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March Madness: Gonzaga Falls Short Again as the Favorite - The New York Times

Gonzaga, the No. 1 overall seed in the men’s tournament, will not return to the championship game after a loss to No. 4-seeded Arkansas. Arizona also lost, leaving Kansas as the only remaining No. 1 seed.

SAN FRANCISCO — Top-ranked Gonzaga, which hoped to ride its high-flying offense to its first national championship, was stopped short of that goal with a 74-68 loss to No. 4-seeded Arkansas on Thursday night in a West regional semifinal.

With one star big man, Chet Holmgren, beset by foul trouble and the other, Drew Timme, hounded by Arkansas defenders, the Zags looked nothing like the offensive juggernaut that hummed with great efficiency through the regular season.

As their struggles intensified, the Zags pressed — fumbling passes, hurrying shots and wearing the frustration on their faces. When Timme missed a layup after being fouled, he slapped his hands together in anger, knowing how precious each point would be.

Andrew Nembhard knocked in a 3-pointer with 16.5 seconds left to bring Gonzaga within 68-65, the closest the Zags had been since early in the second half. But Arkansas made its free throws and Gonzaga never got the ball back with a chance to get even.

By the end of the night, Arizona, the No. 1 seed in the South region, had also fallen, losing to a No. 5 seed, Houston, 72-60. That left Kansas, which plays fourth-seeded Providence on Friday in a Midwest regional semifinal, as the only remaining No. 1 seed.

Arkansas will face No. 2-seeded Duke, which beat Texas Tech on the same floor Thursday night, in the West regional final on Saturday.

J.D. Notae led Arkansas with 21 points on 9 of 29 shooting and Jaylin Williams, who helped get Holmgren in foul trouble, added 15 points and 12 rebounds, doing most of his work against Gonzaga’s two big men. When Au’diese Toney threw down a dunk just before the buzzer sounded, the Razorbacks poured off the bench and onto the court to celebrate.

“Obviously, we wanted to take this thing to New Orleans and bring home a championship,” Gonzaga Coach Mark Few said, “but only one team is going to be able to do that and they’ll be really, really good and they’ll probably have some good fortune smile on them in order for that to happen. We didn’t have much of that tonight.”

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Arkansas, which squeaked past unheralded lower seeds Vermont and New Mexico State last weekend in Buffalo, advanced into a regional final for the second consecutive season.

That has been far more familiar territory for Gonzaga, which had reached the round of 16 for the seventh consecutive tournament — and was trying to return to the Final Four for the third time in the last five tries. The Zags were also trying to salve the sting of last season, when they carried an unblemished record into the championship game before being thumped by Baylor.

This was a retooled team — losing one one-and-done Minnesotan, the dynamic guard Jalen Suggs, and replacing him with another, the impossibly long and languid Holmgren, who is 7 feet tall and as slender as a maypole.

Holmgren, who played just nine minutes in a scoreless first half, picked up his fourth foul with 8 minutes 36 seconds remaining as Toney scored and made a foul shot to push the Arkansas lead to 51-46.

He returned about two minutes later, but did not last long before being whistled for his fifth foul with 3 minutes 29 seconds left on Notae’s drive to the basket. Holmgren raised his hands straight over his head, pleading with the officials to reverse the call.

“Getting Chet in foul trouble was one of the big things for us,” Williams said.

The Zags were also not helped by an official’s call late when Nembhard was ruled to have been fouled before he made a layup with 1:27 left. Nembhard made both free throws, but it narrowed the Arkansas lead to only 66-62, leaving Gonzaga two possessions behind.

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Timme led Gonzaga with 25 points and 7 rebounds, and Holmgren added 11 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks, but they received insufficient help from their teammates.

“We needed Chet to be able to stay in there a little longer,” Few said of Holmgren, who was not among the three Gonzaga players brought to the postgame news conference.

The rims at the Chase Center were hardly as kind to Arkansas and Gonzaga as they are to the regular denizens of the arena — Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and the rest of the Golden State Warriors. For much of the night, 3-pointers clanked off the rims and runners rimmed off them. Neither teams shot free throws with anything resembling proficiency.

When Gonzaga found itself behind at halftime, 32-29, it was not an unfamiliar position in this tournament. The Zags led 16th-seeded Georgia State by only 4 points midway through the second half before winning in a rout. And they trailed Memphis by 12 points early in the second half before rallying for a narrow victory.

The Zags have uncharacteristically had trouble scoring in stretches.

The nation’s most efficient offense went nearly four minutes without scoring in the first half, which allowed Arkansas to recover from a 27-19 deficit, a stretch from which Gonzaga never recovered its form. A culprit has been spotty 3-point shooting. Chet Holmgren, a 43.8 percent 3-point shooter in the regular season, made just 2 of 16 3-pointers in Gonzaga’s five postseason games. Julian Strawther, who entered the tournament shooting 39.6 percent on 3-pointers, made his only 3-pointer of the tournament on Thursday and finished it 1 for 14.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how great of a shooter you are, you are going to miss shots,” Holmgren said on Wednesday. “You can’t lose confidence. I get in the gym every day and work on my shots, so next time I shoot that shot I know it’s going in.”

