Tar Heels hoping Hicks can turn things around in NCAA final
April 2, 2017
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) His shots aren't falling in the NCAA Tournament, neither from the paint nor from the foul line. His rebounds are down. And North Carolina's Isaiah Hicks just hasn't looked much like the reliable every-game senior starter he's been all year.
The Tar Heels can't afford that to continue into the final night of the season, not if they want to beat Gonzaga in Monday's national championship game and win the title that slipped away a year earlier.
''I wouldn't say I'm very frustrated or anything because I feel like I'm out there just trying,'' Hicks said Sunday. ''I feel like when you try and it doesn't go well, just keep trying.''
Still, it's been an abrupt fade at the worst possible time for the 6-foot-9 forward with the Tar Heels (32-7) on the doorstep of their season-long goal to win the championship that got away during last year's crushing title-game loss to Villanova.
Hicks had partnered all year with fellow senior Kennedy Meeks to form a complementary scoring tandem behind Associated Press All-American Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II on the perimeter, a key to coach Roy Williams' philosophy of building a balanced offense. After scoring 17 points in a 1-vs-16 romp against Texas Southern to open the NCAA South Region, Hicks was averaging 12.5 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 61 percent from the field and nearly 82 percent from the foul line.
In four games since, Hicks is averaging 6.0 points and 2.8 rebounds while making 9 of 29 shots (31 percent) and 6 of 13 free throws (46 percent).
This is the same player Williams trusted enough to put on the court with UNC trying to defend Villanova's final shot in last year's title game. Now the Hall of Famer needs Hicks to regroup and help counter 1-seed Gonzaga (37-1) with its frontcourt of 7-1 fifth-year senior Przemek Karnowski, 6-9 redshirt junior Johnathan Williams and 7-foot freshman Zach Collins.
''I would say I'm not handling him very well because I'm not changing it so far,'' Williams said. ''Last night I really thought he was going to have a good game. ... So it's a tough time for him as an individual.
''I keep trying to tell him, I believe in him, I trust him, I'm going to keep putting you out here. I've said many times I'm not the smartest but I'm not the dumbest guy, so if I keep putting you out there, I must have more confidence in you than you have in yourself. Hopefully things will change Monday night.''
The most frequent concern about Hicks has typically been whether he'd have one of those foul-magnet nights - sometimes by being too aggressive, other times by seemingly having bad luck on ticky-tack calls - that sent him to the bench.
But the problems have crept into Hicks' game itself. They were all on display Saturday night against Oregon in the national semifinals, with Hicks looking indecisive while managing two points on 1-for-12 shooting - with a couple of shots swatted near the rim - with three rebounds in 20 minutes. He also played through a left thigh contusion suffered when he took a knee on a first-half drive.
Hicks said his confidence is fine and he's not pressing.
''It won't keep him down,'' Meeks said. ''He'll be like, `Everything's fine.'''
It was hard to imagine this when Hicks had 21 points and nine rebounds in the regular-season finale against Duke, followed by two straight 19-point showings in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. But he was a no-show for much of the second-round NCAA game against Arkansas before scoring six points during the Tar Heels' game-closing 12-0 run to rally from 65-60 down late.
He fouled out in just 17 minutes against Butler in the Sweet 16 then played 20 minutes without getting a rebound against Kentucky in the Elite Eight. And that's what led Williams to play sophomore reserve Luke Maye, who responded with two huge games and the last-second shot that lifted the Tar Heels past the Wildcats for a record 20th Final Four.
The good news for UNC is it has kept winning - maybe surviving is a better word - despite Hicks' struggles. That might not happen Monday if Hicks can't solve the riddle of what's gone wrong.
''I don't think any of us are worried about Isaiah really,'' fellow senior Nate Britt said. ''We'll expect him to have a big game and Coach has even said that. We still really haven't had a game in this tournament where everyone, our whole team, has played a pretty good game collectively. So why not do it in this game right here?''
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Gonzaga rides swarming defense into NCAA championship game
April 2, 2017
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Gonzaga swingman Johnathan Williams bumped and bruised Sindarius Thornwell throughout the Final Four, shadowing his every step, preventing the South Carolina star from getting the ball, much less a good shot.
The same scenario played out a week earlier in the Sweet 16, only it was Nigel Williams-Goss hounding Jevon Carter, preventing West Virginia's best player from getting a good look with the game on the line.
Once known only for their proficient offense, the Zags have added a dose of gritty defense anchored by two 7-footers, a combination that has put them within reach of the program's first national championship. Gonzaga faces North Carolina in the title game on Monday night.
''It starts with our rim protection and our versatility,'' Gonzaga guard Jordan Mathews said. ''All of our guards can switch onto different guys. What makes us special is our ability to contest on every shot.''
Defense has always been the element that has held Gonzaga back.
A fire-on-all-cylinders offense helped lead the Zags to 19 straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, eight times to the Sweet 16. But as they climbed farther into the bracket, the ability to get stops on defense often led to their demise.
That changed this season.
With the two 7-footers guarding the rim and a swarm of versatile, athletic perimeter players, Gonzaga now has the defense to complement its high-powered offense.
The Zags finished No. 1 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency this season and have shut down team after team through the NCAA Tournament.
Gonzaga is holding teams to 62.1 points per game in the tournament, 24 percent shooting from 3-point range and only one team - Northwestern at 41 percent - has shot better than 40 percent.
