Fans inspire, don’t rattle Morrison

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Gonzaga coach Mark Few keeps telling opposing men’s basketball fans in the West Coast Conference that they’re wasting their time – and maybe even hurting their team’s chances – when they try to get into Adam Morrison’s head.

“Nothing seems to rattle him,” Few, on more than one occasion, has said of Morrison, his preseason All-American with the goofy gait, disheveled hair, saggy socks and mustache that, kindly put, remains a work in progress. “If anything, he thrives on all the fan abuse.”

Apparently, Few’s warnings never made it to Santa Clara, where Broncos fans turned out in abnormal numbers in Leavey Center on Monday night to take their best verbal – and visual – shots at Morrison.

A standing-room-only crowd of 4,500 showed up to create a professional wrestling-like atmosphere for the WCC’s Big Monday debut on ESPN2.

Every member of the Santa Clara pep band had a pencil-thin mustache applied above his or her upper lip. Morrison signs, some of rather questionable taste, were being waved throughout the arena. One inventive soul showed up wearing a black wig, fake mustache and makeshift Boston Celtics basketball uniform that included a cutoff white T-shirt displaying the hand-written No. 33 of former Celtics star Larry Bird, along with the inscription, “Half the ‘stache … half the player.”

In addition, Morrison was taunted, every time he ran past the student cheering section, with comments about his haircut, mustache, running style – even his diabetes.

So how did the 6-foot-8 junior respond?

By torching the Broncos for 34 points in an 81-68 GU win that gave the Bulldogs their 11th consecutive win in the series.

“Everybody wants to talk trash,” Morrison said after making 12 of 20 field goals and 8 of 9 free throws to raise his NCAA Division I-best scoring average to 28 point per game. “But people don’t realize that just fuels the fire. You don’t have to say much to me to make me get pissed off, when it comes to fans.

“I’ve heard it all – mustache, how you walk, diabetes, whatever. But it’s all in good fun. They’re just trying to support their team, too, so it’s cool.”

As it turned out, the sixth-ranked Bulldogs (12-3 overall, 2-0 in the WCC) needed everything Morrison could produce, along with 18 points from junior point guard Derek Raivio and an 11-point, 10-rebound effort from senior center J.P. Batista to hold off the stubborn Broncos (8-6, 1-1).

The Zags, with Batista taking only one shot and being held scoreless in the first half, needed a late-game surge to finally put the game away.

Few said Batista’s reemergence in the second half was almost as important as the scoring of Morrison, who carried his team through the opening period with 21 points.

“Even Adam brought it up at half – that we had to get (Batista) more touches,” Few explained. “He didn’t have hardly any in the first half, and he got a little frustrated and out of rhythm, basically. But then we came out and got him some early touches and were able to get him going – which was really important, because he’s such a huge part of who we are.”

According to Few, Morrison came in at intermission and said, “We got to get the big fella the ball.”

The Zags did, and Batista rewarded their efforts by scoring 11 second-half points, including seven during a 4-minute stretch when GU took control for good.

“He started to get it going, and I think that broke their backs a little bit,” Morrison said of his 6-9, 269-pound teammate. “We talked about it, and I came up to Coach and told him we needed to run our first set to JP, and get him a basket or at least an easy touch, and that’s what we did.

“I don’t know anybody in the country who’s as strong as he is on the low block. It’s tough for guys to hold him off. He’s going to keep bangin’ and bangin’ and bangin’ and wear you down, eventually.”

Batista, who picked up two early fouls and played only 13 minutes in the first half, shrugged off his early lack of production.

“It was just not my half,” he said. “Sometimes that happens. Fortunately, Mo did a great job, scoring-wise, to keep us in balance that first half. And then, thank the Lord, I finally got my shots up and got some good positions, and my teammates found me.”

The Bulldogs continue WCC play on Saturday, when they entertain Pepperdine (5-9, 1-1) at 8:30 p.m. in the McCarthey Athletic Center.