Gonzaga's Mark Few on Anton Watson after Portland win: 'He’s been such an unsung hero of this program'
Following an 86-65 win over the Portland Pilots on Thursday, Gonzaga men's basketball coach Mark Few reflected on fifth-year senior Anton Watson's career. The program is set to honor Watson on senior night Saturday when the Bulldogs take on Santa Clara.
"He’s been such an unsung hero of this program," Few said. "He’s such a winner. He’s a winner and he’s a great teammate. He’s just the perfect guy you want in your program. Obviously when you're at Gonzaga you really want him in your program because we’ve valued everything Anton’s done."
Watson finished Thursday's game with 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, putting him just two points shy of passing Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton on Gonzaga's all-time scoring list. With a single field goal against the Broncos, Watson will move into 26th place on the program's scoring list.
Here's more on what Few had to say following the Bulldogs' fifth-straight win:
On defending Portland:
“They’re a tough team to chase around and guard. So I thought we guarded them pretty good for the most part and took away their 3s the best we could and finally figured out how to get the ball to the right spots.”
On Graham Ike's 20-point, 14-rebound effort:
“Graham’s gotta get going for 40 minutes here. I think he was wonderful down the stretch. I think as a group we rebounded better. We got one coming on Saturday, you know we got our rear ends handed to us on the glass pretty bad.”
On Nolan Hickman's recent stretch of games:
“He’s been terrific, man. Shooting it great, the ball is coming off his hands really good. We were just talking about that as a staff. It looks good every time it leaves his hands. He’s been making the right basketball decisions on all our little actions and he started the game with those great passes to Graham. He’s been rock, rock, rock solid. And he’s defended well too.”
On Ben Gregg's impact as a starter:
“He’s a Zag, man. He’s got great spirit, he’s tough and I think our guys really feed off him. He’s just a great teammate, the guys love him. When he can knock down that shot, which he’s a good shooter, sometimes he beats himself up when he misses. But when he knocks down that shot from 3 that’s a real weapon.”
