‘We’re prepared for quite a battle’: Gonzaga faces speedy challenge vs. Cowboys

SALT LAKE CITY – Both coaches cut to the chase analyzing the Gonzaga-McNeese State matchup.

The fifth-seeded Zags start three bigs – “Look, their 3 man is bigger than our center. They’re huge,” Cowboys coach Will Wade said – while the Southland Conference champions rely on speed and quickness with a smaller lineup.

It’ll be a clash of styles and systems when Gonzaga (25-7) and 12th-seeded McNeese State (30-3) tangle at 4:25 p.m. Thursday at the Delta Center in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“Their defense is extremely disruptive. It’s not what you see every day. They’ll switch everything, swarm to the ball,” GU coach Mark Few said. “You’ll see them doubling our posts really, really hard, kind of a page out of the Chris Beard (playbook) when he was at Texas Tech. We dealt with it there, even when we played Baylor a couple times, Texas.”

The Cowboys present different challenges on offense, too.

“Spread you out, those guards are lightning quick,” Few said. “They have some nice 3-point shooters. (Forward Christian) Shumate inside reminds us a lot of … (San Francisco’s) Jonathan Mogbo, who is really, really athletic, explosive around the rim, dunks everything. We’re prepared for quite a battle.”

There seems to be a split opinion nationally on Gonzaga – an annual tradition every March – as it embarks on its 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament journey. Minutes after the Gonzaga-McNeese State pairing was announced during the Selection Show, two CBS analysts quickly picked the Cowboys to pull off an upset.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga has gone from being favored by six points to 6.5 points in the past few days. The Zags’ odds of reaching the Sweet 16 are 43%, much higher than fellow No. 5 seeds San Diego State, Saint Mary’s and Wisconsin.

The Zags aren’t carrying the built-in pressure of a No. 1 seed that they dealt with in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022 (and almost certainly would have had in 2020 before the tournament was canceled by the pandemic). They’re a No. 5 seed for the first time, their lowest seed since being an 11 in 2016.

“Selection Sunday is a lot less stressful when you know you’re a one seed and you won the conference tournament,” junior forward Ben Gregg said. “I was starting to sweat a little bit toward the end of the show.

“But when your name pops up, it’s a great feeling. There’s not a lot of pressure on us. I mean the whole CBS crew picked McNeese to beat us, which is nothing new for us this year. Once again, come in with another chip on our shoulder and that’s kind of what we’ve been facing all year.”

And the Zags have loads of motivation, from trying to bounce back after a 69-60 loss to rival Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game to continuing the program’s streaks of 14 consecutive years with an opening-round victory and eight straight trips to the Sweet 16.

Only fourth-seeded Kansas, a potential second-round opponent, has a longer active streak with 16 straight first-round wins. Gonzaga is the only school to reach the past eight Sweet 16s. Only Duke and North Carolina have put together nine-year streaks since the tournament field expanded to 64 in 1985.

“Obviously, we want to keep those alive,” senior forward Anton Watson said. “We want to win. We’re known for making it far in the tournament, winning games in the tournament.”

To do that, the Zags will attempt to assert their size advantage and interior scoring while showing they can defend more speedy players at the defensive end. They’re facing a confident foe that is 25-1 since falling to Louisiana Tech on Nov. 22, thanks to a stingy defense and an offense that generates 80.4 points per game.

“For me and Graham (Ike), just being physical inside, just getting to our post moves quick,” Watson said. “They’re probably going to try to throw some doubles at us. They play a lot of guards, a lot of dribble drive. Me and Graham are probably going to have to guard a lot of guards and play good defense.”

McNeese State’s smaller frontcourt has to contend with Ike and the Zags in the paint.

Coach Wade’s plan?

“Pray,” he said. “He’s a tremendous player. You let him get to his left hand, he’s going to make that every time. I’m worried about him on the duck-ins, especially in transition, on the offensive glass.

“Look, our best chance to stop him is to get him in foul trouble. The last couple games he’s had some issues with foul trouble. That’s a lot easier said than done.”