Zags: A call, a press, a 3-ball

There’s plenty of chatter about Gonzaga this week, so we might as well join the party.

In fact, to make it all more fun ... let’s have a true-or-false quiz.

Sound good?

STATEMENT: Zach Collins’ illegal block, and the technical foul that followed it, saved Gonzaga from blowing a 21-point lead and suffering a miserable loss to Northwestern.

FALSE: Collins’ block on Dererk Pardon’s dunk attempt, during which Collins put his arm through the rim, certainly gave the Northwestern-rooting national media plenty to scream about.

And yes, it would have cut the Zags’ lead to 63-60 with the celebrity-filled crowd going crazy.

But the truth is that the call occurred with 4:54 remaining – an eternity in college basketball.

Being down seven instead of three can sound like a big deal, but with that much time and with so much momentum ... if Northwestern were something special, the heat would have stayed on.

Instead, nothing happened.

The Wildcats never got within five points again until the last 21 seconds.

Case closed.

STATEMENT: The Zags may have to change their starting lineup on Thursday against press-crazy West Virginia.

FALSE: The Zags merely need to play like themselves against “Press Virginia.”

During a season in which they beat seven ranked teams, the Zags handled the ball very well. Guards Josh Perkins (2.0 turnovers per game) and Nigel Williams-Goss (2.1) were pretty stingy with the rock.

There has been discussion that reserve guard Silas Melton – perhaps a very slightly better ball-handler than Perkins – might see a lot of action. But the Zags already start three guards (if you count Jordan Mathews), so it’s not like they’re a ham-handed bunch.

Look for a big man to take the ball out of bounds and get it to a guard. From there, don’t be surprised if 6-9 forward Johnathan Williams then receives the ball on the wing and brings it up the court.

If you have a big man who can handle like Williams, that is the ideal way to break a press.

STATEMENT: West Virginia lives on that press -- so if you break it, they’re helpless.

FALSE: Oh, the Mountaineers would love to turn you over for quick buckets, but they’re also one of the nation’s best rebounding teams.

Fortunately, when fans and reporters who don’t visit this part of the country see the Zags for the first time, quite often their first reaction goes something like this: “Lord have mercy, they’re huge!”

Yep, they are.

One of Mark Few’s recent tricks has been to play two of his three monstrous inside players together – and that’s not counting the 6-9 Williams. Przemek Karnowski, Zach Collins and Killian Tillie are all 7-foot and above – yet amazingly, all have pretty soft touches, both from the field and the foul line.

Freshmen Collins and Tillie each hit several clutch free throws down the stretch against Northwestern.

STATEMENT: Gonzaga has to find its 3-point shooting game to advance much further toward the Final Four.

TRUE: Northwestern crawled back into Saturday’s game by packing the middle, while daring the Zags guards to shoot – and it worked.

Now, some of those shots were too quick and many were not natural looks generated through the offense, but still...

With all their size and resulting double-teaming underneath, the Zags should always get good 3-point shot attempts – and their season-long numbers suggest they’re no slouches from distance.

Perkins hit 40 percent for the year, Mathews 39, Melson and Williams 37 percent each, and Williams-Goss 36.

Gonzaga was 37.6 percent as a team.

The problem is that nobody is hitting in the tournament, at least so far.

The Zags were 8 for 30 from deep against South Dakota State, and 4 for 16 in the Northwestern game.

That won’t get it done against the teams remaining in this slugfest.

Nooooooo!

Steve Cameron is a special assignment reporter for The Press. Reach Steve: [email protected]