Men's Basketball Jeff Faraudo, #WCChoops Columnist

Faraudo: Men's Quarterfinal Recap

Gaels & Waves turn in instant tournament classic

By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops Columnist | ARCHIVES
2020 WCC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

LAS VEGAS — How could anyone upstage the performance delivered late Saturday night by Colbey Ross, whose 43 points were the most by a Pepperdine player in 47 seasons?

Jordan Ford of Saint Mary’s found a nearly miraculous way to do it.

The senior guard scored 42 points, including a shot that will live forever among the great moments in the history of the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament.

The Gaels were leading 84-82 with less than 30 seconds left following a timeout, and the shot clock was winding down toward zero. Ford had the ball about 30 feet out on a 45-degree angle to the left of the hoop, his dribble already picked up. Freshman Sedrick Altman, Pepperdine’s defender, was perfectly positioned.

“You’re thinking, `We couldn’t have defended him any better,’ “ Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar said. “And he turns around, like, that can’t have enough distance can it? And it did.”

The scoreboard jumped to 87-82 and there were 25.6 seconds showing. But it was over.

“A big-time shot by a big-time player,” Ross called it.

It was the Stuff of Steph, a shot Stephen Curry may take and make. And it clinched an 89-82 instant-classic triumph by the third-seeded Gaels (25-7), who now advance to Monday’s WCC tournament semifinal against No. 2 seed BYU (24-7).

And yet, Ford says connecting on the greatest shot of his career just minutes before midnight actually was Plan B. 

“I was trying to step back and try to get him in the air and try to get a foul, and he didn’t go for it,” Ford said. Instead, “I just spun around and tried to get the cleanest look I could. Lucky for us, it went in.”

Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett gave Ford credit for making the best out of a near-impossible situation.

“Jordan hit a really tough shot, but he had great poise. He got something off that was pretty clean,” Bennett said. “He could have panicked and shot the thing before he was ready. That’s what a special player can do.”

Ford added two more free throws with 19 seconds left, meaning he scored the game’s final seven points.

Afterward, he sought out Ross to console and/or congratulate him. “I told him he's an unbelievable player and he gave an unbelievable effort, and that I enjoy playing against him,” Ford said.

Ross appreciated the gesture, and said the game was a blast to play. Until the end.

“I feel like I live for those moments,” he said. “Great performance by Ford. Going back and forth with him was really fun. I was glad I was out there.”

Said Bennett: “Ford and Colbey Ross both had incredible nights.”

The particulars on the performances delivered by the top two scorers in the WCC this season, who each more than doubled their average: 

— Ford shot 17-for-30 from the field, 5-for-12 on 3-point attempts and 3-for-4 at the free throw line. He had five rebounds, one assist and zero turnovers while playing all 50 minutes.

— Ross was 13-for-29 from the field, 7-for-13 from beyond the arc and 10-for-11 at the foul line. He had eight rebounds, five assists and seven turnovers while playing 47 minutes before fouling out with 14.9 seconds left.

Ross beat himself up afterward for missing a good look he had on a 3-point try on the possession before Ford’s clincher. “I don’t think I’ll ever let that go,” he said.

But his coach, while calling Ross’s performance “one for the ages,” reminded him that no game, especially not one this lengthy, is determined by a single play. 

“The thing we know is it was a good shot,” Romar said. “You’ve got a guy who’s scored 40 and he’s got a shot? You’ll take that every day of the week.”

Bennett was happy to accept Ford’s shot on just this one day of the week.

‘Listen, it’s not a high-percentage shot,” the coach conceded, “but he got one that had a chance to go in and it did.”

Reworking the WCC record book: Tim Owens still owns the highest-scoring performance in WCC tournament history. The former USF star put up 45 points against Loyola Marymount in 1991.

But Ross and Ford eclipsed everyone else on the single-game list. Here’s the updated top-5: 
45: Tim Owens, USF vs. Loyola Marymount, 1991
43: Colbey Ross, Pepperdine vs. Saint Mary’s, 2020
42: Jordan Ford, Saint Mary’s vs. Pepperdine, 2020
41 Lamond Murray Jr., Pepperdine vs. Pacific, 2017
39: Bryan Hill, Pepperdine vs. Saint Mary’s, 1997

More numerical madness: Of course, there’s more.

