In his freshman year of high school, while other future college basketball players were honing their skills and planning games in the gym, Jock Landale was playing a pick-up ball on a small dirt half-court with a ragged backboard and no net. was playing.
At high school in Randale’s native Australia, ninth graders were required to spend a year in the mountains, learning team building and outdoor survival skills. He wasn’t averse to long hikes and steep climbs, nor was he particularly excited by the primitive basketball environment.
“It was a pretty sticky situation,” Rundale said. “We were skating and skating, and some days it was raining and muddy.
Randale can laugh at that memory now, in the midst of his break season at St. Mary’s College. He’s the main reason Gales will go 15-1 and rank 21st nationally in Saturday night’s WCC showdown against No. 5 Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington.
Randale is a 6-foot-11 junior who leads the St. Mary’s in scoring (17.8 points per game) and rebounding (9.7). He also tops the WCC, where he ranks eighth all-American in field goal percentage with 64.2%.
But numbers alone don’t convey Randale’s influence. Consider last week’s win against BYU. This time, he showed fluid footwork and clever low-post moves in an old-fashioned duel with Cougars center Eric Mika.
Randale scored on jump hooks, traffic layups and midrange jumpers (26 total points). He went left, he went right. he used both hands When he double-teamed BYU, he hit a deft pass, grabbed nine rebounds, and had a career-high six assists.
The St. Mary’s players weren’t really surprised. That’s because Randale has been in form since scoring 33 points in the Nov. 11 opener and the first start of his college career against Nevada.
“He’s the stud of the year,” teammate Joe Lahon said.
Six years ago, Randale didn’t seem like a Division I player to watch. He started playing basketball at the age of seven, but became disillusioned and gave up for two years before disappearing into the Victorian Alps with his classmates at Geelong Grammar School in Corio, Victoria.
They lived in huts, cut their own wood for heating, and lived without mobile phones or computers. Imagine. Randale took four to five days a week in traditional classes, after which she wandered around to get a different kind of education.
This included winding hikes and at least one exhausting climb to Mount Buller, which stands at over 5,900 feet. Rundale remembered crawling up the steep slopes of the mountain on all fours.
“It was crazy,” he said. “My high school tries to teach us to rely on teams, so we do a lot of team building. I’ll tell you, but it was hard.”
Randale was 5’11” at the start of his freshman year, but soon underwent what he called a “ridiculous” growth spurt. This added size and casual game on dirt courts convinced him to give basketball a new whirlwind.
He ended up being a legitimate college candidate, mostly because he reached nearly seven feet tall. But as Randale learned during his freshman season at St. Mary’s College, it didn’t bring immediate success in the United States. He averaged just five minutes per game in his freshman year and was a key reserve player in his sophomore year, but he didn’t make it into the starting lineup.
Randall needed to lose weight and get stronger, more than anything else. When he showed up at Moraga in 2014, he weighed 280 pounds (with very little muscle), but now weighs about 248 pounds, thanks to intense training and a diet overhaul focused on protein and vegetables. ing.
“His food obsession was insane,” Rahon said. “I couldn’t. He didn’t eat pasta, he didn’t eat bread, he was trying to limit his carbs. His discipline and dedication really impressed me.”
Randale approached the game with renewed vigor last summer alongside fellow Australian team-mate Dane Pinault and former St Mary’s big man Brad Waldo and Omar Samhan. They and associate head coach Marty Clarke helped Randale develop a variety of shots around the basket.
Still, head coach Randy Bennett said Randale’s dramatic growth this season was largely due to physical changes. He’s a better athlete, plain and simple, stronger, faster and with more endurance.
“He can play more possessions without worrying about fatigue,” Bennett said. “Where I feel it the most is in defense. He’s doing a better job of keeping the other guys in front.
“That’s why we told him he needs to do this so he can keep the guys out longer. As a side effect, he’s also getting better offensively. There is.”
As a result, Randale is now firmly established in the starting lineup. Pinault’s back injury vacated him for the season opener, but Randale played too well to replace him. Pinault averages about 20 minutes per game off the bench.
In an era where sophisticated high school players make an immediate impact in college, Randale counts as an anomaly. He needed time to rebuild his body and his game, but now he’s a key cog in one of the top 25 teams in the country.
Suddenly the Gaelic gleefully dropped the ball in the low post and let Randale do the work.
“The same team is back, but we changed our identities a bit because he’s gotten a lot better,” Rahon said. “Jock was able to make a big impact on a team that joined and brought everyone back.”
Ron Kroichick is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: rkroichick@sfchronicle.com twitter: @ronkroichick
game on saturday
WHO: No. 21 St. Mary’s (15-1, 5-0 WCC) vs. No. 5 Gonzaga (16-0, 4-0 WCC)
when: 7 pm tv set: ESPN2