‘We’re not playing soft anymore’: Zags can go as far as Drew Timme can carry them
PORTLAND, Ore. — The G-rated version of Gonzaga’s halftime speech, courtesy of junior forward Drew Timme: “I don’t care if we win or lose, we’re not playing soft anymore.”
The R-rated version: Well, that’s not printable. But suffice it to say when coach Mark Few got to the locker room “that message was reiterated,” Timme said with a chuckle.
Clearly, everyone listened to Timme, including, well, Timme.
After a first half in which Few said Memphis “got up into us and we were just running around the 3-point line,” Timme — who had attempted only three shots the first period — got considerably more active and aggressive in the paint, and his teammates did their part to find him.
Timme started the half on a tear, scoring 11 consecutive points to pull Gonzaga within striking distance. The WCC Player of the Year scored 21 second-half points on 9-of-13 shots, willing Gonzaga back from 10 points down and helping the Zags to an 82-78 win over 9th-seeded Memphis. With the victory, Gonzaga advanced to its seventh consecutive Sweet 16.
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Going deeper, and maybe even to the program’s third Final Four? Well, that will come down to Timme and how far he can carry them.
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And he knows that to win a title, he needs to play like it for all 40 minutes, not just the last 20.
“Yeah, I would like to stop doing that,” Timme said sheepishly in response to a question about back-to-back games with slow starts (he scored 22 points in the second half against Georgia State Thursday). “I would like to do a better job in the first half, because (slow starts), that’s not a recipe to go far and win a lot of games. Credit to everyone for believing in me and continuing to push me and have confidence in me.”
And credit to Timme for understanding what his team needed, and when. During his 11-point scoring stretch, he even hit a 3, just his eighth of the season.
Few spent most of halftime talking about how Gonzaga had to establish Timme early, and run its offense through him. By making the adjustment, Memphis got to experience what Tigers coach Penny Hardaway called “the Drew Timme Effect,” which he’d seen plenty on TV and game film, but which was even more impressive in person.
“He made some tough shots, controlled the game, got our guys in foul trouble and the rest is history,” Hardaway said. “It felt like he got every offensive rebound or (drew) every foul or made every bucket for them. We witnessed that on TV, just watching him be so dominant; seeing it in person, man, he made some fantastic shots. I mean, great defense, and he still made them. That’s why he is who he is.”