— Ford inked his name at No. 2 on Saint Mary’s single-season scoring list (for all games), just one point behind Jim Moore, who scored 43 against Sacramento State on Dec. 12, 1964.

— Ross had the highest-scoring game by a Pepperdine player since the 1972-73 season, when Bird Averitt scored at least 43 points six times, including a school-record 57 against Nevada.

— Ross and Ford waged just the second duel in WCC history, including the regular season, where opponents each scored 40 points in game. LMU’s Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble and Gonzaga’s Doug Spradley each scored exactly 40 points on Feb. 18, 1989 at Loyola. That also marked the first time in NCAA history that three players scored 40 points in the same game.

What the Gaels’ win means: Saint Mary’s began Saturday with a NET computer ranking of No. 29, which put the Gaels in good position to land an NCAA tournament at-large berth. 

Bennett has been through this before, and declined to speculate. “I have no idea what those people will do,” he said, referring to the NCAA selection committee. “We came over here to try to win the (WCC) tournament. We won last year and we 100 percent came over here to try to win it again.”

USF 72, PACIFIC 54
Jahlil Tripp was in the zone.

Until USF went into a zone.

The fifth-seeded Dons survived a spectacular first-half performance by Pacific’s star senior, then quieted him by opening the second half in a zone defense on the way to victory in the early quarterfinal game.

USF (22-11) advances to Monday night’s semifinal against second-ranked and top-seeded Gonzaga (29-2). The Dons have lost 18 straight times to the eight-time defending regular-season WCC champs.

“I think we've played probably the 80 best minutes of our season here at the tournament,” USF coach Todd Golden said. “I’m really excited about our opportunity on Monday.”

“Honestly, we were looking forward to this one,” junior Charles Minlend said of the Gonzaga matchup. “We didn’t want to say anything because we had to win these two games first. This was the game we wanted.”

Getting past Tripp was tough enough. He scored 23 first-half points, even scoring on putbacks after offensive rebounds following two of his attempts that were blocked. He appeared almost unstoppable.

But Golden switched to a zone defense to open the second half, the Dons scored seven straight points to extend their lead to 43-35 and everything changed.

“I think it was a good switch-up,” Golden said. “The first four minutes we made that little run to stretch it out, and part of that I think was they were a little disorganized offensively.”

The Dons returned to their man-to-man defense, but Tripp did not score in the second half until making a free throw with 10:19 left. He finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds and appeared fatigued as the game progressed.

Minlend, who led the Dons with 21 points, was one of a handful of USF players who took a turn trying to slow Tripp. “For somebody to be able to do that and you know he’s going to do it, and it’s still really hard to stop him . . . give him credit,” Minlend said. “We just threw a lot of bodies at him.”

USF’s defense, in fact, smothered the entire Pacific team in the second half. The Tigers shot 5-for-33 for 15.2 percent.

“It was an awesome, awesome effort defensively in the second half,” Golden said.

Tigers defense wilts: Pacific coach Damon Stoudamire called it a “good old-fashioned whupping,” and said the Dons were so efficient offensively that his team could never develop a flow its own.

“I thought they did a great job of basically doing what we did to people the whole season — they did a great job of driving downhill,” he said. “They took it right to us.”

USF shot 61 percent in the second half, which limited the Tigers’ transition chances.  “You can't run set plays all the time. You've got to have a flow,” Stoudamire said. “They had a flow.”

Tripp-ing out: Stoudamire finally took Tripp out of the game with 24 seconds left “because he deserved a standing ovation.” He got one, including from a portion of the USF crowd.

Tripp appeared to be crying as he stood at the end of the court, consoled by a Pacific staff member. “I did show emotion because it was a tough loss,” he said. “I felt we should have won the game.”

Stoudamire, who guided the Tigers to a 23-10 season, must move forward without Tripp. He praised the improvement he made each season and his coachability, and said he looks forward not only to watching Tripp’s professional career but also to maintaining a lifelong relationship.

“When I think of my first coaching odyssey and things that I’ve done,”  Stoudamire said, “he’ll come to mind all the time.”

Stat of the Game: Tripp shot 9 for 14 from the field in the first half, just 1 for 9 in the second half.

Quote of the Game: “Jahlil did a great job of keeping us in the game but nobody came with him.” — Pacific coach Damon Stoudamire on senior Jahlil Tripp.