Redemption: Tar Heels take title over Gonzaga in ugly game

By EDDIE PELLS
Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) It's OK, Carolina, you can open your eyes.

An unwatchable game turned into a beautiful night for the Tar Heels, who turned a free-throw contest into a championship they've been waiting an entire year to celebrate.

Justin Jackson delivered the go-ahead 3-point play with 1:40 left Monday and North Carolina pulled away for a 71-65 win over Gonzaga that washed away a year's worth of heartache.

It was, in North Carolina's words, a redemption tour - filled with extra time on the practice court and the weight room, all fueled by a devastating loss in last year's title game on Kris Jenkins' 3-point dagger at the buzzer for Villanova.

"Just unreal that we get a second chance at this," junior Theo Pinson said, recounting a pre-game conversation with teammate Joel Berry II. "Not a lot of people can say they can do that. I told him, `We're about to take this thing. I'm about to give everything I got.' I knew he would, too, We just didn't want to come up short again."

But to say everything went right for Roy Williams' team at this Final Four would be less than the truth.

The Tar Heels (33-7) followed a terrible-shooting night in the semifinal with an equally ice-cold performance in the final - going 4 for 27 from 3-point land and 26 for 73 overall.

Gonzaga, helped by 8 straight points from Nigel Williams-Goss, took a 2-point lead with 1:52 left, but the next possession was the game-changer.

Jackson took a zinger of a pass under the basket from Pinson and converted the shot, then the ensuing free throw to take the lead for good. Moments later, Williams-Goss twisted an ankle and could not elevate for a jumper that would've given the Bulldogs the lead.

Isaiah Hicks made a basket to push the lead to 3, then Kennedy Meeks, in foul trouble all night (who wasn't?), blocked Williams-Goss' shot and Jackson got a slam on the other end to put some icing on title No. 6 for the Tar Heels.

Williams got his third championship, putting him one ahead of his mentor, Dean Smith, and now behind only John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski and Adolph Rupp.

"I think of Coach Smith, there's no question," Williams said. "I don't think I should be mentioned in the same sentence with him. But we got three because I've got these guys with me and that's all I care about right now - my guys."

Berry recovered from ankle injuries to lead the Tar Heels, but needed 19 shots for his 22 points. Jackson had 16 but went 0 for 9 from 3. Overall, the Tar Heels actually shot a percentage point worse than they did in Saturday night's win over Oregon.

Thank goodness for free throws.

They went 15 for 26 from the line and, in many corners, this game will be remembered for these three men: Michael Stephens, Verne Harris and Mike Eades, the referees who called 27 fouls in the second half, completely busted up the flow of the game and sent Meeks, Gonzaga's 7-footers Przemek Karnowski and Zach Collins, and a host of others to the bench in foul trouble.

The game "featured" 52 free throws. Both teams were in the bonus with 13 minutes left. Somehow, Collins was the only player to foul out.

Most bizarre sequence: With 8:02 left, Berry got called for a foul for (maybe) making contact with Karnowski and stripping the ball from the big man's hands. But as Karnowski was flailing after the ball, he inadvertently grabbed Berry around the neck. After a long delay, the refs called Karnowski for a flagrant foul of his own.

"I'm not going to talk about refs," Karnowski said. "It was just a physical game."

Zags coach Mark Few handled it with class, calling the refs "three of the best officials in the entire country," and insisting they did a fine job.

He might have wanted further review on the scrum with 50 seconds left. The refs were taking heat on social media for calling a held ball, which gave possession to the Tar Heels, on a pile-up underneath the Carolina basket. It set up the Hicks layup to put Carolina ahead by 3. One problem: Meeks' right hand looks to be very much touching out of bounds while he's trying to rip away the ball.

"That was probably on me," Few said. "From my angle, it didn't look like an out of bounds situation or I would have called a review. That's tough to hear."

The Bulldogs (37-2), the Cinderella-turned-Godzilla team from the small school in the West Coast Conference, tried to keep the big picture in mind. Twenty years ago, this sort of run at that sort of place looked virtually impossible. With less than 2 minutes left, they had the lead in the national title game.

"We broke the glass ceiling everyone said we couldn't break," junior forward Johnathan Williams said.

And North Carolina got over a hump that, at times this season, felt like a mountain.

"They wanted redemption," Williams said. "I put it on the locker room up on the board - one of the things we had to be tonight was tough enough. I think this group was tough enough tonight."

NCAA title game: Blue blood vs. new blood

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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- It's the blue blood vs. the new blood.

The contrast in the NCAA Tournament championship game is clear: North Carolina, winners of five titles and appearing in its record 20th Final Four, is in one corner. Gonzaga, in its first Final Four after spending almost two decades chugging up the mountaintop, is in the other.

"To be playing in the last game of the year is just crazy cool," said Bulldogs coach Mark Few.

But make no mistake. The programs might hang different kinds of banners in their arenas, but this is a heavyweight matchup all the way. These are two experienced, balanced, No. 1 seeds ready to throw down Monday at 9:20 p.m. ET from University of Phoenix Stadium.

North Carolina's Roy Williams will be coaching in his 100th NCAA Tournament game and going for his third national title. He has rings from 2005 and 2009, coming up just short of adding the 2016 title to his collection as the Tar Heels lost to Villanova on a last-second shot.

"You know, on game night, kids gotta play. That's the bottom line," Williams said. "I've never won a game from the bench. I may have lost some, but I know I've never won one. We've gotta go out and play and do the best we can."