''To be successful in our game is about taking things away from people and they do a terrific job of taking things away,'' West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. ''Then they've got that great size inside, not just size, but they're good. And they limit you to one shot.''
That size starts with Przemek Karnowski, Gonzaga's center.
The 7-foot-1, 300-pound Polish big man gets his share of blocked shots, but alters so many more. Karnowski often doesn't have to jump to block or affect a shot and posting him up is like trying to back down the Empire State Building.
Gonzaga's second 7-footer, freshman Zach Collins, may be the best NBA prospect left in the tournament and he doesn't even start for the Zags. Agile and athletic, he can swoop in from seemingly nowhere to swat a shot, as he did six times in the Final Four win over South Carolina on Saturday.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few had both of them on the floor together for stretches of the Final Four, giving Gonzaga a double last line of defense that helped shut down the Gamecocks after they made a big second-half run.
''Zach makes it look like you have a clear lane to the basket, but he's right there,'' Mathews said. ''The different looks we can give you and our attention to detail, too, is one of our biggest strengths.''
Having bigs this big gives Gonzaga's already-active perimeter defenders the freedom to play more aggressively.
They never want to get beat, but knowing there's a 7-footer or two waiting under the basket allows them to overplay their man and passing lanes. Gonzaga used its attacking perimeter defense to create numerous early turnovers by South Carolina while building a 14-point lead in the national semifinals.
''We have rim protection and I feel like I can gamble a little, though I don't want to gamble too much,'' said Williams, who often guards the opposing team's best scorer. ''You know if you get beat, those guys in the back are there to pick you up.''
Gonzaga's rotation also is filled with players who can guard multiple positions, allowing the Zags to change looks or switch without worrying about mismatches.
Against South Carolina's Thornwell, Gonzaga started with 6-foot-4 Mathews guarding him, switched to 6-9 Williams, even had Williams-Goss, their point guard, on him at times. The Zags used their quickness to effectively deny Thornwell the ball and alternated between trailing him on screens, fighting over screens and switching.
Thornwell, the tournament's leading scorer at 26 points per game to that point, had 15 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Against West Virginia, Carter almost singlehandedly kept the Mountaineers in it, hitting one difficult shot after another. In the chaotic closing seconds, Williams-Goss was practically in Carter's jersey as he dribbled around trying to get off a tying 3-pointer. He missed two shots and the clock expired before West Virginia could get another off after a double team by Williams forced Carter to give the ball up.
''Sometimes our defense, it has kind of a cumulative effect on you,'' Few said.
It has all season, putting the Zags on the cusp of history.
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NCAA Championship a matchup for big men
April 2, 2017
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) If you like watching basketball played with big men in the middle, the NCAA Tournament championship game will be a can't-miss event.
Gonzaga's Przemek Karnowski, who weighs in at 7-foot-1 and 300 pounds, will go head-to-head on Monday night with North Carolina's Kennedy Meeks, who enters the game at 6-10 and 260 pounds.
''A type of guy kind of like me, going back to the basket more so than facing up or going to the 3-point line,'' Karnowski said of Meeks, a fellow senior.
Meeks said he ''likes playing physical, honestly. I feel like I have to do a really good job of running the court, posting up hard, trying to draw fouls.''
Both big men have quality backups.
Karnowski can be spelled or play with freshman Zach Collins , who had a great game in the semifinal win over South Carolina with 14 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks.
North Carolina comes off the bench with 6-9 senior Isaiah Hicks and 6-11 freshman Tony Bradley.
Meeks has been a force of late posting seven points and 17 rebounds in the regional final against Kentucky and 25 points and 14 rebounds in the Final Four win over Oregon.
''I pushed him last night, took him out for 3 or 4 minutes, didn't like one thing he was doing,'' Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said Sunday. ''But keep pushing him, keep pushing him, keep pushing him. ... He's just a lovable, big Teddy bear.''
Gonzaga coach Mark Few breaks down the big man matchup rather easily.
''To stay out of foul trouble is the first thing,'' Few said. ''I think both these teams are probably facing for the first time depth that mirrors each other inside, but also a willingness to just keep going and going in there whether it's off the pass or even off of offensive rebounds to generate a lot of offense inside out.''
Karnowski said he's glad to face a fellow big man rather than the smaller centers of the teams in the West Coast Conference. Meeks faced a big front line in Florida State but they didn't have the weight of Gonzaga's bigs.
''I think it's going to be a lot of big bodies hitting around,'' said Karnowski, a native of Poland who has faced quality big men as the center for the national team. ''He's a big guy like me. He likes to play it back to the basket a lot. So, obviously I'll try to stop him from going to his moves.''
Karnowski missed the final five minutes of the first half against South Carolina when his right eye was scratched. He returned for the second half and said Sunday he was fine.
North Carolina leads the nation with 15.7 offensive rebounds per game.
''We've got to block them out,'' Few said. ''We faced a really good offensive rebounding team in South Carolina. West Virginia was an excellent rebounding team. Their percentages were very high and a lot of their offense generated from that. But I mean Carolina is just a different entity from that.''
Meeks said the Tar Heels know what they need to do against the Zags' bigs.
''I just think making them work hard for the ball is the biggest thing,'' he said. ''Those guys are great at backing guys down and good at making the shots and making angles. I'd say the biggest thing we'll focus on is trying to eliminate them from getting as many post touches as possible.'
