Gonzaga rewind: Mark Few captures career win No. 750 in otherwise routine victory over North Florida

Someday in the future when Mark Few revisits the most memorable victories of his coaching career, it’s unlikely Sunday’s 109-58 blowout of North Florida at McCarthey Athletic Center will be one of the first results that comes to mind.

It was the latest example of eighth-ranked Gonzaga dispatching a low-major opponent that primarily traveled to the Northwest to show its players how a top-10 program operates and collect a paycheck that will go a long way toward balancing the university’s athletic budget.

Jammed between two signature games of Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule – a 94-59 win over Kentucky two days earlier and upcoming neutral-site game against UCLA – Sunday’s home win over a team rated No. 336 at KenPom will probably get lost in the shuffle at some point, if it hasn’t already.

We’ll move on from it soon, too, but not before recapping what happened at the Kennel against North Florida and why Gonzaga’s ninth win of the year was significant from a historical perspective.

Club 750

It would’ve been fitting for Few to win his 750th career game last Friday against Kentucky, considering legendary Wildcats coach Adolph Rupp is the only person in college basketball history to reach that number faster than Gonzaga’s coach.

Alas, Few had to wait 48 more hours, securing No. 750 on Sunday against the ASUN Ospreys. The Gonzaga coach managed to hit the milestone in 904 games, two fewer than Rupp, who finished with 876 career wins at Kentucky over 41 years at the school.

How did it hit Few to learn about the achievement?

“It means I’ve been doing it a lot longer than I remember doing it, or feel like I’ve been doing it,” Few said. “Hey, it’s just been an awesome, awesome run with just awesome guys. Incredible players and incredible people around me and great support, so just maybe take a moment to reflect on that a little bit and then just kind of move on. We’ve got a big one coming up Saturday, so that kind of gets the full attention.”

Among active college coaches, Few ranks No. 6 on the all-time wins leaderboard, sitting behind St. Johns’ Rick Pitino (890), Arkansas’ John Calipari (884), Tennessee’s Rick Barnes (843), Kansas’ Bill Self (838) and Oregon’s Dana Altman (784).

Current and former Zags reacted to the milestone win when the school posted a graphic on its social media account Monday.

Former GU All-American Kelly Olynyk, now in his 13th NBA season, reposted the graphic on Instagram with the caption “Clockwork!” and Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard shared the post, using a single goat emoji – referring to “Greatest of All Time” – to characterize the coach’s accomplishment.

Quick study

Mario Saint-Supery continues to deliver in a way that has fans and coaches optimistic about what the freshman guard can develop into with more time in Gonzaga’s system.

Saint-Supery came through with 13 points on perfect 4 of 4 shooting from the 3-point line and rounded out his stat line with seven assists and three rebounds. He had two turnovers, but was also able to steal a few extra possessions for Gonzaga with two takeaways.

The freshman is Gonzaga’s most accurate perimeter shooter through 10 games, making 53% of his looks from deep, and he’s leading the Zags in two other key categories, averaging 5.0 assists and 1.7 steals.

“I mean he’s shooting the ball really, really well,” Few said. “I think we’ve just got to keep helping him, he’s just got to make the reads. I’m constantly on him on reading the game, not making up a decision, what he’s going to do before it happens. Basketball’s so dynamic, you can’t just decide what you’re going to do. You can get it away with it sometimes, maybe even in games like this but you’ve got to read the situation.

“So I think that’s his next step in the growth on that end and just kind of same thing on the defensive end.”

Midway through the first half, as the Zags were pulling away from the Ospreys on a 19-0 run, Saint-Supery converted a quick catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the left corner while drawing a foul, completing a four-point play from the free -throw line. Later, he delivered a nifty behind-the-back pass to Braden Huff for an easy layup.

Few commended Saint-Supery’s level of communication and energy on the defensive end.

“He works so hard, he’s running hard and talking and pretty dramatic,” Few said, “but we’ve just got to kind of settle him down a little bit and just execute the plan and he’d probably save some calories doing it that way too.”

The Malaga, Spain, native is still experiencing firsts on the court and off it in his first college basketball season. This week, Saint-Supery will go through his first round of final exams – an experience the Spanish guard didn’t seem too overwhelmed by when asked about it during Sunday’s postgame news conference.

“In Spain, we have to study a little bit more than here,” he told reporters.

Garbage-time gems

Blowout wins have provided an extended runway for another freshman to get his feet wet and demonstrate what he can add to an older Gonzaga team.

Garbage time to some is viewed as a golden opportunity to others.

That’s how freshman wing Davis Fogle is looking at it, anyway. The four-star prospect from Anacortes turned in another impressive end-of-game flurry, totaling 15 points in 17 second-half minutes with the victory well in hand.

Fogle stuffed in three dunks and finished 7 of 10 from the field while making 1 of 3 from the 3-point line.

While the freshman has capitalized on late-game stints where Gonzaga’s scout-team players are usually competing against the opponent’s backups, Fogle predictably hasn’t been able to maintain his point-per-minute pace when thrown into close games against more capable opponents.

“I think he has a nice sense of when garbage time is and gets going,” Few said. “It’s a little different Davis than when you throw him into a real live game when it’s still up in the air.”

From that standpoint, Fogle’s no different than 95% of freshmen who’ve come through Gonzaga’s program under Few’s tenure. Saint-Supery, unlike Fogle, arrived in Spokane with three-plus years of professional experience under his belt and is one of only two point guards on the roster.

The Zags have a serious logjam at the “2” and “3” and only so many minutes to split between veteran players like Steele Venters, Tyon Grant-Foster, Jalen Warley, Emmanuel Innocenti and Adam Miller.

Still, Few and his coaching staff have found sporadic first-half minutes for Fogle in certain games, perhaps realizing he could be an important rotation piece next year for a team that may lose four of the five players mentioned above.

Fogle’s 15-point effort Sunday marked the third time he’s reached double figures this season and he’s now averaging 6.9 points in just 8.5 minutes off the bench.

“No, I like the fact he’s being aggressive,” Few said. “Obviously he’s got some real gift and similar to what I said about Mario, next step for him is sort of reading the game, making the right basketball play. But I love his aggressiveness and I think he did a better job. We threw him in the other night and he had some defensive errors. I think he was much better tonight on the defensive end.”