Gig Harbor grad Gagliardi completes strong season with Florida Gulf Coast

Sam Gagliardi wasn’t always a defensively-minded guard.

When he finished his career at Gig Harbor High School, he was more of the opposite.

“In high school, I was more of an offensive guy,” Gagliardi said. “I’ve always been a shooter, (since) high school. But my defense has developed a lot.”

For good reason, too. In any sport — even outside the world of basketball — there’s a saying that lives in the mind of an athlete.

Defense wins games.

“[I focus] on more on defense and taking pride in defense and knowing the importance of defense and how it translates to winning games,” Gagliardi said. “I know you’re going to win if you play defense.”

But don’t count out Gagliardi’s offensive productivity. The Florida Gulf Coast University junior says his three-point shot is the key, where he shot 34 percent from beyond the arc.

His best offensive performance of the season came Nov. 26, where Gagliardi dropped 18 points on an efficient 6-10 from the field.

“Offensively, that was my best game,” Gagliardi said. “But there were a couple games that were probably better all around.”

Gagliardi referred to home games against Liberty and Jacksonville, where the former Tide scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, and a season-high three steals in the former.

Yet Gagliardi contributed to the team’s success throughout the entire season, landing in the top six of his squad for minutes played. The former Tide finished fifth in scoring, averaging six points per game, complemented by three rebounds.

After finishing up his high school career with Gig Harbor — and completing a redshirt season at Cal Baptist — Gagliardi played for both Olympic College and Citrus College before his eventual transfer to Florida Gulf Coast. Now at a Division-I program, Gagliardi says the adjustment to the highest level of college basketball was a growing experience.

“I haven’t played the kind of competition I played against this year ever in my life,” Gagliardi said. “It was an adjustment. I got a lot better as a player, and started to learn the game more. I started to take the game more seriously. I started to study film, and be more professional about how I play basketball.”

And what Gagliardi prides himself on most is consistency.

In his words, his teammates and coaches knew exactly what they were getting out of him every night.

“I consistently played hard, played smart, and just played tough,” Gagliardi said. “I didn’t make a lot of mistakes. I played solid basketball. They knew what they were going to get from me every night. I was going to come out and play hard and play the way they wanted to play.”

Florida Gulf Coast’s season ended March 3, when the Eagles dropped the opening game of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament to Lipscomb, 68-63.

That Lipscomb team rode the victory all the way to the conference finals before losing to Liberty, who punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with the win.

“We played a good Lipscomb team,” Gagliardi said. “They (made) the conference championship. We played a good game. It was tight, and they just ended up making a couple more plays than us at the end. I thought we played hard.”

And though the season is now complete, Gagliardi — and the rest of the Eagles — have plenty of positives to reflect on as next season comes into focus.

“I love my teammates and my coaches,” Gagliardi said. “It was a fun group to be around. It’s a fun place to play as well. The arena was a fun place to play in. The fans always came out and supported us and it was a fun atmosphere. It was just a really good experience.”

This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 6:00 AM.