NCAA Tournament: 3 keys for Gonzaga Bulldogs to beat UCLA in Sweet 16

The Zags and Bruins are meeting for the third straight season

The stage is set for what is already being billed as the top Sweet 16 matchup in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Second-seeded UCLA and third-seeded Gonzaga will face off at 6:45 p.m. PST on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Here are three keys for Gonzaga to eliminate UCLA and advance to the Elite Eight:

WATSON IS THE X-FACTOR

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In some respects, what head coach Mark Few asks of Anton Watson almost seems unfair. Being a force on both ends of the floor is a tall task, but it’s exactly what the Zags need from Watson to take down the Bruins.

It’s likely that Watson will match up with UCLA’s leading scorer Jaime Jaquez Jr., a 6-foot-7 wing who averages 17.5 points per game on 48.1% shooting from the field.

Watson isn’t unfamiliar with defending a player like Jaquez, comparing the experience to guarding his frontcourt mate Drew Timme.

“He’s kind of got some of Drew’s moves in the post,” Watson said. “He uses a lot of fakes. He’s probably going to try to put foul pressure on me. I just have to stay disciplined and stay down and make him take tough shots.”

Watson’s work against Jaquez will continue when the Zags are on offense.

“If he’s guarding me, I’m going to try to make it as hard as possible for him at the offensive end, just attacking him and crashing off boards and trying to put foul pressure on him,” Watson said.

Watson has scored at least 10 points and shot 50% or better in 20 games this season. His top-scoring performance of the year was a 20-point showing against San Francisco in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament.

DON’T LET BAILEY FIND A RHYTHM

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If defending Jaquez isn’t challenging enough for Gonzaga, there’s another star who’s emerged for the Bruins in recent weeks.

Freshman guard Amari Bailey is averaging 15.5 points, 6.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds in the tournament so far, while leading UCLA to wins over UNC Asheville and Northwestern in Sacramento, California.

“Amari’s a tremendous, tremendous talent,” Cronin said after UCLA defeated Northwestern last Saturday. “The more he plays, the more comfortable he gets, the better he gets. And he’s just as good on the defensive end as he is on the offensive.”

Bailey’s shot-making ability is a concern for Gonzaga’s defense, which has allowed opponents to shoot 35.1% from 3-point range (254th in the nation).

If the Zags can contain Bailey, UCLA will be forced to rely on Jaquez and Tyger Campbell for scoring, making the team’s offense much more predictable.

SPACE THE FLOOR WITH 3-POINT SHOOTING

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The Zags struggled to shoot from deep in their second-round game on Sunday, but were bailed out by a 28-point outing from Timme, who scored all but one of his buckets inside the 3-point arc.

Gonzaga can’t expect to rely on Timme this time around, as UCLA’s size and length make it better equipped to contain the All-American forward than TCU was. The Bruins are second in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency (87.8) and allow the sixth-least points per game (60.2).

To alleviate some of the pressure on Timme to score, the Zags need their guards to hit shots, especially 6-foot-7 wing Julian Strawther. Over the past 10 games, Strawther is averaging 18.4 points and shooting 44.6% from 3-point range.

Strawther and Gonzaga’s other two starting guards Nolan Hickman and Rasir Bolton combined to shoot 4-for-17 from deep in the team’s second-round win. This allowed TCU to stay within striking distance despite making just one more 3-pointer than the Zags.

If Gonzaga’s shooters can catch fire during Thursday’s game, it will test the limits of UCLA’s defense, which is without Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Jaylen Clark (Achilles injury) for the remainder of the season.