Dave Boling: Gonzaga taught valuable lesson in accountability during loss to West Virginia

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Such high-profile early season games are teaching and learning experiences. Buff and polish the good, find and fix the flaws.

Fine-tuning. Tinkering. Self-examination.

The biggest lesson coach Mark Few can impart to his Gonzaga men’s basketball team after an 86-78 overtime loss to West Virginia in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament was this: accountability.

This exciting and hard-fought basketball game came down to a few key plays, and either team that came up on the wrong end would have reason to question a few whistles and lament the way the ball bounced.

And for all the impressive efforts and performances on both sides, there were a number of reasons for the participants to admit they came up short in some situations.

So, when, in his postgame comments, Few spoke about a late-regulation turnover against the Mountaineers’ press that allowed them to tie and take it to overtime, he pointed directly at himself.

The second half looked like two elite teams battling to win every possession, but when Ryan Nembhard sank two free throws with 25 seconds left in regulation, the GU lead of 71-66 looked like sufficient cushion.

But when West Virginia’s Tucker DeVries pumped in a long 3-pointer at 19 seconds, it closed to a one possession game again. Here’s where it got tricky.

The athletic defenders of West Virginia contested the Zags’ movement up the floor. When the ball got to guard Nolan Hickman, he was nearly straddling the halfcourt line, and DeVries stole the ball and was fouled going for layup.

He calmly dropped in both free throws to tie the game.

In overtime, the Zags kept it close for a few minutes, but West Virginia pulled away.

Few saw the turnover against the press late in regulation as the true turning point. And he pointed to what he saw as his mistake.

“In tournaments like this, you’re going to be in a bunch of different situations,” Few said. “We were obviously in one there and, (it’s) on me. I should have called a timeout as the thing was progressing.”

A timeout would have allowed the No. 2-ranked Zags to stop the clock and talk over another strategy of killing the final seconds.

“It didn’t look great on the press break. I probably should have burned one (timeout); we had it in our guards’ hands, and I trusted them. It was just kind of junky and I needed to call timeout.”

Few has won more than 700 games, and taken Zags teams to the NCAA Tournament every year he’s been head coach.

But he obviously recognizes the axiom that you can’t stay ahead if you don’t keep learning.

This loss, he said, was on him. He’ll absorb the lesson.

There was much to appreciate in this one. But there are any number of concerns as the Zags next play Indiana, which was rated No. 14, but took a beating in the opener from Louisville.

Nembhard again was exceptional with the ball, registering 12 assists and four steals, with only one turnover, but also made only one of his 10 shots.

GU’s Khalif Battle was spectacular at times in the first half and finished with 16 points, but only scored two in the second half.

Ben Gregg was a key post defender at times, and came away with a number of key rebounds, but the Zags ended up getting outrebounded 42-36.

The only Zag who came up positive on the plus-minus stat was sophomore post Braden Huff (plus 4), leading GU in scoring with 19.

The 2023-24 Zags competed in the Thanksgiving week Maui Classic last year (relocated to Oahu because of Maui’s fire), and lost the first game to eventual national finalist Purdue.

In that one, they lost by 10 points to a powerful team while missing 16 straight 3-point attempts. Nembhard and center Graham Ike were in the early stages of meshing with the team.

There were many lessons learned at that tournament that paid dividends when the Zags advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 again.

Those fans lamenting Wednesday’s outcome can take some solace in that memory. The bigger lesson was for the team. Huff and Nembhard were at the interview table with Few. Nobody was happy.

But the players watched their coach remind them that he’s been at this for decades and is still learning ways he can improve.