Wiltjer Has The Zags Headed To The Sweet 16
By Dave Thomas
Name: Kyle Wiltjer
University: Gonzaga
Year: Junior (redshirt)
Height: 6' 10"
Weight: 240 lbs.
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Position: Forward
While many college and pro basketball analysts will tell you that the big man is seeing less and less of a dominant role in the game today than a few decades ago, don't tell that to guys such as Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer.
With their ticket punched for the Sweet 16 and a date this Friday evening in Houston versus upstart UCLA, the Zags of the Pacific Northwest are riding one of their big men in a quest to claim the sport's most coveted prize.
After opening March Madness with an 86-76 victory over North Dakota State, Gonzaga followed that up with a convincing 87-68 defeat of Iowa this past weekend. In those two games, Wiltjer came through with 23 points/eight rebounds and 24 points/seven rebounds, respectively. If the Zags are to advance past UCLA come Friday night, their junior redshirt forward (formerly played at Kentucky) will need to deliver the goods yet again.
On the season, Wiltjer leads Gonzaga with 16.5 points per game, while adding 5.7 boards per game. Teammate and center Domantas Sabonis (son of former Portland TrailBlazers' center Arvydas Sabonis) leads the team with seven rebounds a contest.
Junior Redshirt Delivering In The Clutch
For Wiltjer, this season has been marked by a number of strong performances, helping the Zags capture the West Coast Conference (WCC) title along the way.
Among some of his highlights, he tallied 32 points in an early season 88-76 victory over Georgia and a career-high 45 points in defeating conference foe Pacific 86-74. Wiltjer also recorded 20 points or better in nine other contests this season.
So, what does the former Kentucky Wildcat bring to the table for the Zags, a team that has won an astounding 14 regular season WCC titles in the last 15 years?
For starters, playing two years in the SEC's premiere and one of the nation's elite basketball programs certainly didn't hurt when he landed in Spokane.
In his first season in Lexington with the Cats, Wiltjer (who was also initially recruited by Gonzaga among other schools) delivered 35 three-pointers for the team during the year en route to the national title (Kentucky beat Kansas 67-59, finishing 38-2 on the campaign).
In his sophomore campaign at Kentucky, Wiltjer was tabbed as the SEC's Sixth Man of the Year, averaging 10.2 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per contest.
While Gonzaga is clearly not the favorite to win March Madness when all is said and done, the Zags are certainly in the conversation of teams that could give prohibitive favorite and unbeaten Kentucky (36-0) a run for its money.
If Gonzaga can work its way out of Houston this coming weekend with a pair of wins, the Zags have as good a shot as anyone to put their name on the NCAA title when all is said and done, with Kyle Wiltjer being a big part of that.
Dave Thomas has been covering the sports world since his first job as a sports editor for a weekly newspaper in Pennsylvania back in 1989. He has covered a Super Bowl, college bowl games, MLB, NBA and more. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