North Carolina (32-7) won the ACC regular-season title by two games and knocked off a No. 4 seed (Butler), a No. 2 seed (Kentucky) and a No. 3 seed (Oregon on Saturday night) to advance to the title game. The Tar Heels' bona-fides are unquestioned.

Plenty have doubted Gonzaga. The Bulldogs (37-1) have had their doubters because they play in the weaker West Coast Conference, and their last two games in the tournament were against upstarts -- 11th-seeded Xavier and seventh-seeded South Carolina.

"No one's here by accident," said Gonzaga point guard Nigel Williams-Goss. "I think the respect thing has to go out the window. You have 37 wins in a college season, I mean that's just unbelievable. And to be playing the last game of the season, we have a chance to play for it all. And we're here to win it."

Williams-Goss is the engine of a Gonzaga attack that shoots 50.8 percent from the field, second-best in the country. His 16.9 scoring average leads five Bulldogs in double figures.

Senior center Przemek Karnowski is a load inside at 7-foot-1 and 300 pounds, while freshman 7-footer Zach Collins is a future first-round NBA draft choice. He had 14 points against the Gamecocks, setting career highs with 13 rebounds and six blocked shots.

They will be matched up, in part, against North Carolina's sturdy man in the middle, senior Kennedy Meeks. He is not often called upon to be a leading scorer, but when the Tar Heels went cold against Oregon, Meeks dominated with 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting. He added 14 rebounds, eight on the offensive glass.

North Carolina leads the country in rebounding margin and offensive rebounds.

"I think our main objective every game is to hit teams early in the mouth, whether that's attacking them on the offensive end or playing great defense," Meeks said.

Forward Justin Jackson averages a team-best 18.3 points. Point guard Joel Berry II, averaging 14.5 points per game, has been dealing with two balky ankles. He played 35 minutes Saturday night but was just 2 of 14 from the field.

Can he guard Williams-Goss?

Will the Tar Heels assert their usual dominance in the paint?

Will Jackson go off?

Can Gonzaga 3-point ace Jordan Mathews be a shooting star?

Will the last team standing be blue blood or new blood?

For North Carolina, it's more of the same. For Gonzaga, the peak has never been closer.

"I've had some really, really tough teams. I've had some really close teams. I've had some teams that have been crazy efficient on the offensive end and ones that have been pretty darned good on the defensive end that probably didn't get credit for it," Few said. "These guys are all of that. All of it."

Gonzaga makes first NCAA title game with win over S Carolina

By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Their star guard was outstanding. Their big men dominated inside. Still, it came down to some last-second strategy for Gonzaga to move on to the NCAA Tournament championship game for the first time.

Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 points, Gonzaga's big men combined for 27 and the Bulldogs kept South Carolina from taking a game-tying shot in a 77-73 victory Saturday night in a matchup of first-time teams at the Final Four.

"Just an awesome, awesome basketball game, with just how hard both teams competed," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "It took everything we had to hold them off and come back."

The Bulldogs' 7-footers, senior Przemek Karnowski and freshman Zach Collins, took care of things on both ends of the court, combining for 18 rebounds. Collins also had a career-high six blocks.

"That's my job is to go in and rim protect," said Collins, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds. "I had four fouls today. But I thought, you know, getting those blocked shots would help us."

Gonzaga (37-1), the top seed in the West Regional, will face North Carolina, the top seed in the South, for the title on Monday night.

"To be playing the last game of the year, that's crazy cool," Few said.

Williams-Goss missed a shot with 12.7 seconds left and South Carolina rebounded and called a timeout, trailing 75-72. South Carolina passed the ball around and Gonzaga fouled Sindarius Thornwell before he could shoot with 3.5 seconds left. Thornwell made the first free throw and missed the second on purpose in hopes of his teammates grabbing an offensive rebound. Killian Tillie rebounded for Gonzaga, was fouled and made two free throws to cement the game.

"We had been practicing it all year and we always want to foul under 6 (seconds)," Few said. "Josh Perkins did a job being really patient and not fouling on the shot. The second part is you've got to get the rebound, and that's what's been difficult for us at times. They executed great."

Thornwell said the idea was to get in position for one last quick shot.

"The plan was to miss it left and hopefully Chris (Silva) could tap it out to somebody," he said.

Williams-Goss, a second-team All-American, led the Bulldogs to a 14-point lead in the second half but it disappeared quickly as the Gamecocks (26-11) went on a 14-point run to grab a 67-65 lead with about 7 minutes to play.

"When things got tough we banded together and pulled through," said Williams-Goss, who had six assists and a brief injury scare after turning an ankle underneath the basket.

"There was no way I was going to come out of the game. This is the last two games of the season," Williams-Goss said. "Now we're 40 minutes from a championship."

Collins and Karnowksi then accounted for the next 7 points, including a 3-pointer by Collins and a thundering dunk by Karnowski.

South Carolina still wasn't done. The seventh-seeded Gamecocks scored 5 straight to get within 74-72 with just over 2 minutes left.

"Since the beginning of the season that's what we worked for, moments like this," Silva said. "And we try to do our best to respond the way we learn how to respond."

PJ Dozier led the Gamecocks with 17 points and Thornwell, the leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament at 25.8 points per game during the first four rounds, finished with 15 on 4-for-12 shooting after starting slow.

"They just crowd the paint," Thornwell said. "They forced me to pass it out on my drives. And just protecting the rim real well."

