Gonzaga throttles Georgia in NCAA Tournament opening round, 89-68

A lot of bad, weird things happened in 2008. There was Snowpocalypse in Spokane, the first Twilight movie came out, the Seattle Supersonics were taken from us, etc.

It was also the last time the Gonzaga Bulldogs lost in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. And with their giant win over Georgia, the streak remains alive, and the Zags look to be showing up in the biggest moment once again.

Zags Dominate Georgia in 89–68

8/9-seed games are usually worth tuning into because they’re close, hard-fought, evenly matched, and thrilling. Thursday’s matchup between the Bulldogs of Georgia and those of Gonzaga was certainly fun if you’re a Zag fan, but at no point was it close or even all that evenly matched. It was yet another first-round blowout by a team who just keeps finding a way to shine brightest in March.

Gonzaga looked like a team on a mission, determined to prove the preseason hype was well justified and that those who wrote them off may have some crow to eat in their future. They came out hot against Georgia, stayed hot throughout, battled through some suspect officiating, played lockdown defense for a full 40 minutes, and walked away with a decisive 89–68 win over the 9-seed Other Bulldogs. It was their best, most complete performance since Baylor, and now, the Houston Cougars await on Saturday.

It’s hard to know where to start in unpacking that game, so I’ll take a cue from Few and start with Braden.

Huff’s big moment

Mark Few rolled out the Saint Mary’s lineup again, giving Braden Huff the start over Ben Gregg at the 4-spot. Tinkering with a starting lineup this late in the season is an extremely un-Few move, and throwing a new starting five at a tournament opponent was one of the gutsiest coaching decisions of his entire career. The gamble paid off in full.

Huff completely out-physicaled Georgia’s bigs in Wichita—contesting shots, bodying up for rebounds, and playing absolutely fearless basketball against Georgia’s rangier frontcourt. He finished with 18 points on 8–11 shooting, grabbed 8 rebounds (3 offensive), and provided exactly the kind of interior production Gonzaga needed to keep their foot on Georgia’s neck. Stepping up like that in a moment this big says everything about how special Huff is—and will continue to be—for the Zags.

Hickman goes nuclear

Hickman’s first-half performance will go down as perhaps the finest 20 minutes of his long Gonzaga career. He logged 15 points on a perfect 4-of-4 from deep and added 3 assists in clutch minutes running the point. He was completely locked in and unshakable, finishing the night with 18 points, five 3-pointers, and a perfect 3-for-3 from the foul line. It’s a massive leap from the disappearing act he pulled in the NCAA Tournament his sophomore year. If Nolan continues to play at this level, the Zags are going to be extremely tough to beat on Saturday.

Battle’s big debut

Khalif Battle, meanwhile, showed up in his first NCAA Tournament game of his long college career and proved that some dudes shine brightest on the biggest stages. He finished with a team-high 24 points on 9–13 shooting, including 4–7 from deep, and also grabbed a team-high 8 boards. He was simply everywhere.

It was a best-case-scenario tournament debut for Gonzaga’s newest weapon, and his postgame interview—in which he gave all credit to his coaches and teammates—tells you everything you need to know about Khalif. He’s had his ups and downs this season, but over his last five games, he’s averaging 18.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 28.8 minutes of action. The dude is absolutely balling out lately, and this was his most complete performance of the season.

Defense Wins March

The story of this game, however, was Gonzaga’s defense.

The Zags opened on a 27–3 run, committed to exploiting Georgia’s ball-security issues and raining down threes at the other end. For the first 10 minutes, Georgia couldn’t get a clean shot off over Gonzaga’s D. They settled for contested midrange turnarounds, deep threes, or just dribbled the ball off their own feet. By the first media timeout, they looked dazed, punch-drunk, and completely out of sorts.

No lead is ever safe in March, but Georgia had a lot of the life taken out of them by Gonzaga’s first-half start. They never really recovered after getting absolutely punched in the jaw in the game’s opening 10 minutes.

Major props to Innocenti for some crucial minutes off the bench, also. He single-handedly threw a wrench in Georgia’s reliance on one-on-one guard play with his strength and physicality on the perimeter. It’s an absurd luxury to have a dude on the roster who can hop off the bench and just neutralize any member of the opposition.

Georgia is turnover-prone to begin with, but Gonzaga made it a real problem. The Zags forced 13 total turnovers—10 in the first half alone—and turned them into 25 points. That’s how you turn defense into offense, and that’s how you win games.

Ultimately, Georgia shot just 35% from the field and 5–26 from three. Gonzaga locked them down and exposed them as a team without much of a Plan B when the one-on-one game hits the skids.

It’s not really March without some Ref-Ball

Mark Few is never one to call out the officiating for his team’s troubles. I, however, am not Mark Few.

Gonzaga couldn’t even sneeze near a black jersey without drawing a whistle. It was a completely one-sided game down the stretch, and while the Gonzaga offense remained efficient and opportunistic throughout, the refs kept Georgia competitive by keeping them at the free-throw line.

Georgia took 29 free throws to Gonzaga’s 15. Asa Newell notched 8 of his team-high 20 points from the line. Silas Demary went 7–9 from the stripe but was held to 3–14 from the field by Gonzaga’s suffocating backcourt defense.

Ike led the team with 4 fouls—including an ugly Flagrant 1 on a wild elbow to the neck of Georgia’s Somto Cyril. Huff and Battle both finished with 3 fouls, while Hickman, Nembhard, Innocenti, Gregg, and Ajayi all had 2 apiece. It was an infuriating spectacle to see Gonzaga play so well and yet be held in check by so many bad whistles.

This game was at no point particularly close, but if the officiating had been less one-sided, the Zags would’ve won by 30+

A Balanced attack

This wasn’t just about a few guys going off, either. It was a complete team performance from the Zags:

12 dudes saw action
9 made it into the scoring column
23 assists on 33 made field goals
Nobody played more than 31 minutes

The Zags looked like one of the most balanced, locked-in teams in the country—and it could not have come at a more vital or exciting time.

It’s well-known how good the Houston Cougars are, but for now, I’m just going to revel a bit in how good of a win that one was. The Zags once again look like one of the best teams in the nation and I can sleep easy knowing at least one of their unbelievable tournament streaks remains intact.

Go Zags.