DENVER (USA Today) – Gonzaga might have been the lower seed and the school from the smaller conference, but there was little doubt Thursday night in the Zags 68-52 win over Seton Hall which team was the NCAA tournament veteran.
No. 11 seed Gonzaga, making its 17th consecutive tournament appearance, was an underdog in seed only, after a subpar season in the West Coast Conference. But the Zags won their conference tournament and finally in March seem to be peaking, having finally adjusted to the loss of center Przemek Karnowski, who suffered a season-ending back injury in late December.
But that loss allowed for the emergence of sophomore center Domantas Sabonis, the 6-foot-11 son of former NBA star Arvydas Sabonis. Sabonis was dominant Thursday against the Pirates, displaying fancy footwork and a range of post moves as he scored 21 points and grabbed 16 rebounds.
"I like this kind of matchup," Sabonis said. "Their bigs were physical with me, and I tried to use it to my advantage."
Gonzaga’s win sets up a showdown on Saturday with No. 3 seed Utah, who have a star European center in Jakob Poeltl.
For Seton Hall, the loss is a disappointing end to an impressive March, capped by a Big East tournament title last week after the Pirates beat Xavier and Villanova on consecutive days.
Seton Hall is youngest team playing in the Denver regional with a starting lineup of five sophomores and just one senior on the roster, and it played like it.
The Pirates shot just 32.8 % -- including just 27.3 % in the first half – and at times appeared to lose their composure against the Zags. It was a particularly rough night for guard Isaiah Whitehead. The Big East tournament hero finished with just 10 points on 4-for-24 shooting, and had an ugly technical foul in the first half after he swatted at a Gonzaga player after fighting for a loose ball.
“You play this game long enough, you have bad nights,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said about Whitehead. “He had some good looks, he got to the rim, he just couldn’t find it.”