Karnowski went down on the court in the first half after being poked in the right eye as he took a shot underneath the basket. He left for the last 5 minutes of the half, but Collins picked him up, finishing with 8 points at halftime.

"I got blocked but he just put the finger in my eye," Karnowski said. "I had blurry vision, a little bit shadow. I couldn't really open it."

"Throughout the whole second half it was getting better and better," he said.

BIG PICTURE

South Carolina: The Gamecocks entered the tournament having last won a game in 1973. They had four wins to reach the Final Four, including victories over the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in the East region.

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs now have a chance to play for a title after already getting further than ever before in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga had made three Elite Eights without advancing to the Final Four.

BLOCK PARTY

The teams combined for 14 blocked shots, eight by Gonzaga. Collins had six and Silas Melson had two for the Bulldogs. Silva had three for the Gamecocks, while Thornwell had two and Dozier had one.

THREES ABOUND

Gonzaga, which had a school-record 12 3-pointers in the regional final win over Xavier, went 9 for 19 from beyond the arc Saturday. Jordan Mathews was 4 for 8 while Williams-Goss and Melson had two each and Collins had one.

NUMBERS

Silva had 13 rebounds for the Gamecocks. ... South Carolina shot 37.9 percent (25 of 66) for the game while the Bulldogs were 29 of 60 (48.3 percent). ... Gonzaga committed 12 turnovers and the Gamecocks had just five.

UP NEXT

Gonzaga meets North Carolina for the national championship on Monday night.

Role reversal: Gonzaga to face underdog South Carolina

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Gonzaga, often cast as the gutty underdog, finally finished the climb to its first Final Four, doing so as a No. 1 seed. The Bulldogs' reward: playing a gutty underdog.

South Carolina, which advanced to the Final Four as a seventh seed in the East, is hardly a Cinderella, coming from the Southeastern Conference. But the Gamecocks seemed more like bracket-filler than bracket-buster when they lost five of their last seven games before the NCAA Tournament.

The combination of high-scoring senior guard Sindarius Thornwell and some hellacious wear-you-down defense has been more than good enough in the past two weeks, however, as South Carolina knocked off the No. 2 (Duke), No. 3 (Baylor) and No. 4 (Florida) seeds in the East.

The Gamecocks, like Gonzaga, will be appearing in their first Final Four when the game tips off Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET in Glendale, Ariz.

"We're defending at a high clip again, which is allowing us to get out in the open court and get opportunities," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. "And our inside play has gotten good again. It kind of disappeared on us there the last month of the season. But our inside guys have played well in the NCAA Tournament."

The Gamecocks (26-10) will need that against a big Gonzaga frontline that features 7-foot, 300-pound Przemek Karnowski, blue-chip 7-foot freshman Zach Collins and 6-9 forward Johnathan Williams. The player who really makes the Zags go, though, is Washington transfer point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, who was selected to the 10-man Wooden Award All-America team.

Williams-Goss had 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists as Gonzaga blew out Xavier 83-59 in the West Regional final, showing the offensive and defensive efficiency that have been season-long hallmarks. Critics might have doubted the Bulldogs' level of competition in the West Coast Conference, but Gonzaga showed steel in surviving the defensive pressure of fourth-seeded West Virginia in the Sweet 16.

Williams-Goss, Williams (a transfer from Missouri) and Cal transfer guard Jordan Mathews have helped transform Gonzaga (36-1) into a more dangerous, more athletic team.

"It was no secret that we were coming in here to do something as a collective unit," Williams-Goss said. "If we wanted to do things individually, we would have just stayed where we were at."

The best player on the court might be Thornwell, the SEC Player of the Year. He is averaging 25.8 points in the NCAA Tournament, scoring at least 24 in each outing.

"His kind of whole package is very dangerous," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "Just kind of the intensity that he brings to the game. He can hurt you on the glass. He can hurt you shooting it. He can hurt you off the bounce. He gets to the free throw line a lot. Yeah, he's definitely going to be a handful."

South Carolina can't be counted on to hit from 3-point range (33.7 percent for the season), but the Gamecocks allow just 29.8 percent from behind the arc.

They have forced an average of 17 turnovers in four NCAA Tournament games, outscoring every team in the second half by an average of 13.5 points. They unleashed a 65-point second half against Duke.

That defense will put a lot of pressure on Williams-Goss, who averages a team-high 16.7 points as well as 4.6 assists. Karnowski averages 12.2 points in a balanced scoring effort.

Martin counters inside with 6-9 Chris Silva and 6-10 freshman post Maik Kotsar, who has been playing well, including hitting a late mid-range jumper that was key to holding off Florida.

"We play in the SEC," Martin said Tuesday. "I understand some of you guys never watch us play, but, my god, anyone see Alabama play? They were big. Anyone see LSU? They were big.

"If we were one of those smaller mid-major schools, this is where you start kind of worrying if can you handle size. ... Our team has been exposed to everything: size, athleticism, winning, losing, good, bad, suspensions. Those kids have not thrown in the towel or blinked one time all year."

Frank Mason of Kansas, Gonzaga's Mark Few win AP awards

By JIM O'CONNELL
Associated Press

GLENDALE, Arizona (AP) — Kansas guard Frank Mason III and Gonzaga coach Mark Few have won The Associated Press player and coach of the year awards, the news cooperative announced Thursday at the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona.

Mason led Kansas to its 13th consecutive Big 12 title. He received 37 votes Thursday from the same 65-member media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25.

