By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops columnist | ARCHIVES
 
The four headliners are just the tip of the iceberg awaiting opponents of top-ranked Gonzaga. There is much more lurking just below the surface.
 
Corey Kispert, Drew Timme and Jalen Suggs are among 20 players nationally who made the cut for the Wooden Award late-season list. Joel Ayayi, author of the only triple-double in Gonzaga history, completes the fearsome foursome.
 
Rival coaches only wish that quartet was the extent of the Zags’ personnel riches. Under-appreciated but undeniably impactful is the club’s depth of talent.
 
Three other players — sophomore starting forward Anton Watson and transfer guards Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Cook — could start for any West Coast Conference team. All three have embraced roles they hope will lead to something special.
 
“When I first got the call from Gonzaga and that told me they wanted me to come here, my whole mindset I wanted to play at the highest level and just have a chance of winning a national championship,” said Cook, a senior transfer from Southern Illinois. 
 
“This team . . . we all just love each other. We don’t really care who starts, how many points we score, all that stuff. It’s more so about winning.”
 
The three contributed 44 points, eight rebounds and 13 assists to the Zags’ most recent victory, a 97-75 win at Pepperdine last Saturday that ran their record to 17-0. Afterward, coach Mark Few had praise for all three.
 
Cook started 70 games at Southern Illinois and assembled a 4.0 grade-point average this fall at Gonzaga. On Saturday, he made his first five shots off the bench, scored a season-high 15 points and helped slow Pepperdine star Colbey Ross. 
 
“Aaron Cook came in and really opened up the game. Hit some threes. Their plan was to play off him a little bit, and he made them pay for that. I thought he did probably the best job guarding Colbey Ross.”
 
Nembhard, a 6-foot-5 junior, started 67 games in two seasons at Florida, averaging 9.5 points and 5.5 assists. He had 17 points and eight assists vs Pepperdine and is giving the Zags 9.4 points and 4.6 assists per game — off the bench.
 
“Nembhard is basically a starter,” Few said. “He’s just a nice kid and such a good guy and he relishes the relationships on this team, so he volunteered to basically come off the bench. He just gives us that other ball handler. He’s terrific in ball-screen reads. And he’s shooting the ball pretty darn well now.”
 
Watson is an efficient if somewhat reluctant scorer. He averages 8.1 points and 4.5 rebounds and over the past six games is shooting 89 percent (25 for 28) on two-point attempts. Few was ecstatic after Watson scored 12 points against the Waves.
 
“Anytime he’s aggressive, that’s a good sign for our squad,” Few said. "As Anton gets more aggressive, that’s going to help us with our rim protection because that’s been a little lacking.”
 
LAST WEEK’S BIG THING: Ioanna Krimili grew up on the Greek island of Crete in the city of Heraklion, founded nearly 13 centuries ago in 824. A redshirt freshman on the USF women’s team, Krimili scored 23 and 24 points in consecutive games vs. Pepperdine and 29 at Loyola Marymount last week as the Dons three times.
 
Kimili, who earned WCC Player of the Week honors, is averaging 23.3 points during USF’s current four-game win streak — their longest in four seasons. She has made 26 of 44 shots from 3-point distance (59 percent) in those four games after making just 2 of 25 (8 percent) in the previous four.
 
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING: Sadly, the big news is that five of nine WCC men’s games scheduled for Thursday or Saturday have been postponed due to COVID-19 issues. More games may be rescheduled for Saturday, but as of this writing the only surviving game: Pacific at San Diego. On Wednesday, No. 1 Gonzaga playing at Pacific was confirmed for Thursday, Feb. 4 at 6:00 p.m. PT on CBS Sports Net.
 
BATTLE AT THE TOP: The No. 19 Gonzaga women (16-2, 11-0) beat visiting BYU 63-56 at Spokane on Wednesday night to run their win streak to 15 games and remain alone atop the WCC standings. It took late-game heroics from a first-year Zag to hold off the second-place Cougars (9-3, 5-2).
 
Gonzaga led by 10 entering the fourth quarter, but BYU’s Shaylee Gonzales tied the score at 54-all with 1:54 left. Senior Cierra Walker, a transfer from Vanderbilt, came to the rescue for Gonzaga, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to reestablish control. 
 
"Those were clutch," teammate Jill Townsend said. "She came up big definitely when we needed it."
 
BEST IN A CENTURY: BYU’s 95-87 double-overtime win over Pacific last weekend kept intact coach Mark Pope’s record of having never lost two games in a row through his first two seasons at Provo. He improved to 38-12, the second-best record by a BYU coach through his first 50 games. E.L. Roberts, hired for the 1911-12 season, began his BYU coaching career with a 39-11 record.
 
USD THIEVERY: San Diego had to overcome 21 points and a career-best 18 rebounds by Portland’s Alex Fowler and Haylee Andrews’ 1,000th career point on Monday. The Toreros got over the top for a 69-62 road victory thanks to their pressure defense.
 
San Diego scored 39 of its 69 points off 31 turnovers it generated. The Toreros, who are second nationally in turnovers forced at 25.0 per game, collected 20 steals, including seven by senior Maya Pace and five by Sydney Hunter.
 
STAT OF THE WEEK: Gonzaga shot 82 percent (28 for 34) on shots inside the 3-point arc in its 97-75 win at Pepperdine on Saturday. Yes, you read that correctly — the Zags missed just six two-point field goal attempts in 40 minutes.
 
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’m not quite sure I’m to the level of enchantment yet with anything we’re doing.” — Gonzaga coach Mark Few, when asked if he was enchanted by any aspects of his team’s progress defensively. Given that the Zags are unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the land, Few’s bar for achieving enchantment is clearly a high one.