Timme sparkles, Gonzaga rolls past Oklahoma into Sweet 16
INDIANAPOLIS » Gonzaga continued to roll behind a career-high 30 points and 13 rebounds from Drew Timme as the top-seeded Bulldogs beat No. 8 seed Oklahoma 87-71 Monday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Gonzaga (28-0) won its 32nd straight game dating to last season, passing its first real test of the NCAAs in the Bulldogs’ quest to be the first undefeated champion since Indiana 45 years ago.
The Bulldogs easily dispatched Norfolk State in the first round, but the Sooners were the first power conference opponent for Gonzaga since it embarrassed Virginia in late December.
It didn’t matter all that much. Oklahoma became the 25th straight team the Bulldogs beat by double digits — although the Sooners fought valiantly to keep it from becoming a blowout.
The Zags advanced to their sixth straight Sweet 16 and will next face Creighton in the West Region. CREIGHTON 72, OHIO 58 » Marcus Zegarowski scored 20 points to help Creighton
beat Ohio, securing the program’s first trip to the round of 16 in 47 years.
Damien Jefferson added 15 points for the fifthseeded Bluejays (22-8). They had a cold opening few minutes before the offense — and Zegarowski in particular — got rolling with a strong performance that built a double-digit lead by halftime against an upstart trying to spring a second straight tournament upset.
The last time Creighton made it to the regional semifinals was 1974. Zegarowski finished 7 for 16 with four 3-pointers.
Dwight Wilson III scored 12 points to lead Ohio (17-8), the Mid-American Conference champion.
OREGON 95, IOWA 80 » Chris Duarte scored 23 points and Oregon showed no signs of rust after a long layoff, beating No. 2 seed Iowa to reach the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years.
The seventh-seeded Ducks (21-6) were put in an unprecedented spot, advancing to the West Region’s second round without playing a game. Virginia Commonwealth’s multiple positive COVID-19 tests took care of that, leaving Oregon with a nine-day break since losing in the Pac-12 Tournament title game.
Oregon’s offense hummed like it was fresh off the line once the ball went up. UCLA 67, ABILENE CHRISTIAN 47 » Johnny Juzang scored 17 points and 11th-seeded UCLA carefully brushed off pesky Abilene Christian to become the fifth team to go from First Four to the round of 16.
The Bruins (20-9) meet the winner of Maryland-Alabama in their first regional semifinal appearance since 2017 . FLORIDA STATE 71, COLORADO 53 » Anthony Polite scored a career-high 22 points and No. 4 seed Florida State pulled away in the second half to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third straight year.
Polite had never scored more than 15 points in a game, but the junior made 8 of 12 shots, including 4 of 7 3-pointers for Florida State (18-6) .
MICHIGAN 86, LSU 78 » Topseeded Michigan salvaged the Big Ten’s best hope for NCAA Tournament glory Monday, getting 21 points each from Chaundee Brown and Eli Brooks in a rollercoaster victory over talentrich LSU.