Few has taken the Zags to the NCAA Tournament in all 18 of his seasons there. He was a runaway winner Thursday receiving 31 votes from the panel.

Mason, a senior point guard, averaged 20.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists while shooting 48.7 percent from 3-point range.

Josh Hart of Villanova was second in player of the year voting with 16 votes. Caleb Swanigan of Purdue had nine and Lonzo Ball of UCLA had three.

Mason is the first Kansas player to win the award. He is the first Big 12 player to win it since Blake Griffin of Oklahoma in 2009.

Sean Miller of Arizona received eight votes for the coach award while Chris Collins of Northwestern had seven and SMU's Tim Jankovich got six.

Gonzaga is the only head coaching job Few has had and he has compiled a 502-112 record. The Zags have reached the West Coast Conference Tournament final in all of Few's seasons.

He is the first WCC coach to win the award since Bob Gaillard of San Francisco in 1977.

Gonzaga beats Xavier 83-59 to reach first Final Four

By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Basketball Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) The criticism dogged Gonzaga wherever it went, no matter how much it won.

The Zags run up their record by beating up on teams in a weak conference, then always seemed to come up short as the calendar went deep into March. Few outside of Spokane believed the program Mark Few helped build from scratch belonged in the national powerhouse conversation.

Overrated no more, Gonzaga is finally headed to the Final Four.

The Zags took the pressure of history head on with a performance worthy of their No. 1 seed, rolling to a dominating 83-59 win over Xavier in the West Region final on Saturday that should silence those critics.

"Just an incredible feeling of elation and satisfaction," Few said. "It's been a long, hard journey to get this program here."

Few and the Zags have won the West Coast Conference Tournament 16 times, been regulars in the NCAA Tournament since 1999, reached the Sweet 16 eight times.

The Final Four was the only missing piece to their resume.

The Zags (36-1) claimed their spot in Arizona and history with a superb all-around game, showing off their usual offensive efficiency while flexing the smothering type of defense that had previously been the chink in their armor.

Gonzaga made 12 of 24 shots from 3-point range after struggling the first three NCAA Tournament games. The Zags were No. 1 in defensive efficiency during the regular season and shut down the underdog and 11th-seeded Musketeers (24-14) to become the first WCC team to reach the Final Four in 60 years.

Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 points while orchestrating Gonzaga's efficient offense after struggling against West Virginia. Johnathan Williams added 19 points and center Przemek Karnowski, who was still recovering from back surgery a year ago, created open perimeter looks with his deft passing out of the post.

Now the Zags are headed to the desert, where they'll play the winner between South Carolina and Florida in next week's Final Four.

"The Final Four doesn't validate or discredit a season. It's not an end-all, be-all," Williams said. "Gonzaga has been a great program and we're just happy to keep carrying the torch."

The Musketeers brought their turn-the-page jar of ashes to the NCAA Tournament, where they burned through a string of upsets to reach their third Elite Eight and first since 2008.

Their bid for the program's first Final Four ran into a buzz saw.

Xavier played well offensively early to hang with the Zags, giving super fan Bill Murray and the rest of their supporters a glimmer of hope. Once Gonzaga got rolling, the Musketeers had no answer.

"They're really good. Sometimes you just lose to a better team," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "They've proven it all year long."

The Zags struggled to find an offensive rhythm against West Virginia in the regional semifinals- who doesn't? - but had it flowing against Xavier.

After hitting 29 percent of its 3-point shots its first three NCAA games, Gonzaga found the range against Xavier, hitting 8 of 13 from the arc in the first half, mostly against the Musketeers' zone or on kick-outs from Karnowski .

Xavier had a good offensive start, only to hit a dry spell as Gonzaga stretched to lead to 49-39 by halftime.

Halftime did little to slow the Zags, who pushed the lead to 59-42 on 3-pointers by Williams-Goss and Jordan Mathews. Gonzaga kept the machine rolling in the second half, continuing to make shots while its defense prevented the Musketeers from making any kind of run.

"They were just locked in," said Xavier's Trevon Bluiett, who had 10 points. "They were a discipline type of team and we just didn't execute well enough."

BIG PICTURE

Xavier should have a good foundation next season from its Elite Eight, losing only senior guard Malcolm Bernard from its starting lineup.

Gonzaga played like a No. 1 seed and can erase all those overrated calls now that it is finally in the Final Four.

WEST IS WON

Gonzaga is the first WCC team since San Francisco in 1957 to reach the Final Four and first from the West since UCLA did it three straight years from 2006-08.

WILD SEQUENCE

The first half ended with a strange sequence that started with Gonzaga accidentally knocking the ball into its own basket while fighting for a rebound. RaShid Gaston was credited with the basket after the ball bounced off the floor and the backboard into the basket.

Williams-Goss then hit a floater in the lane and J.P. Macura followed with an 80-foot shot that banked in, but was ruled too late after an officials' review.

UP NEXT

Gonzaga faces the winner between South Carolina and Florida in the Final Four next Saturday.

Gonzaga, Xavier both aim for first Final Four

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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- One team will make history in the NCAA Tournament's West Regional final Saturday.

Either top-seed Gonzaga or 11th-seeded Xavier will make its first Final Four.

A one-time Cinderella, Gonzaga (35-1) ranked among the top tier of title contenders all season, as the Bulldogs were No. 1 in the AP poll for nearly two months while winning their first 29 games. They are big, quick, deep and talented.

