GONZAGA, N. CAROLINA VIE FOR TITLE
BULLDOGS HOLD OFF GAMECOCKS; UNC SLIPS PAST OREGON: BRAZILLER, KUSSOY, SERBY /
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Nerves? Nope. Not Gonzaga. Not this team. Not with this coach. Not with these players.
Gonzaga struggled with the pressure of its first Final Four about as much as it did with the West Coast Conference this year. The top-seeded Bulldogs looked comfortable in this setting, like all their previous NCAA Tournament failures had prepared them for this moment. They raced out to a big lead and never lost their composure once as the game tightened up, performing like a team used to such high stakes.
Mark Few’s veteran group moved on to Monday night’s final to face North Carolina — which survived its own late scare against Oregon — bouncing back from a furious South Carolina second-half run and knocking off the seventh-seeded Gamecocks, 77-73, at University of Phoenix Stadium.
“To be playing the last game of the year is just crazy cool,” said Few, who was so thrilled to be one win away from a title that he did a handstand in the locker room.
Gonzaga became the first West Coast Conference school to reach the champion-
ship game since San Francisco in 1956 and first team from a mid-major conference to play for it all since Butler, then in the Horizon League, in 2011. The school has never won a championship of any kind.
On Friday, South Carolina senior star Sindarius Thornwell said Gonzaga “is really nervous,” because of the pressure of playing in its first Final Four as a favorite. The Bulldogs didn’t offer much of a retort Friday, preferring to let their play do the talking Saturday.
“We just heard everything this year — we’ve heard the conference, we’ve heard we haven’t played tight games, that we’re not tough. We’ve heard everything,” Gonzaga point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, the best player on the floor, scoring 23 points and adding six assists and five rebounds. “I think the respect thing has to go out the window. You have 37 wins in a college season — I mean, that’s just unbelievable. And to be playing the last game of the season, we have a chance to play for it all. And we’re here to win it.”
Gonzaga (37-1) looked every bit like a team capable of cutting down the nets Monday night. It flexed its scoring depth — four players reached double figures — and its defensive ability. It out-rebounded South Carolina, 41-36, and limited Thornwell, the SEC Player of the Year, to a tournament-low 15 points on 4-of-12 shooting. It won the game on the defensive end, holding the Gamecocks to six points over the final 7:06. The lane was mostly closed off, primarily because of 7-foot freshman Zach Collins’ six blocked shots off the bench, which he complemented with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
“He told me before the game, ‘I wouldn’t want to be playing against me today,’” said Williams-Goss, Collins’ roommate.
South Carolina (26-11), outplayed most of the way, hung around and ripped off a 16-0 run to go ahead for the first time since the opening moments with 7:42 left.
“That run South Carolina made on us, that just shows just the heart of a lion that they have, that [coach] Frank [Martin] instills in them, that they get from him,” Few said. “And it took everything we had to hold them off and come back.”
On the possession after losing the lead, Collins hit a 3-pointer, a shot that hung on the back of the rim, and somehow dropped in. Two Przemek Karnowski baskets later, the lead was five with 4:49 remaining. Order was restored.
In the final minute, Dozier missed twice and Gonzaga smartly fouled, up three with 3.5 seconds left. Gonzaga has employed that late-game philosophy all season up three in the closing seconds.
“Hopefully,” Few said, “we’ll be in that situation Monday.”