Gonzaga’s Mark Few has 752 victories as a head coach.
Campbell’s John Andrzejek has five.
But Andrzejek has something Few doesn’t: an NCAA championship ring.
Andrzejek, an assistant on Florida’s NCAA Tournament championship team last spring, will face his toughest test as a rookie head coach Wednesday when his Fighting Camels (5-5) visit the No. 7 Bulldogs (10-1) in Spokane, Wash.
Campbell is 0-5 on the road, with losses at then-No. 24 Wisconsin, West Virginia, Weber State, Wake Forest and Penn State.
The Camels are coming off a 69-64 victory against visiting Ball State on Sunday as Dovydas Butka had 22 points and 10 rebounds and DJ Smith scored 20 points. Chris Fields Jr. came off the bench and added a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
“We’re starting to have a good understanding of who we are, what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are,” said Andrzejek, who is familiar with Gonzaga from his four seasons as an assistant at Washington State from 2019-23. “On days when we shoot the ball really well, we can beat a lot of teams in the country.”
Andrzejek, 32, said he was proud of Sunday’s victory because the Camels didn’t shoot well — just 38.7% from the field (24 of 62), including 5 of 24 from 3-point range.
“What’s important to me as we try to build this program is to raise our floor where we have a reliable defense and a reliable ability to outrebound the teams that we play and reliably take care of the ball because that gets you through the rainy days,” he said. “That gets you through the games where you don’t make a bunch of 3s or you miss some free throws. (Sunday) was one of those days.”
The Bulldogs, whose lone loss came to No. 2 Michigan, 101-61, in the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas, defeated No. 25 UCLA 82-72 Saturday night in Seattle.
Graham Ike had 25 points, five rebounds and five assists and fellow big man Braden Huff added 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.
“B-Huff kept delivering, as usual,” said Ike, who was named the West Coast Conference’s player of the week. “Day in and day out, we know it’s going to come. We expect it. No pressure for him, he just does what he does.”
Gonzaga’s point-guard tandem of freshman Mario Saint-Supery and junior Braeden Smith dealt with “a lot of pressure,” Few said.
While they combined for just three assists, Saint-Supery scored 12 points and Smith made a 3-pointer that gave Gonzaga the lead for good at 62-60 with 10:37 to go.
“It’s all about being efficient and effective,” Few said. “Our guys did a great job with that.
“Our wings were not doing a great job of making themselves available and getting open. So there was a lot of responsibility and just a lot of heat on those guys. They handled it well, handled the press well and they had some very timely buckets.”
–Field Level Media