Arguably a 2017 Cinderella, Xavier (24-13) went through a six-game losing streak after star point guard Edmond Sumner sustained a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 29, with only two of the losses to ranked teams. The Musketeers, however, regained their stride.

Xavier, the lowest seed remaining in the NCAA field, advanced through the West by handling No. 6 seed Maryland, No. 3 seed Florida State and No. 2 seed Arizona.

"Losing Ed was tough because he was a key part to our team," said guard Trevon Bluiett, who scored 25 points and had an assist on the winning basket when Xavier beat Arizona 73-71 Thursday.

"You know, I feel like the 'click' was always there. We just had to learn how to play a full 40 minutes."

Musketeers forward J.P. Macura had 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists against the Wildcats.

"We're all tough guys," Macura said. "We stuck together, and we're not really backing down from anybody. If you have that mentality, you can beat an awful lot of teams."

Gonzaga, whose only loss came to BYU on Feb. 25, got a go-ahead 3-pointer from Jordan Mathews in the final minute to beat West Virginia 61-58 in the West's other Sweet 16 match.

The Bulldogs' 7-foot, 300-pound center, Przemek Karnowski, will be the biggest man on the floor Saturday and will be the toughest matchup for smaller Xavier. Both he and athletic 6-9 forward Johnathan Williams had 13 points against West Virginia.

Point guard Nigel Williams-Goss leads Gonzaga with a 16.7 scoring average, one of four players in double figures. He was held to 10 points on 2-of-10 shooting and committed five turnovers against West Virginia.

"Karnowski is a problem inside," said Arizona coach Sean Miller, whose team lost to Gonzaga 69-62 on Dec. 3. "He can do it rebounding. He can do it in the post. He can do it by passing. And Gonzaga is very underrated defensively."

The Bulldogs held the Mountaineers to 26.7 percent shooting (16 of 60).

Gonzaga, long removed from being a college-basketball upstart, is playing in its 19th consecutive NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs have made only two other appearances in the Elite Eight, losing to eventual champion Connecticut in 1999 and falling to eventual champion Duke in 2015.

"All year we've been banking on our defense, our defense, our defense," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "We're 40 minutes away from a Final Four, which was something we set our sights on at the start of the year."

Xavier has made two previous Elite Eight appearances, the last coming in 2008, when Miller was the head coach and Chris Mack was one of his assistants. The Musketeers lost to a UCLA team led by Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook.

Top-seeded Gonzaga survives for 61-58 win over West Virginia

By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Jevon Carter fired up two potential tying 3-pointers only to see them go off-target and Gonzaga didn't allow West Virginia to get off a third.

A defensive stop was a fitting way for this offensively challenged Sweet 16 matchup to end.

Jordan Mathews hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with under a minute to play and top-seeded Gonzaga survived a rough shooting night all around to beat No. 4 seed West Virginia 61-58 Thursday night to advance to the West Regional final.

"All year we've been banking on our defense, our defense, our defense," coach Mark Few said. "Our defense stepped up and got it done there at the end. So we are absolutely elated to continue to be playing. We're 40 minutes away from a Final Four."

The Bulldogs (35-1) needed that defense to make their third Elite Eight in school history on a night that featured 51 fouls and only 34 made baskets. They also needed someone to make a key shot and Mathews delivered with the 3-pointer that made it 60-58.

"We had never come across that throughout the season. It wasn't frustration. It was more like, I don't know, confusion, trying to figure it out," Mathews said of the shooting woes. "But just staying the course and just rallying around our guys and just thinking about the defensive end, helped my offense in the end."

West Virginia (29-8) had three shots to tie the game but Tarik Phillip missed a shot from the lane and Jevon Carter missed two 3-pointers after Silas Melson made one foul shot. The Mountaineers rebounded both misses but couldn't get another shot off in the final 13 seconds.

"To know you were so close and you gave everything you had and to come up sort, it hurts," said Carter, who had a game-high 21 points.

Despite shooting 26.7 percent for the game, West Virginia stayed close and took a 58-55 lead on a 3-pointer by Carter with 1:47 to play. But the Mountaineers didn't score again and went down to a crushing loss.

Nigel Williams-Goss answered with two free throws. After Daxter Miles Jr. missed two fouls shots and Nathan Adrian was blocked by Josh Perkins on the putback, Williams-Goss found Mathews in the corner for the open 3-pointer that proved the game-winner.

"You tell me another team in the country who can shoot 26 percent from the field against a No. 1 seed, 21 percent from 3 and still could have, should have won the game," coach Bob Huggins said. "That says a lot about what kind of guys we have."

Mathews, Przemek Karnowski and Johnathan Williams all had 13 points to lead the Bulldogs.

BIG PICTURE

West Virginia: The Mountaineers could get nothing going offensively most of the night but a pair of 3-pointers by Carter in the second half helped them fight back from an eight-point deficit to briefly take the lead in the second half. The rest of the team made just 10 baskets.

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs struggled to get into their offense all game. When they managed to beat the Mountaineers relentless press, they couldn't capitalize in the halfcourt. WCC Player of the Year Williams-Goss was held to 10 points on 2-for-10 shooting with five turnovers.

MONKEY AROUND

Gonzaga as made it to its third regional final to go along with eight Sweet 16 trips and 19 straight tournament appearances. All that's missing is a trip to the Final Four.

"I don't know that I have a monkey on my back. I certainly don't wake up with one or walk around with one," Few said. "I don't think these guys think I have one. I don't think my wife thinks I have one or anybody in my family, close friends. Fishing buddies never talk about it. So those are the only people that really matter to me."

