Gonzaga tournament run ends in 68-74 loss to Arkansas

The Razorbacks were effective on defense at causing dysfunction for the Zags and pulled away with strong second half shooting

The Zags shot 5-for-21 from deep against the Razorbacks on Thursday (Photo courtesy of Ezra Shaw, Getty Images)

The Zags train has been derailed by the Mus bus. In a Sweet 16 upset, the No. 1 overall Gonzaga Bulldogs fell 68-74 Thursday to four seed Arkansas as the Razorbacks will move on to the Elite Eight Saturday.

In the Zags two tournament wins leading up to Thursday, the problems plaguing GU were in limiting second chance points and converting chances at the free throw line. On paper, it looked like the Zags amended those problems against Arkansas, shooting 75% on free throws and hauling in one more offensive board than the Razorbacks, only allowing nine second chance points.

But it was the timing of getting second chances in particular that Arkansas really took advantage of.

Go back to 5:30 remaining in the game, with the Zags down 54-59 after going on a short 4-0 surge with time enough left to potentially take the lead, something GU hadn’t had since two minutes into the second half. Arkansas had the ball at this point and found Au’diese Toney on the baseline who took it to the rack and tried to go up and under on a towering Chet Holmgren.

The shot fell short and it looked like GU was about to turn back up the court for another scoring opportunity with two players in the paint, but the ball was fumbled by the Zags on the floor and Arkansas’ JD Notae came up with it. He found some breathing room by dribbling the ball out of the key and quickly passed to an open Jaylin Williams posted up on the shoulder, who proceeded to knock down the catch-and-shoot three.

At that point, the game was elevated to an eight-point Arkansas lead and the play that got it done was orchestrated by the two players who caused the Zags the most grief all night. Notae and Williams have been the Razorbacks dynamic duo all season and they were problems for GU on both ends of the court the entire night.

They had the most points of all Razorbacks players, but that seemed almost ancillary to the offensive turbulence the guard-forward combo caused GU to endure all night. While Notae was jumping passing lanes and picking pockets, Williams’ skill as a charge drawer definitely made the Zags more timid driving to the paint whenever there was an apparent opening, attempting only 22 layups and not a single dunk as a team.

Notae had three steals and while Williams got in foul trouble with four against him, he also drew two masterful charges against the Zags, forcing a couple of their 15 turnovers just by stopping his feet at the right time. Overall, GU struggled to get comfortable running its offense, going on multiple dry spells throughout the game where the team couldn’t hit a shot for anywhere from three to five minutes.

Chet Holmgren was on a dry spell the entire first half, scoring none but picking up two fouls as Arkansas clearly had a game plan for going right at him anytime he was in the paint on defense. He ended with two blocks nonetheless, breaking Brandon Clarke's single season GU record.  

He ended up with 14 rebounds and 11 points in the second half on 5-for-7 shooting. With four fouls half way through the second period however, Mark Few put Holmgren back in the game with 6:45 left and then had to take the All-WCC freshman of the year out for good after he picked up his fifth foul with 3:30 left to play.

The Zags did have one constant during the game, Drew Timme. He continued as the Zags leading scorer after holding that position in the first two tournament games, dropping a game-high 25 points by going after guys like Williams and Trey Wade in the post. The junior from Texas finished this March Madness averaging 27.3 points and 11.3 rebounds a game shooting above 55% from the field.

All-WCC first team guard Andrew Nembhard was also on a tear throughout March. After landing a mid-range floater 50 seconds into Thursday’s game however, he didn’t make another field goal until hitting a running 3-pointer off one foot to make it a one possession game with 16 seconds left. 

With the score 65-68 at that point, Eric Musselman had free throw ringer Chris Lykes in, who sprinted up half court to get the ensuing inbound for Arkansas, was promptly fouled and then knocked down both attempts to put the game on ice. Nembhard tried from there to drive down the court quickly for a fast two, but was denied at the rim by Toney to seal Arkansas’ upset victory.

Nembhard also had five turnovers to three assists, only the third time that ratio has favored turnovers for him all season. His fellow guards in Julian Strawther and Rasir Bolton had 12 and eight points respectively, but were a combined 2-for-8 from deep on Thursday with the Zags collectively shooting 23.8% from three.

There’s no telling exactly who will stay and who will go from this GU team, those questions will be answered in the coming days. Regardless, the Zags have players who will be back next year to immediately generate another championship run, and other players ready to move forward in their career and make a name for themselves and GU at the professional level — and that’s the best spot any college program can hope to be in.