Anton Watson, Gonzaga embrace 'nasty' identity: 'We got to be the most aggressive, nasty team'
Known for its offensive prowess over the years, Gonzaga men's basketball has taken pride in shutting down its opposition on the defensive end of the floor in 2023-24.
The offensive firepower hasn't been the same without Drew Timme around, even though the Bulldogs still rank in the top-15 scoring offenses nationally. Defensively, they're No. 1 in efficiency in the WCC per KenPom and have held opponents to the lowest effective field goal percentage (44.9%) and the lowest 2-point field goal percentage (42.8%). A lot of the low field goal rates have to do with Gonzaga's "nasty" mentality that the team has embraced since early in the season.
"We got to be the most aggressive, nasty team," said Anton Watson ahead of the Bulldogs' home game against San Francisco. "Win all the 50/50 balls and that's just how it's going to be the rest of the year.
Here's more of what Watson had to say:
On positive takeaways from the three-game road trip:
"I think there's a lot of positives from this last weekend, to go and play the defense that we did for both games. And the second half of Pepperdine, that felt like the best defense we played. [Against] San Diego, we just came out from the start and I think that's how we should play every game. Just with that type of energy, that type of confidence and yeah, just starting the game out like that every game I think we'll be alright."
On Dusty Stromer embracing his role off the bench:
"I'm super proud of Dusty. He came out still playing the way he plays you know, with confidence and you know, he didn't let you didn't let [coming off the bench] affect him too much. I think he's just gonna keep getting better. And we need him. Like I said, he plays a lot of minutes and he plays defense, brings us energy. So I'm proud of Dusty and just how he's going about things."
On Gonzaga's defensive mentality:
"I would say that's that's a big, big key; just nasty. Just doing whatever it takes on the defensive end. Obviously we don't have Drew dropping 35 points a game, but our defense is really good this year. That's all we have to put our faith in and yeah, that's where it starts is we got to be the most aggressive, nasty team. Win all the 50/50 balls and that's just how it's going to be the rest of the year."
On the outside noise as Gonzaga sits on the bubble to make the NCAA Tournament:
"A lot of people want to talk, I feel like every year it's something new. If we're ranked 1 or 2, people say we don't deserve it. If we're ranked 25 people are saying 'Yeah, that's where they should be.' I think it's just what we think in the locker room, you know, the coaches, what we're focused on. This is pretty much a brand new team, I feel like and it's hard to maintain that success for, you know, five years that I've been here and it's not easy. It's not easy to be a top-10 team all the time. So, I think we just need to focus on what we're doing. And yeah, I think we're gonna be alright. People, you know, they assume so much but you know, we just keep working, keep our head down, and don't really pay attention to the media."
On how he ignores what he sees on social media:
"I really don't pay no mind to it because the people who are commenting, tweeting on us, it's people, usually, who haven't touched a basketball in their life and don't understand the work we put into it and just everything that happens in the game, so I don't pay no mind to it. I know people are going to talk and I just hope they stay on that side. And we started winning, you know, I hope they don't try to come back and hop on the train."
