A Grip on Sports: No one wants to create a Senior Night (or Day) tradition of losing but sometimes it happens
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Where were we? Oh, ya. Talking about Gonzaga’s chances of finishing the regular season with three Quad 1 wins and securing its NCAA ticket before the West Coast Conference tournament. Well, Senior Night put an end to that.
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• Traditions are great. So is honoring the past and all the past effort. But not so much when the past gets in the way of the present.
We’re not going to put all of Gonzaga’s 74-67 home loss to Saint Mary’s on the Zags’ starting lineup. After all, with seven seniors – or the modern equivalent – on the roster, there was a chance the starting group could have included pretty much a normal lineup and kicked off a near-normal rotation. And there were 38 minutes for the Bulldogs to rally from the hole the starters – usual starters Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman and Ben Gregg, occasional starter Michael Ajayi and five-year walk-on Joe Few – dug.
An 11-point hole. In about 2 minutes. It was a canyon so deep, they were able to get close to the edge but never able to pull themselves out of completely.
And all the energy they expended to get within the 25-4, WCC-champion Gaels, who clinched the title with the win? It was tapped out by the final few minutes, in which Mark Few’s desperate players tried to claw their way to victory, only to have their mistakes bury them.
Mental mistakes like a missed defensive rotation that cost them a four-point possession in what was a one-point game. Mistakes like four turnovers – they only had seven for the game – in the final 3 minutes, 37 seconds as they tried to overcome a 7-0 run started by Mikey Lewis 3-point hoop-and-harm.
Senior Nights are nice. Important. Culture building. But Saturday’s in the Kennel – for both Gonzaga teams, actually – were disappointing. In the men’s case, the emotional energy expended before contributed to the slow start. And the slow start contributed to a game-long uphill slog, something no one wants to do against Randy Bennett’s teams. Ever.
Now the men have to head on the road for their final two WCC games in their penultimate year in the conference. And they need to win both to ensure a second-place finish – and a berth in the conference semifinals. With four conference losses – a first for one of Few’s teams – and games in the Bay Area against fourth-place Santa Clara, a winner in Spokane, and USF, tied with GU for second, the Bulldogs stand on the precipice of finishing fourth. That would mean not only playing in the WCC quarterfinals but having to win to set up another meeting with Saint Mary’s – in the semis.
That certainly isn’t a tradition the Zags want to honor – ever.
• The women also lost on their Senior Day, in a similar manner. The visiting Dons of USF, who were also handed the Zags a loss early on in the season, broke out to an early eight-point lead. And squandered it all. In fact, Gonzaga opened the fourth quarter leading by nine. And squandered it in less than 3 minutes.
Worse, though, was the last 1:50, in which Gonzaga, which also finishes with two road games, coughed up a two-point edge by not scoring, posting two turnovers and two missed shots in crunch time – not including an attempt after the buzzer in the 70-68 defeat.
At least the women won in one way. Their seniors, which includes one of the best players in the school’s history, Yvonne Ejim, went through with their planned postgame talks in front of the McCarthey crowd. And owned the loss.
The men? They decided not to, leaving their fellow students and the Gonzaga faithful to shuffle out of the Kennel without their traditional goodbyes.
• It was an awful night pretty much throughout for the region’s teams. Oh, the Whitworth men hit a late shot and won on the road to top off a 22-3 regular season. And the WSU women wished a fond Pullman farewell to senior Tara Wallack with a 10-point win over Saint Mary’s. But the Cougar men gave up a WCC-record 23 3-pointers in losing 109-79 to visiting Santa Clara, the Cougs’ eighth loss in nine games.
The Big Sky men were also winless, with Eastern Washington and Idaho losing on the road to the Northerns, Arizona and Colorado, respectively.
