Every team needs a leader.
Some choose to lead by example, simply doing what must be done, knowing that the rest will follow suit. Others empower and embolden through their words. Is one better than the other? For Gonzaga, that's not worth pondering, because the Zags have it both ways.
During the Zags' two games in the NCAA Tournament last weekend in Portland, Andrew Nembhard and Drew Timme took radically different approaches to leadership as they have all season. And both led Gonzaga to its seventh consecutive appearance in the Sweet Sixteen. The Zags face SEC power Arkansas on Thursday.
"These two are our leaders. It's their team," head coach Mark Few said after the top-seeded Zags defeated Memphis. "In big games and big moments — and our backs kinda were at least pressed against the wall at that point — they respond."
Respond, and lead, they did.
Gonzaga battled to a win against a strong, athletic Tigers squad. Timme led with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Nembhard, meanwhile, got it done outside, scoring 23 points, on 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.
When Memphis' athleticism seemed too much to overcome — the Tigers led by 10 points at halftime — it was Nembhard who kept the Zags within punching distance to that point. Then it was Timme who took over, going on a dominant 10-minute run that will long be remembered among Gonzaga fans. The duo carried the pressure of an entire season suddenly on the brink.
Even after halftime, while Timme was scoring at will and putting Memphis' big men into foul trouble, it was Nembhard running the show. Though you might not have noticed — the quiet Canadian rarely seeks the spotlight.
"I'm gonna let Andrew answer that," Few laughed in the postgame press conference in response to one question. "Otherwise, he'll sit up here, and he won't say a word."
All season, quietly dominating has been Nembhard's role. The senior point guard has been outstanding. He's swished crowd-silencing 3-pointers at critical moments and dished out dime after dime while rarely turning the ball over, all in an effort to keep the Zags' offense running like a well-oiled machine. He may not lead by eloquence, but surely he does by example.
Timme, on the other hand, will speak into existence whatever needs to be done. He attempted a PG-rated synopsis of his Memphis halftime speech during a live interview with TBS's Andy Katz after the game.
"I said I don't give a flying F what happens at the end of the game, whether we lose or win, we're not going out as no, uh... soft guys," Timme recalled to the national TV audience.
The mustachioed big man would later take to Twitter to joke that he cleaned up the televised version of his speech for his mother, who he feared wouldn't be pleased with him speaking profanities. Whether or not Timme's actual halftime speech could be categorized as PG or not, it was clearly well taken by his teammates.
For the final 20 minutes, Timme played bully ball. Nembhard, meanwhile, led a sublime offensive symphony, drowned out only by the roar of the pro-Gonzaga crowd in Portland.
It was two leaders, in two completely different ways, coming together for one result.
The Zags won. Their leaders took them there.
"Thank God we have Andrew," Few said in his final remarks from Portland.
"Amen," Timme replied. ♦
Gonzaga plays Arkansas on Thu, March 24, at 4 pm on CBS.
