The Gonzaga men’s basketball season has come to an end.
The Bulldogs lost to Arkansas Thursday night in the third round, the Sweet Sixteen round, of the NCAA tournament, 74-68.
The Zags led through much of the first half, but their shooting tailed off in the last few minutes and Arkansas took a three-point lead by halftime. The Razorbacks held the lead throughout the rest of the game and celebrated at the end as they upset the top-seeded Bulldogs.
“It’s always just so tough when it finally ends, especially short of the goal we all had. The groups we’ve had, first time we’ve lost this round in quite a while. But again, all the credit goes to Arkansas. Their defense was tough to get any rhythm against," Gonzaga Coach Mark Few said.
Few credited Arkansas’ tough defense and said his team did what it could.
“Like I told these guys after, the only reason we’re in this position now to be in this game at this point in the season and be ranked number one is because we got the ball to the right spots and the right guys and they took the right shots and that’s the same thing we did tonight. They just, unfortunately, didn’t drop," he said.
Gonzaga finishes 28-4 with West Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships. Two players won All-American honors, Chet Holmgren and Drew Timme.
“It was a hell of a ride," Timme said during a postgame press conference. "It didn’t end up the way we wanted, but we came to play hard and, you know what, it just was their night and you’ve got to give them credit for winning the game. They won the game fair and square and they made great plays, but I told them thanks for being my teammates, thanks for being here.”
Now, the Zags will see which players decide to return for next season. Many players, including Timme, still have eligibility.
One other Gonzaga-related NCAA basketball note: Arizona, led by long-time Gonzaga assistant coach Tommy Lloyd, was also eliminated from the tournament by Houston. The Cougars, led by former Washington State coach Kelvin Sampson, defeated the Wildcats, 72-60, leaving UCLA as the only West Coast team still in the tournament.
