Musketeers aim to keep Bulldogs off foul line

SALT LAKE CITY – Sean Miller wasn’t around to hear a couple of West Coast Conference coaches carping recently about the foul-shooting edge Gonzaga had in the 16 games it played against league foes this winter.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t read about it – right there in GU’s season box score, which shows the fifth-ranked Bulldogs attempted 130 more free throws than their WCC opponents, an average of more than eight a game.

That dramatic foul-shot discrepancy was enough to convince Xavier’s second-year coach that his 14th-seeded Musketeers (21-10) must find a way to keep Adam Morrison and friends off the free-throw line if they hope to hang with the third-seeded Zags (27-3) in this afternoon’s first-round NCAA tournament matchup at Huntsman Center.

Morrison, GU’s 6-foot-8 junior wing, leads the nation in scoring with an average of 28.4 points per game. But that’s not the number that impresses Miller the most.

“In terms of Adam Morrison, the one stat – in our brief time preparing for them – that really jumps out is the number of free-throw attempts he takes per game,” he said. “As a perimeter player, he gets to the foul line 10 times (a game).”

Miller noted that J.P. Batista, the Zags’ 6-9 senior center, also wore a path to the foul line during the regular season, averaging more than six free throws per game.

“Batista and Morrison – you combine their free-throw attempts and they’re at more than 16 a game,” he explained. “To me that’s a real important statistic. To defend (Morrison) and to defend Gonzaga without fouling is key.”

Adding to Miller’s worries is the fact that his team, which won the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament as a No. 10 seed, has been forced to go almost exclusively with a seven-man rotation in the wake of the late-season losses of senior forward and scoring leader Brian Thornton, who broke his ankle, and senior guard Dedrick Finn, who was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons.

“When you go to the foul line a lot, that doesn’t bode well for our team,” Miller admitted. “Somebody’s going to get in foul trouble.”

And then there’s the question of stamina as Xavier attempts to keep pace with a healthy GU team that goes 10 deep.

The seven players in Miller’s rotation won’t get much rest, which could be a factor.

But Morrison isn’t counting on wearing the Musketeers down.

“If we can get their bigs in foul trouble, it’ll help us out tremendously,” he said. “Yeah, they’re kind of thin in depth. But this is the NCAA tournament, so if we only had seven or six guys, we’d probably go the distance, too.”