Gonzaga continues 'incredible' Sweet 16 run with NCAA Tournament win over Kansas

'We put together a great plan,' said Gonzaga big man Graham Ike.

Gonzaga v Kansas / Chris Gardner/GettyImages

SALT LAKE CITY - Bill Self thought it was “ridiculous” that there was talk of the Gonzaga Bulldogs not making the 2024 NCAA Tournament at one point this season.

Less than 24 hours after that comment, the Zags (26-7, 14-2 WCC) proved Kansas’ head coach right at his own expense.

Paced by Anton Watson’s 21 points, fifth-seeded Gonzaga demolished the fourth-seeded Jayhawks 89-68 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the ninth-straight postseason, the longest active streak in the country and second only to North Carolina’s 13 straight appearances from 1981-93.

"It's incredible. ... What these guys have been able to do, especially in lieu of where we were earlier in the year," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few. "All the ones that came before them that set this thing up, it's a testament to all the great players that came through this program."

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s win:

TALE OF TWO HALVES

Gonzaga v Kansas / Chris Gardner/GettyImages

Much like the second half of their season as a whole, the Bulldogs flipped the switch coming out of the locker room after a neck-and-neck battle in the first 20 minutes.

Kansas led by as many as six points in the first and weathered any push from its opposition with timely timeouts from Self. After trailing 6-0, it responded with a 13-4 scoring run. When the Bulldogs rattled off a 9-1 run of their own to lead 33-27 late in the half, Hunter Dickinson spearheaded an 8-2 scoring burst to knot things up at 35 apiece. Eventually the runs from each side evened out to a 44-43 halftime score in favor of Kansas.

Gonzaga struggled to control the boards and defend the 3-point line, as the Jayhawks won the rebounding battle 20-15 and went 7-for-11 from downtown in the first half. Graham Ike only played six minutes due to foul trouble, opening up more minutes for Braden Huff who led the team at the break with 11 points.

“B-Huff came in and made a great impact on the game. Both ends of the floor,” Ike said. “He was playing his tail off. Super proud of him and the growth he’s made the whole season.”

Kansas went ahead by four soon after halftime, but it was all Gonzaga from there. An eye-opening 32-4 scoring run from the 18:09 to 6:26 mark made what was once a back-and-forth affair into a blowout in the blink of the eye. The Jayhawks struggled to get anything going, as they missed 21 of their 23 field goal attempts in that stretch. The hot first half didn’t carry over whatsoever for the gassed Jayhawks.

“I knew that we were tired, and I was just hoping we had enough energy to get to the finish line,” Self said. “I’m not going to blame it on energy, but I think we played very fatigued the second half.”

The Zags meanwhile couldn’t miss. They made its first five 3-pointers of the half and shot 60% from the field and 53% from downtown.

“We had to bear down here and start getting some stops,” Few said. “Our offense was clicking really, really well. To their credit, not only did they get the stops we needed, but we also shored up the glass, which was a problem in the first half.”

ZAGS TOPPLE DICKINSON

Gonzaga v Kansas / Chris Gardner/GettyImages

For as often as the Zags and Jayhawks like to score inside, the focus all night was going to be the war between Ike and Dickinson in the paint.

Kansas’ All-American had been warned by his coaches that Gonzaga’s 6-foot-9 post would be one of the toughest players he had to go against all year. For much of the first half though the advantage went to Dickinson, who racked up 13 points, nine of which came when Ike was one the bench for the final eight minutes of the half, including a pair of 3-pointers late to put the Jayhawks out in front.

Ike’s confidence in the gameplan never wavered. He got right to work in the second half with a couple of scores in the paint to jumpstart Gonzaga’s run, as well as a pair of stops on the other end against Dickinson. After one of his scores, Few bellowed to Ike to be even stronger in the paint against Dickinson. Two possessions later, Ike sealed off the 7-foot-2 post to open a lane to the rim for Nembhard.

“We put together a great plan. I thought we executed it well,” Ike said. “Staying mostly on his body, trying to stay physical the whole game and definitely getting him off the glass.”

Sure enough the plan came through in the second half, as Dickinson went 1-for-7 shooting from the field with just two points. Both big men finished with 15 points.

“I think we had a good gameplan," said Huff. "Just put [Dickinson] in a lot of actions, Ryan and Nolan are super unselfish guys so, they found a lot of open looks for me.”

NEMBHARD PACES ELITE OFFENSE

Gonzaga v Kansas / Christian Petersen/GettyImages

Gonzaga’s junior guard made a lot of his teammates look good en route to making a little bit of history.

With 12 dimes on Saturday, Nembhard passed Josh Perkins for the most assists in a single season in program history with 235 in the 2023-24 campaign.

“It’s an honor to have that record,” Nembhard said. “The coaches prepared us really well. Gentry sent me a lot of clips last night of the low two-man, and we knew it would be here late. You have guys that are such good players like these guys up here, it’s easy. All you got to do is get them the ball, and they’ll put it in the hoop.”

Nembhard found ways to impact the game as a playmaker despite the 1-for-6 shooting night. He picked apart the Jayhawks defense in the pick-and-roll with Ike. He had the wherewithal to find Huff on the wing for an open 3-pointer after snatching a loose offensive rebound. Of course, the most exciting dime of all being an alley-oop pass to Watson for a reverse dunk early in the first half.

It was the sixth time Nembhard finished a game with double-digit assists and the fourth game this month. He’s tallied 21 total assists through the first two NCAA Tournament games and is averaging 10.8 assists over his last five games. The Bulldogs are thriving at his current rate — they rank No. 2 in offensive efficiency and fourth in 3-point field goal percentage in the nation over the last five games (since March 2) per Bart Torvik.

“Ryan’s been at the highest level for the last eight weeks, feels like,” Few said. “Just got our throttle all the way down and making great decisions. Just managing these games masterfully.”