Gonzaga Basketball: Profile of the ultimate “glue guy” in Joel Ayayi

GAME AND OUTLOOK

Suiting up for the #1 program in the country and one of the best CBB offensive teams in recent memory is not an easy task. Sharing the spot-light alongside future lottery picks like Jalen Suggs and Corey Kispert plus Drew Timme doesn’t come cheap either. In those three you have the Zags’ offensive backbone: they see most of the ball, the bulk of the plays, and the plaudits.

But even if you haven’t been paying much attention to Ayayi, it’s unlikely you will have missed his 69.5% FG from inside the arc, 39.6 from deep, and 7.0 rebounds per night. Surely, Joel is a special do-it-all type of baller. His input at Gonzaga is different than the one Ayayi got European fans used to with France U18 and U19 squads in the summer, though. They were certainly spoiled.

In 14 games with the Bleus in 2018 and 2019, Ayayi performed as a high usage go-to-guy and crunch player with an 18.3pts / 4.6rbs / 2.8 as / 1.9st stat-line while shooting over 50% FG and winning two bronze medals in the process.

Here it is a 7.35 minutes video of Joel Ayayi enjoying absolute freedom in attack, changing games all by himself, creating his own looks, hitting all sort of the shots, manipulating screens to get to his spots, running fiery downhill, and pulling up from mid-range or downtown. To be fair, some of the present attributes he displays at Gonzaga and that we will talk about later are also here (defensive approach, cutting, rebounding…), but essentially you can see how much of a shot-maker Joel can be.

However, on a personal level, Ayayi’s most fascinating trait is his flexibility and ability to become an elite role-player. In order to better understand Ayayi’s development process and evolution, I spoke with the Phoenix Suns’ player development coach, Riccardo Fois (@RickFois) who worked previously for five years at Gonzaga and has an extensive career as assistant coach, director of analytics and video coordinator for the WCC powerhouse and several NT set-ups.

"“Joel is first and foremost a winner. He has won at every level he’s played (ANGT, FIBA Youth and Gonzaga) making huge plays all his career. But he is also a very smart player that knows what it takes to win and how to fit in different teams. When a player helps to win by doing different things, he can play at every level”."

Let’s now think about how many non-American guards are top scorers at the NBA level. The truth is that for euro-based go-to-guys the transition to American basketball and the best league in the world can become a real struggle. In Ayayi’s case, the adjustment to CBB life with its pace and the obvious athletic step-up required a lot of patience.

"“He was a 17yo kid with great confidence and wanted to play, but training with Perkins, Norvell, Rui and Clarke he soon realized he was not at that level yet. Instead of losing his cool and going back home, Joel went to work at an insane rate, going at those guys every day with the scout team and giving them hell some days”."

When eventually coach Few gave the Frenchman a chance and a real shot with real minutes, Ayayi was ready.

"“Joel started to do what he does; winning games with rebounding, assists and big shots. He won the WCC Tournament MVP award last year. He’s had the first triple double in program history. He’s lost just 6 games in 3 years and has become a Gonzaga legend. He and Corey Kispert are the posterchild of what Gonzaga is all about: get better every day”"

Time now to have a closer look at Joel Ayayi on the court and to break his skillset feature by feature.