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CLOSE SportsPulse: Loyola-Chicago upset No. 3 Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tournament with another dramatic, last-second victory. USA TODAY Sports
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Rui Hachimura (21) goes up for a shot during the second half against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at Taco Bell Arena. (Photo: Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports)
The narrative before 2015's NCAA tournament was that Gonzaga — a mid-major turned powerhouse — underachieved in the Big Dance. That was after five consecutive Round of 32 exits, including 2013 when the 'Zags were a No. 1 seed.
And even though coach Mark Few had gotten the program to several Sweet 16s before that, there was a wall standing in front of the program ever since its Cinderella Elite Eight run in 1999.
But last year's national runner-up finish bulldozed that wall. And following Saturday's impressive 90-84 victory against Ohio State, Gonzaga has now reached four consecutive Sweet 16s.
This team isn't as good as last year's Final Four team talent-wise. But the difference between good teams and good programs is that NCAA tournament success usually rewards the latter.
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On Saturday, Gonzaga showed poise and fight down the stretch. With the game tied 67-67 with five minutes left, Gonzaga staged an 11-2 run to put the game out of reach and handily fend off Ohio State's counter-punches.
Freshman Zach Norvell Jr. (28 points) gives Few a future All-American guard in the same stratosphere as Nigel Williams-Goss, Kevin Pangos and Dan Dickau. And sophomore Rui Hachimura's 25 points off the bench were a major difference-maker in shaking off OSU's rallies and killing the Buckeyes' momentum swings.
Regardless of what this Sweet 16 team does in Los Angeles, one thing is clear: The future is as bright as ever in Spokane.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NCAA TOURNAMENT'S SECOND ROUND
STANFORD, Calif. – For the Gonzaga women, this wasn’t about rising to the occasion.
This was about getting down and dirty in the mosh pit known as Maples Pavilion, about matching up with Stanford in the paint on the Cardinal’s home floor.
Ultimately they couldn’t, and Stanford pushed its way through the first round of the NCAA Tournament with an 82-68 win Saturday afternoon.
Gonzaga pushed back, but Stanford fell back on some old weapons and used some new ones to advance to a second-round game on Monday against Florida Gulf Coast.
The Cardinal used tough defense in the paint, a commanding performance on the boards and some unexpected hot shooting from outside to pull away from the Zags.
Ahead by four points after 10 minutes, Stanford had big runs in each of the middle quarters to take a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter.
“Stanford was too tough for us to stop on the glass today,” GU coach Lisa Fortier said as her team ended the year at 27-6.
“Unfortunately, that was a big key for us, and I thought, at times, we did enough offensively and executed well enough, but they had too many second-chance points and too many rebounds.”
The final tally was 42 to 27 on the boards, with 17 offensive rebounds for the Cardinal. Not coincidentally, GU was outscored 38-20 in the paint.
The most telling halftime stat: no GU player had more than two rebounds.
It didn’t help that starting forward Zykera Rice picked up her second foul just three minutes into the game and played just seven minutes in the first half.
“I tried to keep my head in the game,” Rice said.
The Zags needed the rest of her. With Rice sidelined, leading scorer Jill Barta found the going tougher at both ends of the court.
Barta worked hard for every one of her game-high 21 points, as double-teams greeted her at the top of the key. That led to open looks for the GU guards, but they hit just five of 17 outside shots.
Stanford’s aggressive perimeter defense had something to do with that.
“One of the things in the film, when you watch Stanford play, they get a high hand every time,” Fortier said. “And so I think, I don’t know that we were tentative, I don’t think we had open threes, really.”
Stanford (23-10) had far too many at the other end. Coming into the game with a 31 percent average from beyond the arc, the Cardinal made six of 11 in the first half and 11 of 22 for the game.
In particular, guard Kiara Williams hurt the Zags by going 5-for-8 from long range to tie Barta for game-high scoring honors with 21.
Gonzaga got a big spark in the second quarter from backup point guard Jessie Loera, who scored 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting to keep GU in the game.
Trailing 47-36 at halftime, the Zags clawed back to within eight after two free throws from Barta.
Stanford answered emphatically with a decisive push late in the third that included three 3-pointers and an offensive foul on Barta after she drove into several Stanford defenders at the free-throw line.
“In that just stretch of time, I think it was just about trusting your teammates; trusting that your teammate is going to hit an open shot,” said Stanford forward Alanna Smith.”
Laura Stockton had 14 points for GU, along with four assists. Barta’s four rebounds were a team-high.
Guard Brittany McPhee, a third-team All-American, had just 11 points, but showed her versatility with a game-high 11 boards. She also drove the lane relentlessly, forcing GU to collapse and leave shooters open.
