Gonzaga juggernaut rolls to 28th win in row—4 more for perfection
Gonzaga’s quest for a spotlessness that eluded thousands of men’s college basketball teams across the last 45 years gathered a 28th notch on Monday in Hinkle Fieldhouse, that elegant old barn.
The 28-0 record happened via something weird for this men’s NCAA tournament: a game that played out with reasonable similarity to how one would have imagined it.
The Zags’ 87-71 win over No. 8 seed Oklahoma in the West Region’s second round, an NCAArecord 25th consecutive win by double digits, featured their usual offensive flourishes and barrages that render a fool anyone who tries to jot down play-by-play.
It featured a no-quit half-comeback from a 19-point deficit by the Sooners even as their second-leading scorer, De’Vion Harmon, remained in the hotel room downtown after a positive coronavirus test. And it featured the overriding sense that the Gonzaga waves were always coming, even if they fell short of their nation-leading 92.3 points per game, so that they’d have to make do with 87.
Finally, it starred a dominant showing from the tallest of the Zags’ starters, the 6-10 sophomore Drew Timme, who moves silkily like someone shorter and whose matriculation from Dallas-ish to Spokane illustrates Gonzaga’s national reach. Timme provided a
persistent answer down low to amass 30 points with his 13 rebounds and four assists, and at times it seemed the scattered viewers came to watch him shoot free throws, which he did 14 times, making 12.
It all left 22-season coach Mark Few with wet hair that suggested celebration as Gonzaga’s
22nd consecutive tournament yields a sixth straight Sweet 16.
“We’ve been celebrating every one of these wins,” Few said. “We celebrated the other night, we celebrated this one, and if we’re lucky enough to get another win, we’re gonna celebrate that. This tournament [in a pandemic] deserves to be celebrated.”
As the Zags found their way into the thick of the field, up against teams from all the snooty conferences whose fans sneer at Gonzaga’s winter trail
through the West Coast Conference, they did trail off the bat.
Michigan 86, LSU
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78: The top-seeded Wolverines (22-4) salvaged the Big Ten’s best hope for tournament glory, getting 21 points each from Chaundee Brown and Eli Brooks in a a roller-coaster win over the talent-rich Tigers.
In a game full of big runs, Michigan used the biggest — 14-1 over the decisive stretch midway through the second half — to pull away and move on to its fourth straight Sweet 16.
Oregon 95, Iowa 80:
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Chris Duarte scored 23 points and seventh-seed Ducks (21-6) showed no signs of rust after a long layoff, beating the No. 2-seed Iowa Hawkeyes to reach the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in the past five NCAA Tournaments.
Oregon was 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.
UCLA 67, Abilene
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Christian 47: Johnny Juzang scored 17 points and the 11th-seeded Bruins carefully brushed off the pesky Wildcats to become the fifth team to go from First Four to Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
UCLA started its tournament Thursday by rallying to beat Michigan State in overtime and is the first team to rise from First Four to the round of 16 since Syracuse in 2018.
Abilene Christian (24-5) pulled off one of the most surprising victories in a tournament filled with them, beating third-seeded Texas for the school's first Division I NCAA victory Saturday.