INADVERTENT WHISTLE

Carter's go-ahead shot came after a lengthy replay review that gave West Virginia a second chance. Adrian appeared to go out of bounds under the basket in transition but the officials reviewed the play and determined that there was an inadvertent whistle.

UGLY START

The first half was far from an aesthetic masterpiece with 27 fouls and just 16 baskets. The teams combined for 29 percent shooting, including 2 for 16 from 3-point range as the game went into the break tied at 30.

UP NEXT

Gonzaga plays No. 11 seed Xavier for a spot in the Final Four.

Gonzaga wary of West Virginia's pressing defense

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Gonzaga is bracing itself for the challenge West Virginia’s defense presents after looking at the results of the Mountaineers’ 83-71 win over Notre Dame in an NCAA Tournament second-round game last week.

The No. 1-seeded Bulldogs (33-1) play No. 4 West Virginia (28-8) in a West Regional semifinal game Thursday at San Jose, Calif. The winner advances to the Elite Eight to play the winner of Xavier-Arizona.

The Fighting Irish commit only 9.5 turnovers a game, which ranks second nationally. They almost turned the ball over that many times in the first half Saturday. They finished with 14 against the “Press Virginia” defense.

The turnovers are a cause for concern for Gonzaga, the top seed in the West Region, after the Bulldogs committed 13 turnovers in their 79-73 win over Northwestern in a second-round game. The Wildcats scored 17 points off turnovers in the second half to fuel a comeback.

“We got a little challenged at the other end and started making bonehead passes and bonehead decisions, and needed to just settle down,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “We were trying to make plays in small windows. And we’re not very good when we do that.”

West Virginia (28-8) leads the nation in turnovers forced with 20.1 per game. Opponents turn the ball over on 28 percent of their possession, which also tops the nation.

“That’s what we do,” West Virginia coach Bub Huggins said of the havoc his defense presents. “We try to make people play kind of the way we want them to play.”

Gonzaga point guard Nigel Williams-Goss will be important against the Mountaineers’ press. His ability to run the fast break or play at a steady pace should give the Bulldogs confidence.

Williams-Goss has a better than 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio with 161 assists and 72 turnovers. Josh Perkins, the other significant ball-handler, has less favorable numbers with 113 assists and 68 turnovers.

Williams-Goss said the Bulldogs know what it takes to handle the pressure West Virginia may present because their resiliency is shown with only one loss on the season.

“We don’t think of anything as pressure,” Williams-Goss said. “We had pressure all year long. We were undefeated and we didn’t feel any of that. This is what we live for, what we prepare for and we enjoy doing. We all enjoy competing at the highest level.”

West Virginia was only an overtime loss at Kansas away from sweeping the No. 1-seeded Jayhawks during the regular season.

Because the Mountaineers use the entire length of the court, Huggins employs a deep rotation with 10 players averaging at least 11 minutes played per game. Leading scorer Jevon Carter (13 points per game) is the only Mountaineer to play at least 30 minutes per game (31.7).

The Mountaineers are a team of athletes that lacks a center who matches up in size with Gonzaga’s post player Przemek Karnowski, who is 7-foot-1 and 300 pounds.

Carter and fellow guards Daxter Miles and Tarik Phillip combined for 54 points on 17-of-29 shooting from the field with nine rebounds, eight assists and three turnovers in the win over Notre Dame. They shot 7 of 10 from 3-point range and 13 of 15 from the free-throw line.

“All year we’ve been telling ourselves that we got the best group of guards in the country, and we truly believe that,” Carter said. “So, when it’s time for us to play, we go out there and give it our all. Sometimes it worked. But we’re going to put forth 100 percent and we’re going to live and die with it.”

Missed call, untimely T ends Wildcats rally; Zags win 79-73

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Chris Collins was right. It was goal-tending all the way.

The Northwestern coach was also wrong. At the worst time possible.

After not getting the call, Collins stomped onto the court and drew a technical foul with 4:54 left in Saturday's game, sucking life out of a frenetic comeback that fell short in a 79-73 loss to top-seeded Gonzaga.

What a strange, heartbreaking way to close out the school's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Adding to the awkwardness: The NCAA released a statement acknowledging the call was missed, and Collins was sitting at the postgame news conference when he learned about it for the first time.

"I appreciate the apology," Collins said, the venom practically dripping off his tongue. "It makes me feel great."

Nigel Williams-Goss finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists to power Gonzaga (34-1), which led by as many as 22 points in the first half, then saw the lead dwindle to five with a little more than 5 minutes left.

The arena, drenched in purple, was rocking, and all the momentum was in Northwestern's corner.

The eighth-seeded Wildcats (24-12) got the ball down to Dererk Pardon for a point-blank shot that was on its way in. Gonzaga 7-footer Zach Collins reached up through the net and deflected the ball out. No whistle blew. Gonzaga got the rebound and started down court. Collins ran onto the court, charged toward the referee and gestured as if he were knocking a ball out of the hoop from the bottom.

An automatic "T." The NCAA's postgame statement also said Collins was hit with the technical for violating "bench decorum" rules by stepping onto the court with the ball in play.

On the other end, Williams-Goss made both free throws. Northwestern never got closer after that.

Regrets? If the coach had any, they weren't apparent in the aftermath.

