Unbeaten Zags keep rolling with rout
INDIANAPOLIS» Gonzaga guard Andrew Nembhard believes he still has room to improve.
The scary part is, he thinks that also might be true for the undefeated Zags.
Nembhard had 17 points and eight assists, both season highs, to keep the NCAA Tournament’s top overall seed rolling with Sunday’s 83-65 rout of fifth-seeded Creighton in the West Region semifinals. Afterward, he insisted nobody was satisfied.
“I don’t think we have peaked,” he said. “I think, as I said earlier, we can always get better. We can always work on our stuff. So I think we’re getting close, and we need to squeeze out that five percent that we talked about.”
It’s hard to imagine the Bulldogs (29-0) could play much better.
They extended their schoolrecord winning streak to 33, the Division I record for consecutive double-digit wins to 26 and reached the Elite Eight for the fourth time in six years.
Some of Gonzaga’s usual stars were content with supporting roles Sunday.
Second-team All-American Drew Timme led the way with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists as the Zags shot 59.6% from the field against a foe that led the Big East in defensive field goal percentage. Joel Ayayi added 13 points and eight rebounds.
Defensively, the Zags held Creighton to 40 points over the final 30 minutes as they methodically turned a 27-25 game into a blowout. Gonzaga never trailed and led 43-33 at halftime.
The Bluejays (22-9) never really had a serious chance at advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1941, when the NCAA Tournament only gave out eight bids.
“They just play so fast, so efficient with everything they do,” said Marcus Zegarowski, who led Creighton with 19 points. “There are no lapses. You just can’t take, not even a play, you can’t take a second off or they’re going to make you pay.”
MICHIGAN 76, FLORIDA STATE
58. What was touted as the marquee matchup in the Sweet 16 turned into a dud. For everyone but Michigan, that is.
Seven-foot-1 freshman Hunter Dickinson had 14 points and eight rebounds and the topseeded Wolverines took the inside route to the Elite Eight, pounding away in the paint for a 76-58 takedown of surprisingly helpless Florida State.
Franz Wagner had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Michigan. The Wolverines scored their first 30 points of the second half from close range to turn this game into a blowout and lead coach Juwan Howard and Co. to a victory in the only “chalk” meeting between a 1 and 4 seed of the second weekend.
Michigan (23-4) moved to a regional final for the first time since 2018 under John Beilein, whose departure a year later led to Howard’s hiring.
The Wolverines will play
UCLA next.
They decimated Florida State’s inside defense. The evening’s most telling stat was points in the paint: Michigan 50, Florida State 28.
“We basically knew how they were going to play us all game with fronting the post and switching everything,” Wagner said. “We knew what to expect and did that in practice. And I think we did a really good job of not allowing them to speed us up.”
The Wolverines created havoc on the other end, too.
They forced Florida State so off the mark that the Seminoles didn’t score their 20th point until M.J. Walker (10 points) hit a jumper with 27 seconds left in the first half.