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WSU: Greg Woods was in Beasley to document the Santa Clara blowout, and to speak with David Riley and players – sorry, no players spoke to the media afterward, a first this season. And not something I remember ever happening before. … We linked the women’s story above. … The Cougar track teams competed in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships at the Podium as John Blanchette was there to cover it. The men won the title, the women finished second to Oregon State. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner had his usual Friday mailbag this week in the Mercury News. … Will the Washington men make the Big Ten tournament? Saturday’s 85-79 loss to Iowa makes it tougher for the Huskies to finish in the top 16 of the conference. … Oregon trailed by double digits at Wisconsin. And somehow won 77-73 in overtime. John Canzano has a column about the game. … Oregon State finished off a road swep by handling San Diego. … Stanford owns the Bay, ACC-style, after sweeping Cal this season, winning 66-61 yesterday. … Fresno State’s awful season is about to turn worse. There is a gambling investigation ongoing. … Boise State knocked off Nevada. … San Diego State lost its starting center and the lost a road game to Utah State last night. … Colorado State had to hold off UNLV. … The Oregon State women gave their coach his 600th win by topping San Diego. … In football news, Wilner passes along the weekly recruiting notebook, which focuses on defensive targets for the Pac-12 legacy schools. … Would the SEC and Big Ten gaining four at-large playoff berths really help them?
Gonzaga: The S-R had its usual coverage of the Zag men last night, with an addition. Dave Boling has a column on the game, focusing on how the Gaels have become the conference’s standard-bearer in more than one way. … Jim Meehan supplied the game coverage and worked with the office folks on the recap and highlights. … Theo Lawson has a story on Lewis causing Gonzaga a world of grief once more. He also has the buzzer-beater notebook. … Tyler Tjomsland has the photo gallery, which includes photos of the Gaels celebrating in lieu of the seniors addressing the crowd. … Greg Lee has his usual fine coverage of the women’s game. … Tyler opened the day with a photo gallery from that game.
EWU: As we mentioned above, the Eagle men fell to Northern Arizona in Flagstaff while the women lost at home. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the most contentious men’s game was in Bozeman, where Montana held off the host Bobcats 89-85. … The Montana State women continued their winning streak at Montana’s expense. … Both Idaho State teams defeated their Sacramento State counterparts, with the women winning on the road. … The Weber State men defeated visiting Portland State. … Mike Marlow has retired as Northern Arizona’s athletic director after a long tenure.
Idaho: The Vandal women defeated Northern Colorado in Moscow while the men lost to the Bears on the road.
Whitworth: As we mentioned, the Pirates won. It was Garrett Long who hit the winning shot at Linfield.
Preps: It was State-ticket-punching time in District basketball, and Dave Nichols did his level best to attend as many games as he could. He has stories from Mt. Spokane, serving as the roundup from the boys, and one from Ridgeline, also a roundup for the girls. … Madison McCord was in Tacoma for the State wrestling championships. He has a story on Saturday’s action and, because we weren’t here yesterday, we also link his two stories from Friday. … The State gymnastics tournament finished up in Bellevue and we have a story to pass along.
Chiefs: Dave returns with this coverage of Spokane’s 3-2 road loss in Kennewick.
Zephyr: Spokane returned from a break and gained their first road victory, topping the Dallas Trinity 1-0.
Mariners: The M’s made an addition to the roster recently and his first assignment was to face Bryan Woo in live batting practice. … Andres Munoz is messing around with a changeup. … The Mariners are 0-2 in their games after an 11-10 loss Saturday. … Did baseball make a huge mistake in opting-out of the ESPN deal?
Kraken: The Four-Nations break ended and Seattle returned to the ice at the Florida Panthers. The Kraken won, 2-1, over the NHL’s defending champs.
Sounders: Seattle began the MLS regular season with a home match with Columbus. Jordan Morris scored twice but the defense couldn’t hold – even contributing an own goal – and the Sounders settled for a 2-2 draw.
Seahawks: What do the Hawks need most in the draft? And how will the combine help them decide the players to fill those needs?
Golf: Why is the PGA courting LIV and the Saudi Arabian money? It seems as if the Tour is winning the battle already.
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• I feel as if I’m living in Camelot right now, despite the snow on the ground. It’s rained the past two nights. And been OK much of the day. Perfect. Until later …