"If I see a guy from another team put his hand through the rim and block a shot, I'm going to react to it if the play isn't called," Collins said. "I think all of you would. Of course. That cuts it to three. We're all emotional. We're coming back from 20 down."

What a comeback it was. Bryant McIntosh scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half and Vic Law had 15 of his 18, as Northwestern finally found an answer for Gonzaga's quick guards and smooth-as-can-be ball movement.

Law dunked an offensive rebound to cut the deficit to 63-58, and on the other end, Scottie Lindsey swatted Williams-Goss down low to give Northwestern the ball with a chance to draw within a 3-pointer.

Pardon took a pass from McIntosh and went up strong against Zach Collins for what should have been two points. After the game, the Gonzaga center was still unclear about what, exactly, happened.

"I thought I blocked the shot and they thought it was a foul," he said. "We weren't really worried about (that). I honestly can't really remember."

Zags coach Mark Few wasn't pinning Gonzaga's win on that single turn of events. But he more than understood the emotion of the moment.

"You guys feel it and see it when it comes to these games," he said. "You lose, your season's over. You win, in Northwestern's case, it's probably the best thing they've done in the history of the school. You react spontaneously and stuff happens."

Gonzaga is onto its third straight Sweet 16, in search of the program's first trip to the Final Four.

Painful as the late sequence was for the Wildcats, chances are it won't be the only thing about this magical season that they remember.

"To me, the second half is who that group was," Chris Collins said.

But losing, especially that way?

"It stinks. That's the part of the tournament that's really hard," he said.

BIG MAN SHUFFLE: The Wildcats had more trouble stopping 7-foot-1 Przemek Karnowski's backup than Karnowski himself. The senior missed his first three shots and never got into much of a groove on the way to nine points. His backup, Collins, had 14 points, including back-to-back three-point plays that pushed Gonzaga's lead back to 19 in the second half after it had briefly dropped to 12.

NO ENCORE: For the second straight game, McIntosh had a memorable second half, but it was the first half that made the difference. He shot only 3 for 9 in the first half, part of a 30 percent shooting effort by the Wildcats, who made only 1 of 11 from 3-point range over the first 20 minutes.

FOUL TROUBLE: Adding to their coach's frustration: The Wildcats finished the game with 26 fouls. Pardon fouled out and three players, Lindsey, Barret Benson and Gavin Skelly, finished with four each.

NEXT UP: Gonzaga faces fourth-seeded West Virginia in the West Regional semifinal Thursday in San Jose, California.

Mathews helps Zags slowly pull away for 66-46 win over SD St

By EDDIE PELLS
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In a tournament made famous by the notion that anything can happen, one thing still has not: In 129 tries, no 16 seed has ever beaten a 1.

Oh, but South Dakota State sure did make it interesting for a while Thursday.

The Jackrabbits of the Summit League gnawed away at Gonzaga for the better part of 35 minutes before the Zags started looking like the No. 1 seed they are and pulled away for a 66-46 victory in the West region.

Jordan Mathews scored 16 points to lead the Bulldogs (33-1). No. 1 seeds are now 129-0 vs. 16s since the bracket was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

"That 1-16 game, someone else can have that from here on out," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few, who also sweated out a six-point win over Southern as a No. 1 in 2013 — in the same arena, no less. "I've served my time in it. I'll go ahead and land somewhere else."

The Jackrabbits (18-17) weren't your typical 16. They came in with nine wins in their last 11 games. They beat Gonzaga to every loose ball at the start and led for the first 17 minutes, then kept it interesting deep into the second half.

"There's something about sports where you have a look in your eye and you look at your opponent and say, 'You're going to be in for a fight tonight,'" Jackrabbits coach T.J. Otzelberger said. "I thought we did that from start to finish."

They hung in without a breakout game from Mike Daum. The nation's second-leading scorer finished 7 for 16 from the floor with 17 points — more than eight below his average.

Daum did a nice job on Gonzaga's 7-foot-1 center, Przemek Karnowski, holding him to four points over the first 32 minutes.

But Karnowski , who finished with 10 points, scored three straight buckets for the Bulldogs to help them expand the lead to 20 with 5 minutes left, and it was over.

Not before a bit of a scare, though.

"That was a confident, well-coached, tough team," Few said. "They were one of those teams that came here on a roll."

STOPPER: The Bulldogs draped 6-9 forward Johnathan Williams on Daum for most of the game, and he kept the South Dakota State big man in check. Williams finished with six points, 14 rebounds and two blocks, though his biggest contributions didn't show up on the stat sheet. Williams said he got used to covering players like Daum from his years practicing against former Bulldog Kyle Wiltjer, who was an inside-outside shooter like Daum. "I just moved my feet, made him close out and tried to make it tough for him. But he's a tough player," Williams said.

PLAYING FOR BILLY: South Dakota State guard Michael Orris made this game a tribute to his older brother , Billy, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2015. Orris, who graduated from Northern Illinois, had another year of eligibility and extended his career with the Jackrabbits. Orris went out with a leg cramp in the second half but returned. He finished with four points and three assists. "It means the world to me," Orris said of his first and only trip to the tournament. "It's exactly what me and coach talked about and exactly what I wanted for my life and my last season."

FRESHMAN CONTRIBUTION: While the Zags were struggling to find their footing in the first half, freshman Zach Collins kept them in it. Collins had nine of his 10 points in the first half.

