Portland gives Gonzaga and its 3 former Oregon high school stars a proper sendoff to the Sweet 16

By Tyson Alger | Photos courtesy of Gonzaga University 

PORTLAND – The moment came for the Oregonians with about two minutes remaining. 

Gonzaga had finally put away upstart Georgia State, using a 24-1 run propelled by starters Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren to finally give the Bulldogs a bit of breathing room. After all, Gonzaga had been looking forward to this part of the tournament all season — a local seeding to showcase for the home crowd before moving on for later rounds — and flirting with disaster with the No. 16-seeded Panthers wasn’t how they drew it up. 

But the Bulldogs took care of business, so coach Mark Few finally gave the local kids a nod.

In came Ben Gregg, a 6-foot-10 freshman and former Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year at Clackamas.

In came Matthew Lang, a 6-foot-3 senior who averaged 15.4 points per game as a senior at Jesuit. 

In came Will Graves, a 6-foot-5 senior and an all-Southwest Conference second-teamer while at South Eugene. 

The crowd, largely clad in Gonzaga red for all four games of the Portland Regional, loved it.

“Certainly we knew early on this year, when we looked at it way back in September, that Portland was one of the host cities,” said Few, a 1981 Creswell graduate. “I think that was a goal for all of us to get here.

“It just makes it so much easier for friends, for families, for our fans, and it really rewards teams for battling and slugging it out over the course of four-and-a-half months, giving them something other than just a number on the line.”

Gonzaga beat Georgia State 93-72 last Thursday, then advanced to the Sweet 16 for the seventh consecutive season after beating Memphis 82-78. Few didn’t call the Oregonians into the game for that one, as he relied heavily on his starting five — all of whom played 29 minutes or more.

But their fingerprints were all over the game.

“Matt is a true Zag who just gives you everything he’s got in practice,” Few said of Lang. “He’s a very good player. He can easily play at other programs throughout the country. He’s really developed over his time with us to a point where he’s a handful in practice.

“He was torching us pretty good yesterday.”

Lang, a fan favorite at Gonzaga as the walk-on called upon in garbage time to hit the team’s 10th three-pointer to guarantee free tacos, is no longer a walk-on. He was awarded a scholarship this season. 

“He comes from a great program, Jesuit High,” Few said. “We’ve had a lot of Jesuit guys over the years that have had huge effects on our program, from (assistant coach) Brian Michaelson to Kyle Wiltjer to now Matt.”

Gregg, a second-year freshman, averaged 6.3 minutes and 2.4 points this season while battling a few injuries. He seems to have a bright future for the Bulldogs once Timme (6-foot-10) and Holmgren (7-foot) move on. Gregg won an Oregon 2A state title at Columbia Christian in 2018, then transferred to Clackamas, where he averaged 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.9 steals in 2019. He came to Gonzaga as the No. 86 player in the 2020 class.

“At Gonzaga if you stick with the plan and hang in there, usually good things happen,” Few said. “There’s just so many guys throughout the years on our roster who can attest to that. I’d definitely put Ben in that category.”

Gregg and Lang’s parents were able to be in attendance at the Moda Center. Unfortunately Will Graves’ dad was not. 

See, Kelly Graves is the coach of the Oregon women’s basketball team, which opened its NCAA Tournament playing against Belmont in Tennessee.

“The second-biggest reason we were hoping we could host and put ourselves in position was I knew Gonzaga was going to end up in Portland and I was going to be able to run back and forth to see them,” Graves said this month. “Unfortunately I’m going to miss the first couple of rounds.”

The Oregon women fell to Belmont 73-70, freeing the coach to follow his son and Gonzaga as the Bulldogs face Arkansas on Thursday in San Francisco. The Bulldogs should have a nice home crowd advantage again at the Chase Center, though it won’t quite be like Portland.

“We’ve obviously had some great memories here,” Few said. “Myself being an Oregonian — we’ve got a lot of players from Oregon and just some real wonderful connections here.” 

Tyson Alger is a Portland-based sportswriter. Read more of his work at i-5corridor.com