played sparingly since returning. Oakes has been sidelined for the last nine games with a strained ligament in his knee, although Westphal indicated there is a slight chance he might return tonight.
“With young kids like we have, everything is new, so you can’t take anything for granted,” Westphal said. “And on top of that, several of them have been injured or banged up and can’t play like they want to, so we’ve had to make adjustments with our lineups all year.”
Still, Gonzaga coach Mark Few views the Waves as another immensely athletic and dangerous opponent that will give his Bulldogs their best shot in an effort to snap their 30-game home winning streak, which is tied for the second longest in the country.
“Gerrity is playing really well for them right now,” Few said. “He’s able to shoot it from outside and get into the lane. And their big kids inside present a lot of problems. They’ve struggled at times, but they had an opportunity to win both of their games (against San Francisco and San Diego) last weekend.
“And we haven’t had any games where we’ve blown somebody out, so I don’t know why you would expect anything to be different this weekend.”