‘He’s a wizard:’ Gonzaga coaches, teammates reflect on Ryan Nembhard’s special season

Ryan Nembhard dribbled around Braden Huff’s screen and was swarmed by two Houston defenders at the top of the circle. Another Cougar left Khalif Battle on the wing to cover Huff near the free-throw line.

Nembhard made the right read and tossed a pass to Battle, who promptly drilled a 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 34 seconds remaining – the 344th and final assist of Nembhard’s college career.

In the aftermath of Gonzaga’s 81-76 second-round loss to Houston, teammates and head coach Mark Few dished out perspective on Nembhard’s record-shattering season.

“He gets you the ball before you even know you’re open,” senior forward Ben Gregg said inside GU’s cramped locker room in Wichita, Kansas. “He’s a wizard. It’s been crazy to have a point guard like that the last two years.

“My best friend, it’s going to be weird not playing with him again, but I know he’s off to do great, amazing things in the future. I can’t wait to see what it looks like.”

The 6-foot, 180-pound Nembhard hopes to join older brother Andrew, a former GU standout now with the Indiana Pacers, in the NBA. Ryan is projected in the second round/undrafted range in a few mock drafts.

Nembhard’s 344 assists rank fifth in NCAA Division I history and broke GU’s single-season record that he set as a junior by 101 in the same number of games (35). Only four other Zags – Josh Perkins, Matt Santangelo, Blake Stepp and John Stockton – have had at least 200 in a season.

Nembhard finished with 10 points and 11 assists against Houston for his 13th double-double of the season. That ranked tied for 24th nationally, but he was the only point guard on the list.

“Incredible, incredible. He’s as good a guard as I’ve ever coached. I mean, he has the heart of a champion,” Few said. “Just delivers, delivers, delivers.”

Few called it crazy that Nembhard wasn’t in the final five for the Cousy Award, presented annually to the nation’s top point guard. Few delivered five paragraphs of praise on his senior point guard.

“That means everything,” said Nembhard, asked a few seconds later about Few’s comments. “He always talked about that in the recruiting process, our relationship. I feel like he delivered on everything he promised.

“So I love this guy. I love his family. I love everything about him. He’s been great to me. He’s been great to my family. It’s definitely going to be a lifelong relationship. I’m super happy and privileged that I was able to put the Gonzaga jersey on and be a Zag.”

Nembhard’s 587 assists in just two seasons rank fifth in school history between No. 4 Jeremy Pargo (589) and No. 6 Stockton (554).

“Hell of a year, man; he’s a hell of a dude,” senior guard Nolan Hickman said. “He’s been making it really easy for me these last two years. I can’t thank him enough.”

“That’s a guy I’m going to miss, for sure,” Huff said. “A lot of my baskets came off his passes. To not have him next year is going to be different. It’s going to be sad.”

Nembhard had 19 games this season with at least 10 assists. He wrapped up his career with 882 assists, including 295 in two years at Creighton. He likely would have cracked the 900 mark but he missed eight games during his freshman year with an injury.

Nembhard is No. 22 in career assists in D-I history, 18 from being in the top 17.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson brought up Nembhard when asked about parallels between Gonzaga and Arizona, led by former GU assistant Tommy Lloyd, on the day before the Zags and Cougars clashed in the round of 32.

Sampson explained that both teams were talented, but their rosters were quite different.

“The difference in the two teams is Nembhard,” Sampson said. “It’s hard to duplicate him. You have a point guard. They have a point guard, but your point guard is not like Nembhard. He has an uncanny ability to get the ball to their bigs when they’re open. A lot of guys see that they’re open, but by the time the synapses are firing and the ball is delivered, they’re not. He gives them – as soon as they turn, they have it. You can’t teach that.

“They both have great size, they’re both really talented shooters, good guards, but they don’t have Nembhard. He’s a very special point guard.”