Gonzaga, Baylor win, advance to title game Monday night
INDIANAPOLIS >> Nearly two decades ago, Scott Drew decided to leave his comfort zone at tiny Valparaiso for the scandal-plagued basketball program at Baylor, explaining to his father that there was nowhere for the Bears to go but up.
Now, they’re one win away from the top.
Led by Jared Butler and the rest of their brilliant backcourt, a defense that refused to give Houston an inch, and a coach intent on making the most of his first trip to the Final Four, the Bears roared to a 78-59 victory Saturday night in their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament semifinals in 71 long years.
“Every day you’re grinding, and you don’t really look back. You’re pressing forward,” Drew said, “but I’m so blessed to have these unbelievable players that bought into what we like to do with the program.”
Or, as Butler put it: “This is what we came to Baylor to do.”
Butler scored all 17 of his points in the first half, but just about everyone from Baylor (27-2) got in on the act, with five players scoring in double figures. They doubled up Houston after 10 minutes, built a 45-20 lead by halftime and coasted the rest of the way in the first Final Four showdown between schools from the Lone Star State.
They’ll face Gonzaga, the overall No. 1 seed, or upstart UCLA on Monday for their first national championship.
“That was one of my goals, to leave a legacy at Baylor,” Butler said. “And you have to win national championships. You have to win. You have to be a great program, be about great things, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Marcus Sasser had 20 points for the cold-shooting Cougars (28-4), whose dream path to their first Final Four since 1984 — they faced teams seeded 15th, 10th, 11th and 12th along the way — ended with a whimper against a team focused squarely on this night since the moment last year’s tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.
For Drew, the wait had been even longer.
He took over a program 18 years ago embroiled in arguably the biggest controversy in the history of the sport: the graphic shooting death of player Patrick Dennehy, his teammate Devon Dotson pleading guilty to his murder, attempts by then-coach Dave Bliss to cover it all up, and NCAA sanctions that lasted well into Drew’s own tenure.
Yet somehow, the son of longtime Valpo coach Homer Drew always pictured the very scene that unfolded Saturday night: His team playing selflessly, almost effortlessly, never once feeling the pressure of college basketball’s biggest stage.
Well, there were a few things Drew probably didn’t picture.
Instead of 70,000 fans reaching to the rafters, the Bears were cheered in the lower bowl by thousands of cardboard cutouts — from the late Georgetown coach John Thompson to New Mexico State mascot Pistol Pete — due to measures against COVID-19 that have forced them to live in a bubble for the last three weeks.
The roughly 8,000 fans that were allowed through the doors, socially distanced in a vast ocean of blue seats, provided a muted soundtrack to the blowout inside the cavernous home of the Indianapolis Colts.
The only cheering? That came from those in green and gold. The Bears controlled the game from the jump, unleashing an early 14-3 run fueled by the crisp passing, silky shooting and dastardly defense that made them unbeatable before a 23-day COVID-19 pause late in the regular season. When the Cougars finally scored, the Bears ripped off another 16-3 run later in the first half, carving up the nation’s top 3-point field-goal defense with ruthless efficiency. By the time Davion Mitchell knocked down back-toback 3-pointers to end the first half, the Bears had a 45-20 lead that felt insurmountable.
GONZAGA 93, UCLA 90, OT >> Gonzaga has given fans the NCAA championship game they wanted with a shot for the ages.
Jalen Suggs banked in a shot from near midcourt at the buzzer, giving the heavily favored Zags a 93-90 overtime victory against upstart UCLA.
Gonzaga, the No. 1 overall seed, will play secondseeded Baylor for the title Monday night. Those teams were 1-2 in The Associated Press Top 25 most of the season. The Bears manhandled Houston 78-59 in the other national semifinal.
Johnny Juzang scored 31 points for UCLA, including a tying basket with 3.3 seconds left. But Suggs took the inbound pass, dribbled just past midcourt and launched the shot. It banked in after the buzzer sounded.
Gonzaga is 31-0 and the first team since Indiana State in 1979 to carry an undefeated record into the national title game. Indiana was the last undefeated champion in 1976.