PORTLAND, Ore.- On paper, Western’s second round opponent, Gonzaga, features three senior starters, an all-American, three all-conference performers and a truckload of possible headaches. And head coach Ken McDonald wouldn’t have it any other way, they have seen it all year.
“They present a lot of challenges for our team,” McDonald said. “They won’t be any different than some of the teams we’ve played this year. You look at like a Florida State or a Mississippi State, a Louisville.It’s nothing we haven’t faced. We just have to fine tune and also figure out how we are going to attack them.”
The Toppers (25-8), making their second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament second round, are in for a more diverse team than the Illinois squad they dispatched of 76-72 in the first round.
The Bulldogs (27-5), ranked 10th in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls at the end of the regular season, bring a great amount of size just like the Fighting Illini, but throw in athleticism to go along with it.
The size battle is pretty much equal. Gonzaga’s roster features six players at six-foot, seven inches or taller, including seven-foot, five-inch, 273-pound center Will Foster.
Forward Josh Heytvelt (15.1) and all-West Coast Conference forward Austin Daye (12.8) are also among the top three on the team in scoring and rebounding. The Toppers only get 14.1 points per game from the 6′7″ or taller players combined.
Their talents aren’t limited to in the post either. Both Heytvelt and Daye shoot over 40 percent from the three point range, a better percentage than two of their starting guards, all-American Jeremy Pargo (33.3 percent) and Micah Downs (38.1 percent).
“You have to attack,” McDonald said. “We have to keep them out of the paint, first of all. They have a good guard set, and their length can be an issue. They will try and post the ball and we gotta make sure we rebound the basketball.”
Both teams implore a running style of offense and enjoy the frenetic style of pressing defense. Western averages 71.9 points per game and has forced 442 turnovers on the season. Gonzaga put up 78.9 points per game, ranked 15th in Division I, and forced 484 turnovers.
These are match-ups that appear to be troublesome for Western, but it’s not the match-ups that they believe will be what they have to worry about.
“We’re just going to play like any other game,” sophomore forward Sergio Kerusch said. “Focus on our strengths and just try to do whatever coach tells us to do.”
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