Gonzaga’s Nigel Williams-Goss wills through pain after rolling ankle in second half

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Nigel Williams-Goss’ final stat line won’t hint at it, but Gonzaga’s star redshirt junior guard received a scare when he rolled his right ankle while driving to the basket in the second half of the Bulldogs’ 77-73 win over South Carolina on Saturday.

“It’s pretty sore. I’m definitely going to get some treatment here over the next 48 hours,” Williams-Goss said.

Williams-Goss finished with 23 points, five rebounds and six assists.

The twisted ankle forced Williams-Goss to topple to the floor by the Zags’ baseline with 15:55 remaining in the second half. While walking briskly to the Zags’ huddle after Mark Few called a 30-second timeout, Williams-Goss tightened up his shoes and trotted back onto the court to finish the game.

He was not subbed out the entire second half.

Sprained ankles have impacted Williams-Goss previously. He sat out the Zags’ game on Feb. 4 against Santa Clara after sustaining an ankle injury two days prior at BYU.

It wasn’t an option for Williams-Goss to sit on the bench in Saturday night’s game or in Monday’s upcoming national championship game, he said.

“I rolled it pretty good and I could definitely feel it while I was moving out there,” Williams-Goss said. “But at this point of the season, there’s no excuses. It’s win or go home.

“At this point, nothing is going to stop me from playing.”

After all, Monday’s game is what Williams-Goss has been waiting for since deciding to transfer to Gonzaga two years ago.

“To be here now, playing in the national championship game, it’s nothing but a blessing for me,” Williams-Goss said. “For me, J3 (Johnathan Williams) and Jeremy (Jones) who sat out (last season), and then over the summer when Jordan (Mathews) was texting me saying he was thinking about transferring, if you go back to those texts, we talked about a national championship. We didn’t shy away from it.”