Holmgren, who is expected to be among the top picks in the N.B.A. draft, had a more immediate problem against Arkansas — staying on the court.

If his shooting touch did not immediately return — he was scoreless in the first half — Holmgren influenced the game with his length, gobbling up rebounds and bothering shots at the rim and the 3-point line. But when he picked up his second foul, with 8:00 left in the first half, he sat until halftime. Gonzaga’s lead, which was 22-17 when he picked up the foul, trying to collect an offensive rebound, soon evaporated.

By the end of the night, so had the Zags’ title hopes.

NCAA Men’s Basketball: West

  • 1 Gonzaga
    93
    16 Georgia State
    72
  • 8 Boise State
    53
    9 Memphis
    64
  • 5 Connecticut
    63
    12 New Mexico St.
    70
  • 4 Arkansas
    75
    13 Vermont
    71
  • 6 Alabama
    64
    11 Notre Dame
    78
  • 3 Texas Tech
    97
    14 Montana State
    62
  • 7 Michigan State
    74
    10 Davidson
    73
  • 2 Duke
    78
    15 Cal State Fullerton
    61
  • 1 Gonzaga
    82
    9 Memphis
    78
  • 12 New Mexico St.
    48
    4 Arkansas
    53
  • 11 Notre Dame
    53
    3 Texas Tech
    59
  • 7 Michigan State
    76
    2 Duke
    85
  • 1 Gonzaga
    68
    4 Arkansas
    74
  • 3 Texas Tech
    73
    2 Duke
    78
  • 4 Arkansas
    2 Duke

    Swipe for Other Regions →

    NCAA Men’s Basketball: East

    • 1 Baylor
      85
      16 Norfolk State
      49
    • 8 North Carolina
      95
      9 Marquette
      63
    • 5 St. Mary’s
      82
      12 Indiana
      53
    • 4 U.C.L.A.
      57
      13 Akron
      53
    • 6 Texas
      81
      11 Virginia Tech
      73
    • 3 Purdue
      78
      14 Yale
      56
    • 7 Murray State
      92
      10 San Francisco
      87
    • 2 Kentucky
      79
      15 St. Peter’s
      85
    • 1 Baylor
      86
      8 North Carolina
      93
    • 5 St. Mary’s
      56
      4 U.C.L.A.
      72
    • 6 Texas
      71
      3 Purdue
      81
    • 7 Murray State
      60
      15 St. Peter’s
      70
    • 8 North Carolina
      4 U.C.L.A.
    • 3 Purdue
      15 St. Peter’s
    •  
       

      Swipe for Other Regions →

      NCAA Men’s Basketball: South

      • 1 Arizona
        87
        16 Wright State
        70
      • 8 Seton Hall
        42
        9 Texas Christian
        69
      • 5 Houston
        82
        12 U.A.B.
        68
      • 4 Illinois
        54
        13 Chattanooga
        53
      • 6 Colorado State
        63
        11 Michigan
        75
      • 3 Tennessee
        88
        14 Longwood
        56
      • 7 Ohio State
        54
        10 Loyola Chicago
        41
      • 2 Villanova
        80
        15 Delaware
        60
      • 1 Arizona
        85
        9 Texas Christian
        80
      • 5 Houston
        68
        4 Illinois
        53
      • 11 Michigan
        76
        3 Tennessee
        68
      • 7 Ohio State
        61
        2 Villanova
        71
      • 1 Arizona
        60
        5 Houston
        72
      • 11 Michigan
        55
        2 Villanova
        63
      • 5 Houston
        2 Villanova

        Swipe for Other Regions →

        NCAA Men’s Basketball: Midwest

        • 1 Kansas
          83
          16 Texas Southern
          56
        • 8 San Diego State
          69
          9 Creighton
          72
        • 5 Iowa
          63
          12 Richmond
          67
        • 4 Providence
          66
          13 South Dakota St.
          57
        • 6 Louisiana State
          54
          11 Iowa State
          59
        • 3 Wisconsin
          67
          14 Colgate
          60
        • 7 U.S.C.
          66
          10 Miami (Fla.)
          68
        • 2 Auburn
          80
          15 Jacksonville State
          61
        • 1 Kansas
          79
          9 Creighton
          72
        • 12 Richmond
          51
          4 Providence
          79
        • 11 Iowa State
          54
          3 Wisconsin
          49
        • 10 Miami (Fla.)
          79
          2 Auburn
          61
        • 1 Kansas
          4 Providence
        • 11 Iowa State
          10 Miami (Fla.)
        •  
           

          Swipe for Other Regions →

          NCAA Men’s Basketball: Final Four

          •   Semifinal
             
             
          •   Semifinal
             
             
          •   Final
             
             

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