Gonzaga floors BYU, wins third straight WCC crown

Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer was on a national title team at Kentucky in 2012 and believes he’s once again part of a championship-caliber program.

“Of course,” he said with a smile after the Bulldogs won their third straight West Coast Conference basketball tournament on Tuesday night at Orleans Arena with a 91-75 victory over Brigham Young in front of a tournament-record crowd of 8,585.

“We just won one.”

Wiltjer, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, is quite a jokester.

He stopped Gonzaga (32-2) coach Mark Few in his tracks at the post-game news conference as he was posting Snapchat videos from the podium.

The 6-foot-10-inch Portland, Ore., native is serious about his team’s chances once the NCAA Tournament starts next week, though.

“Definitely, we have all the pieces,” the national player of the year candidate said. “We just want to learn from this tournament and go with that mentality of playing harder than our opponent in the NCAA Tournament and taking one game at a time. Anything can happen. We want to do something special, but it’s all talk until the tournament. We just want to prepare and get better every single day.”

Wiltjer helped make sure the Bulldogs will go into the event on a high note. He made 59 percent of his shots in the WCC tournament, including 8 of 13 from 3-point range. He was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the championship game and made 7 of 12 shots overall.

Wiltjer’s tournament performance was made even more impressive by the fact he left Saturday night’s quarterfinal game late in the second half with a hip injury and was questionable to play the rest of the week.

He had acupuncture and treatment with the training staff and in the pool on Sunday in order to get back on the floor.

Wiltjer didn’t miss a beat. He averaged 18 points per game over the three games in Las Vegas to go along with 8.3 rebounds.

It was further evidence of just how much his game has transformed since his time with the Wildcats, when he was a reserve on the 2012 national championship team before winning the Southeastern Conference sixth man of the year award as a sophomore in a down year for the program.

He used the year he sat out as a transfer at Gonzaga last season to improve his all-around game, and Few said the results have shown all season as he has averaged 16.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

“When he came to us, he was basically a pick-and-pop four. Now, that’s probably 20 percent of his game,” Few said. “The rest is down low where he’s really going to work and fighting physical play and delivering. He’s become quite a good defensive rebounder and even scoring on drives. It’s been a win-win.”

Wiltjer has also shown a desire to make himself and his teammates better.

“He’s meant everything to the program. He embodies what we’re all about,” Few said.

Domantas Sabonis, the son of former NBA center Arvydas Sabonis, said he has talked to Wiltjer about what it will be like to enter the NCAA Tournament next week with the lofty expectations that will come along with being a high seed.

“We’ve talked plenty of times about it,” said the freshman, who had 15 points and six rebounds. “He said it’s going to be hard and everybody on the team has to be together and playing hard and just know that every game is going to be a battle.”

Gonzaga never trailed in the second half on Tuesday night after grabbing a 48-42 halftime advantage. Each time BYU (25-9) would make a run, the Bulldogs had an answer.

The Cougars got within one possession on two occasions in the second half but never could draw even.

Kyle Collinsworth, who tore his ACL in a WCC championship game loss to Gonzaga a year ago, had 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists for BYU.

Tyler Haws finished with 15 points, though he played just 11 minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls.

Kevin Pangos had 16 points and five assists for the Bulldogs, while Gary Bell Jr. had 15 points.

The Cougars hope a strong close to the season, including a Feb. 28 road win at Gonzaga, will be enough to get an invite to the NCAA Tournament.

Few said they absolutely deserve to be included in the field.

BYU will find out for sure on Sunday. Gonzaga can sleep much easier until then.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.