Gonzaga returns to NCAA Sweet 16 for first time since 2009

SEATTLE — Gonzaga is back in the Sweet 16, and it seems fitting.

You can't play much sweeter than No. 2 seed Gonzaga did in its 87-68 clinical dissection of No. 7 seed Iowa in a South Region Round-of-32 matchup Sunday.

It was one of the best games of the year for a 34-2 team that veteran Gonzaga coach Mark Few says is "without a doubt the best offensive team I've ever been associated with."

Twenty-five minutes into the game, Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer, the Bulldogs' leading scorer, hadn't missed a shot.

That told you a fair bit about the way the Zags handled the Hawkeyes.

So did the scoreboard. It was 52-37 Gonzaga.

At that point, Wiltjer picked up his third foul and went to the bench, with a lot of basketball still to play.

When he came back in a few minutes later, it was still a double-digit lead.

Wiltjer eventually missed a shot — a three-point try with 9:00 left — but Gonzaga didn't misfire much, and the Bulldogs advanced to a regional semifinal against No. 11 seed UCLA in Houston. It's their first Sweet 16 trip since 2009. Gonzaga won 87-74 at UCLA in December.

Gonzaga, one of the original bracket-busters, the team that came from nowhere to the Elite Eight in 1999, eventually rose from mid-major to perennial power. But the Zags have been disappointing in the tournament in recent years, having failed to get past the first week of the tournament the last five seasons.

BRACKET HUB: Gonzaga 87, Iowa 68

They were the farthest thing from disappointing Sunday. Wiltjer, who made his first six shots, finished with 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting.

"When we get on a roll like tonight and my teammates are doing such a good job of finding me, my confidence in my shot just grows and grows," Wiltjer, a transfer from Kentucky, said.

Gonzaga's sterling senior backcourt of point guard Kevin Pangos and defensive ace Gary Bell Jr., who set a school record for most wins in a career but hadn't previously advanced to the Sweet 16, were rock solid again, combining for 26 points and seven assists.

And Gonzaga 6-10 freshman forward Domantas Sabonis, the son of basketball Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis, was a major contributor off the bench, with 18 points and nine rebounds.

"Domas was huge," Few said. "We hit 'em with some threes, and then we were able to get it inside to Domas and he really went to work."

Typically, Gonzaga outshot its opponent by 15%, making 62% and holding Iowa to 47%.

For the season, the Bulldogs came in shooting 52.4% and holding opponents to 38.9%. They are the only team in the 68-team tournament field to rank in the top 20 in field goal percentage offense and field goal percentage defense.

It's the kind of stat that results in 34 victories in 36 games.

"What we're doing," Few said, "is working."

Iowa forward Aaron White, who threw in 26 points in a 31-point rout of Davidson on Friday and has averaged 21.8 points since mid-February, was not able to take over Sunday. He was quiet in the first half, made some shots late in the game and finished with 19 points.

Few talked on the off day about how he thought Iowa had been the most impressive team in Seattle in Friday's games and could be a tough team to play considering all its height.

Then, his Bulldogs went out Sunday and shredded the Hawkeyes in taking a 46-29 halftime lead.

The game was played at a furious pace, pushed whenever possible by Gonzaga, and it featured a number of high-altitude confrontations in the paint.

Early in the half Iowa's springy 6-9 forward Jarrod Uthoff threw down a posterizer dunk over Gonzaga's 7-1 center Przemek Karnowski.

Not long after that one, Sabonis returned the favor, posterizing 6-10 center Gabriel Olaseni.

"That was a little revenge," Sabonis said. "I didn't like it when the guy dunked on Przemek."

Sabonis scored twice more inside, and when Karnowski got a left-handed hook to roll in and then Wiltjer hit a three-pointer, the Bulldogs were up 34-19 and the pro-Gonzaga crowd in Seattle's KeyArena was going nuts.

At the half, Wiltjer had 13 points — five of five from the field, three of them three-pointers — in nine minutes.