TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – When Gonzaga enters the Legacy Arena this Saturday, some key pieces from last year’s 28-win squad won’t be getting off the bus to play in the CM Netwon Classic.
Chet Holgren, who led the Bulldogs in rebounds and blocks in the 2021-22 campaign, and Andrew Nembhard, the Zags leader in assists and steals, are now on the pro rosters after helping lead the team to a third straight league title and a run to the NCAA Sweet 16 Tournament.
But you know who’s back in Gonzaga? Drew Timme, the team’s leading scorer, who currently ranks first in the West Coast Conference in points per game (20.5) and shoots 62.1% of his shots from the field, the second best percentage in WCC shots. Timme is coming off a 26-point game against Northern Illinois and scored 23 points in last year’s game at Seattle.
Alabama knows all about Timme, who scored a team-high 23 points in the 91-82 loss to the Crimson Tide last year. The 6-foot-10, 235-pound senior forward has UA’s full attention, but the Zags have welcomed a trio of guards who can also make plays, especially from the perimeter.
Head coach Nate Oats discussed this and more when asked about the strengths of the teams.
“Their strength is Drew Timme, but they also added shooters around him,” Oats said. “Hickman, Bolton and Strawther can all do three at a high clip. Two of them are over 40% and one is in his thirties. They have shooting to go with it. I think we’re a bit deeper, although without Nimari and Dom still not being (available), it might not be as big a force as it would have been before Nimari was released.
“I don’t want to say that we have a better front or rear area. Timme is obviously a National Player of the Year candidate, so you can probably give them the nod in the frontcourt. But I like our depth and our versatility and what we have on both sides of the ball in the frontcourt. We may not have Timme’s level goalscorer in the frontcourt, but we have a good defensive zone that will be tested by Timme.
Center Charles Bediako added: “He’s a great player, obviously. Great footwork. But we have a plan to hopefully have an advantage over them to win the game. I can’t say too much about it, but it’s really, overall, a well-balanced team, obviously with a big fat in it.
BRADLEY BRINGS KEY INFLUENCE
Alabama will be without starting guard Nimari Burnett for about 6-8 weeks. One of the team’s best defensemen, Burnett underwent surgery to repair an injured left wrist this week, and while he will be missed on Saturday, as well as the start of SEC play, his absence creates opportunities for d Other guards on Tide’s roster include first-year guard Jaden Bradley.
On Thursday, the real freshman shared the advice Burnett gave him before his first start.
“He definitely told me to keep my head up,” Bradley said. “Obviously a bit of nerves there, but he told me to stay confident, to stay true to who I was. I was just trying to fill his spot. When someone falls you have to have that mentality of next man, and I feel like we’ve done a decent job at that. We still have a lot to do until he comes back.
Bradley started the final game against Memphis and finished with 10 points and five assists. He was one of many to struggle against Tiger guard Kendric Davis, who scored 30 points in the 3-point loss to Alabama, but the former 5-star rookie also did some positive things in the victoire. While Oats didn’t reveal his top five against Gonzaga, he did share some.
“He’s like a defining influence,” Oats said. “He plays really hard. He’s got a high IQ. He’s a great two-way player. Brings a lot of winning traits to the team. He makes tough plays. He puts his nose into it. He gets tough rebounds. “He’s up to the challenge. He can keep four men. Sometimes we make him keep a four because he’s tough, physical. He can keep the point guards.
“When he’s in, the ball moves a little better. He found Brandon, kind of, Brandon went there in the second half against Memphis. Found Darius. He just makes plays for other people. He’s a of these guys that you can kind of move, or you can play him with anybody If you play him with Sears he’ll get Sears more open shots If you play him with JQ he’ll get JQ more shots You can play JQ off the ball a bit that way, kind of like we did with Herb and JQ off the ball.
“I think today in training he did a great job of finding our bigs a bit more. We focused on a big point. I thought we missed our bigs a lot against Memphis He was one of them who really focused on their research.
INTENSE PREPARATION FOR THURSDAY, PRACTICAL
During his Thursday press conference, Oats apologized for being more than an hour late. What was originally scheduled for 1:30 p.m. didn’t happen until minutes after 2:30 p.m. But the coach had an explanation — there was a lot of work for the Crimson Tide between games.
“We kinda took care of that today,” Oats said. “…We gave them a day off yesterday, so we had to clean up all the Memphis stuff, and there was a lot to clean up. We weren’t good on either side of the ball for long periods of play, turnovers late in the game. They scored 13 points in the last 50 seconds. We didn’t end the game well. And look, lots of credit to Memphis. They exposed some things that we hadn’t done well. Our transition D was terrible. By staying in front of the ball, our guards have to do a better job. Our big ones weren’t good on ball screens.
“We can go on and on. There’s a whole list of things we weren’t very good at. The attack has long struggled. We tried to clean up a lot of that on video, it took a little longer than expected. Then we had to access Gonzaga’s video, show their staff what they’re trying to do offensively. And then in training it was supposed to be a bit shorter training but sometimes things just don’t get done in the time frame because it’s not quite right so you have to go for it a little longer, and that’s what happened.
“We played a kind of end game situation deal at the end that we need to improve in the closing games. Chances are, this game will end up being a close game. They are good, we are good. It’s going to be very difficult for either team to get away from the other. There’s a chance it could go either way depending on turnovers, shooting percentage, whatever. But in all likelihood it’s probably going to be close, and we have to learn how to win close games. We haven’t been doing a very good job of closing games here lately.
OATS PLAYING IN THE MAGIC CITY
Alabama will play Birmingham for the 72nd time on Saturday in the second annual CM Newton Classic. The Tide hold an all-time record of 46-25 when playing in the Magic City and have won 12 of their last 19 games played there, despite going on a 4-game losing streak at Legacy Arena. The last time Alabama won a game in Birmingham was over a decade ago when the Crimson Tide defeated Oklahoma State, 69-52, on Dec. 21, 2010. Oats explained why the one-hour trip becomes an annual tradition. and what he wants to see from the sold-out crowd.
“There are players from Birmingham that we are trying to get,” Oats said. “We make it our goal to try to bring the best players from Alabama to the University of Alabama. I think playing this game in Birmingham every year helps. In previous years we’ve played in Huntsville We’ve minimized mobile this year. We’re trying to get to where we play in different parts of the state in different cities in different years. We can’t play in every major city every year, but year to year. year, I think we can go and play in different places.
“But we will try to play in Birmingham for many different reasons. Our students are on break. It’s a great time to go up to Birmingham and give a lot of the fans who are in Birmingham – donors, boosters in this area – a game to watch up there. Recruiting that way and fair in general, Birmingham is the city of Alabama, and we come there to sell a game.
“From what they’re telling me, I think the first time in 30 years that a basketball game has been sold out in this arena, since 1992, I believe, in the SEC tournament. That’s a good sign for us. If we can keep selling them that will entice us to play up there Hopefully it’s sold out with 99.9% Alabama fans because when we were up there in Seattle this place was at 99.9% Gonzaga fans when we were there, so hopefully they get the same road environment we had in Seattle.
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