It was midway through the first half of a game back on Jan. 11, 2020, when Anton Watson went for a transition layup. He made the bucket but was fouled in the process and wound up on the deck in some pain. It was the final play of a promising freshman season.
A series of shoulder dislocations had been hampering Watson, seemingly every other game, and that moment against Loyola Marymount would be the last straw. He needed surgery.
"This is the right thing to do moving forward for his career, and he has a bright future with our program," head coach Mark Few said in a statement. Few also mentioned Watson's toughness and love for the team.
Now, two years later, it's clear how much those qualities are valued by Zag Nation. Watson is a rare bird within the Gonzaga program these days, in that he's from Spokane.
"It's great that they get players from all over the country and all over the world, but it's special when you get somebody from Spokane," says Ellen Klohe, a Gonzaga season ticket holder of more than 15 years. "It's kind of a nod to our roots as a basketball town."
A product of Gonzaga Prep, where he helped lead the Bullpups to two state titles, Watson was a highly touted recruit during his high school days. National recruiting service 247Sports ranked him as the No. 41 player in his class and No. 2 in the state of Washington. He would've been a highly sought after recruit as well, but there was really no recruiting to be had with him. Watson committed to Gonzaga after his sophomore season.
"I remember how electric he was. He was a dominant figure in the Greater Spokane League," Klohe says.
When Watson made the leap from Bullpup to Bulldog, he made his presence known immediately. On opening night of the 2019-2020 season, Watson was named as a starter.
Gonzaga rosters used to be littered with local players. The 2006 team featured Mead's Adam Morrison and Ferris' Sean Mallon in the starting lineup, with Brewster's David Pendergraft in a reserve role. As the level of the program has risen, though, the Zags have become less reliant on the local area. When Watson made the start in that season opener as a freshman, he became the first player from Spokane or the surrounding area to start for the Zags since David Stockton did so six seasons earlier.
Across the first six games of his freshman season, the 6-foot-8 forward was averaging 8.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and just over a steal a game. Then, in the first minute of the seventh game of the season, Watson suffered an ankle injury that would sideline him for the rest of that game and the three that followed. On top of that injury were the repeated shoulder dislocations, which led to limited minutes, missed games and, ultimately, the season-ending surgery.
As a sophomore last season Watson was back in the rotation, but he never seemed to find his footing. Instead of an offseason devoted to working on his game, Watson was dealing with rehab and recovery as well. He averaged 6.9 points and 3.3 rebounds last season, numbers slightly down from where he'd been before the injuries.
Midway through the season, Watson was removed from the starting lineup in favor of Andrew Nembhard. It was around that time, though, that Watson became a fan favorite for more than just his local ties. In his reserve role, Watson started to shine. He was doing what was asked of him, things that the team needed, and quickly developed into an exceptional glue guy.
"It's so exciting to see him grow and build his confidence," says Karin Visintainer, a season ticket holder for the past decade. "The minute he comes into the game he brings in a different spark."
That's been the case this season, with Watson once again coming off the bench, but playing a bigger role and better basketball than he has at any point in his Gonzaga career. That confidence that fans have seen grow hasn't been lost on the people inside the program, either.
Earlier this season, after a game against Pepperdine in which Watson scored 19 points, Few talked about how Watson had been starting to assert himself on the floor. This has been critical for the team as the other two players who get regular minutes off the bench, freshmen Nolan Hickman and Hunter Sallis, have had typical first-year ups and downs.
"I've seen someone who got their confidence and swagger back and at an all-time high," teammate Drew Timme said after a game against Merrimack earlier this season. "He's had to battle some injuries and that's not easy, and he's done a great job of putting the work in and coming to practice every day ready. We have to have him score, and we have to have him play hard and do what he does because he's such an X-factor for us."
This season, Watson is sixth on the team in scoring (7.7 points per game), fourth in rebounding (4.5 per game), fourth in assists (1.9 per game) and second in steals (1.3 per game). He's become a well-rounded player on both ends of the floor. With his increased assertiveness and aggressiveness, Watson brings a physicality to the game that Gonzaga's other bigs lack, relatively speaking. Chet Holmgren is incredibly skilled, and Timme is unbelievably crafty. Watson, though, is flat-out strong. Opposing teams, especially opposing bench players, have struggled to stop Watson all season long.
"When he comes into the game I go, 'Oh, good things are going to happen,'" Klohe says.
Now a junior, and looking like the complete package of a player people thought he would be when he first arrived on campus, before the injuries, Watson's popularity has grown even more. When you watch Gonzaga play on TV, there's a good chance you'll hear the announcer mention how Watson would start on just about any other team in the country. He's that good, and so is Gonzaga. He's become one of the better players in the West Coast Conference, and he's getting buzz in some circles as a potential NBA Draft pick after next season, too.
Underneath it all, though, Watson's still the kid from Spokane. The one who led Gonzaga Prep to multiple state titles and then stuck around to help his hometown team in their quest for a national title. His game is really just the icing on the cake to many in Zag Nation who see him as an inspiration.
"It gives, especially the kids who are just starting up, that hope that it really can be done here," Visintainer says. ♦
