The NCAA Tournament is marching on to the Sweet 16 without the Gonzaga Bulldogs for the first time since 2014.
And the Zags still haven’t beaten a No. 1 seed despite their long and deep March Madness resume.
A season that was more difficult than most came to a heartbreaking end Saturday night in Wichita, Kansas, when the No. 8 seed Zags saw their valiant comeback come up short in an 81-76 loss to No. 1 seed Houston in the second round of the Midwest Region.
Gonzaga (26-9) had a chance to tie it in the final seconds but Khalif Battle bobbled the ball as he was swarmed by a triple-team in the right corner, had his 3-point shot blocked by Ja’Vier Francis and then Ryan Nembhard committed a foul. Milos Uzan made two free throws and that was it for a Zags program used to deep runs in March.
His college career over, an emotional Battle pulled his jersey up over his face as he was consoled by teammates. Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, who began his long head coaching career at Washington State from 1987-1994, hugged Battle and offered consoling words when they met in the handshake line.
Graham Ike scored 23 of his 27 points in the second half and Battle finished with 17 for the Bulldogs, who got off to a rough start and never really challenged the physical Cougars until the final minute. Braden Huff scored 11 and star point guard Ryan Nembhard had 10 points and 11 assists.
Houston’s L.J. Cryer was hot early and down the stretch, tying his career high with 30 points while making 6 of 11 3-pointers and all eight free throws. J’Wan Roberts scored 18, Emanuel Sharp 12 and Joseph Tugler had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Houston (32-4), which won its 15th straight game.
Here are three takeaways from the Zags’ season-ending win in the NCAAs.
This was one of the most-intriguing matchups of the Round of 32. It was the first meeting between teams with five or more consecutive Sweet 16 appearances.
The Cougars are moving on to their sixth straight Sweet 16 and will face No. 4 seed Purdue on Friday night in Indianapolis.
Gonzaga fell short of reaching its 10th straight Sweet 16. As it was, the Zags had the longest active streak by reaching the Sweet 16 nine straight times.
The Bulldogs were in the NCAA Tournament for the 26th straight time. They were on the bubble late in the season but finished the regular season with two impressive wins and then beat Saint Mary’s to claim the West Coast Conference Tournament title and the automatic bid.
The Zags trailed 60-46 with 11:30 to play and were down 76-65 with 4:28 to go. The Cougars went cold for 3 ½ minutes and all of a sudden the Zags came on strong, getting seven straight points from Ike to pull to 77-74 with 38.7 seconds left.
The Zags mobbed Uzan at midcourt and Battle stole the ball. He was fouled and made both free throws to pull Gonzaga to 77-76. Cryer was fouled by Ben Gregg and made both free throws to push the Houston lead back to three points.
The Zags — out of timeouts — came down the floor to the unfortunate ending.
Gonzaga got off to an ominous start and kept absorbing body blows from the Cougars, both in the paint and from behind the 3-point line.
Cryer made two early 3-pointers and two jumpers to give Houston a 17-8 lead. At one point, he had made three 3-pointers while the Zags were 0 for 7. Late in the game, when the Zags got the deficit into single digits, Cryer hit two more 3’s and then four straight free throws.
The Cougars led 35-27 at halftime and Roberts then made four straight baskets for the Cougars in the first three minutes of the second half to push it to 43-31.