'D' UP: Both teams walked away satisfied with their efforts on defense. This was only the fourth time this season Gonzaga has been held under 70 points and only the second time it shot worse than 40 percent (39.7). But South Dakota State only shot 31 percent, and one of its best 3-point shooters, Reed Tellinghuisen, went 1 for 10 behind the arc. "We knew on the defensive end we were doing our jobs, and eventually, the shots were going to fall," Collins said.

UP NEXT: Gonzaga plays the winner of Thursday afternoon's 8-9 matchup between Northwestern and Vanderbilt.

S. Dakota St.-Gonzaga Preview

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SALT LAKE CITY — Things didn’t work out well for Gonzaga the last time it came to Utah as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2013.

The Bulldogs flirted with disaster in the Round of 64 when they did not pull away from 16th seed Southern until the final minute. Then, in the next round, ninth-seeded Wichita State sent Gonzaga home with a crushing defeat and used the upset victory to fuel an unexpected run to the Final Four.

Gonzaga (32-1) will get a chance for redemption in the same arena where it flamed out four years ago. The Bulldogs return to Salt Lake City as a No. 1 seed for just the second time in school history and will square off against 16th-seeded South Dakota State.

They also bring in a team that is talented enough on both ends of the court to make a serious push to reach the Final Four.

“We’re 32-1, this team has been exceptional all year,” Bulldogs coach Mark Few told the school’s official website after his team beat St. Mary’s 74-56 to win the West Coast Conference tournament title. ”They’ve stepped up and met every challenge. We’ve been good from Nov. 10 to March 7 and haven’t taken any nights off. Our results speak for themselves.”

Leading the way for Gonzaga is talented guard Nigel Williams-Goss. The junior has elevated his game to another level since joining the program as a transfer from Washington.

Williams-Goss leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 16.9 points per game and also chips in 5.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.8 steals. He is also money at the free throw line, hitting 91.0 percent on his attempts to rank ninth nationally in free throw shooting.

Complementing Williams-Goss on the inside is a tough frontcourt that features leading rebounder Johnathan Williams (6.5 rebounds), mammoth center Przemek Karnowski and sixth man Zach Collins. It speaks to how much depth Gonzaga has when Collins, a projected first-round NBA draft pick, is the first player off the bench.

Gonzaga’s average margin of victory this season is a nation’s best 23.4 points per game and the team averaged 51.8 percent shooting from the field while holding opponents to 36.8 percent. The Bulldogs also rank second in the NCAA defensively in points per possession.

Hanging with such a team will be a tall task for Summit League tournament champion South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits (18-16) will likely need a big game from Mike Daum to pose a serious threat to Gonzaga.

Daum ranks No. 2 nationally in scoring, averaging 25.3 points per game. The sophomore forward tore it up in the Summit League title game, scoring 37 points and collecting 12 rebounds in a 79-77 win over Nebraska-Omaha. Daum shot 12 of 24 from the field, including 5-of-9 from distance.

A 16th seed has never won an NCAA Tournament game, but South Dakota State feels good about its chances after coming on strong late in the season. The Jackrabbits have won six straight and nine of their last 11 games.

The Jackrabbits also have last year’s NCAA Tournament experience to draw on for a chance at history.

“We’re a team full of surprises this year,” Daum told the Argus Leader. “People overlook us. With how we’re clicking right now, we’ll be a tough matchup for other teams.”

South Dakota is making second straight NCAA Tournament appearance after taking Maryland to the wire as a 12 seed a year ago. The Jackrabbits are 0-3 all-time in the tournament.

Gonzaga moves to No. 1 for second time in school history

By JIM O'CONNELL
Associated Press

Gonzaga, the last unbeaten team in Division I, moved to No. 1 in The Associated Press college basketball poll for the second time in school history.

The Zags (22-0) jumped up from third when Villanova and Kansas both were beaten in a week when seven of the top 10 lost.

Gonzaga received 46 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel Monday. The Zags were No. 1 for the last three weeks of the 2012-13 season.

Gonzaga is the fifth team to reach No. 1 this season joining Duke, Kentucky, Villanova and Baylor.

Baylor (20-1), one of the three top 10 teams to not lose, jumped from fifth to second. The Bears had six first-place votes and were one point ahead of Kansas (19-2), which dropped one place after losing at West Virginia before winning at Kentucky. The Jayhawks had nine first-place votes.

Villanova, which had been No. 1 for the last two weeks and six overall, dropped to fourth after losing at Marquette. The Wildcats (20-2), who also had a last-second win over Virginia, were No. 1 on four ballots.

Northwestern (18-4) is the week's lone newcomer. The Wildcats were last ranked for one week in 2009-10.

Arizona, the other top 10 team to get through the week without a loss, moved from seventh to fifth and was followed by Louisville, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Wisconsin.

UCLA was 11th and was followed by North Carolina, Oregon, Cincinnati, Florida State, Butler, Maryland, Saint Mary's, South Carolina and Notre Dame.

The last five ranked teams were Duke, Creighton, Purdue, Florida and Northwestern.

Xavier (15-6), which has lost four of six with all the losses to ranked teams, dropped out from 24th. The Musketeers, who had been ranked for the last 29 polls, were seventh in the preseason voting.

West Virginia, which beat Kansas and Texas A&M, had the week's biggest jump from 18th to No. 7. Louisville, which beat Pittsburgh and North Carolina State by an average of 40 points, moved from 13th to No. 6.

Florida State's fall from sixth to No. 15 followed the Seminoles' losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse. Kentucky also lost twice last week — to Tennessee and Kansas — and the Wildcats dropped from fourth to eighth.