Gonzaga rides dominant second half to win over Kansas, 9th consecutive sweet 16
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The 5th seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs handled the 4th seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the 2nd round of NCAA tournament in Saturday afternoon action, advancing to their 9th sweet 16 in the last 9 years, the longest active streak in the NCAA.
The Bulldogs (27-7) were in lockstep with the Jayhawks (23-11) for the first half, as Gonzaga even trailed 44-43 at the break. The second half was a different tale, however, as the Zags outscored Kansas 46-24 in the final 20 minutes to advance to the next round with an 89-68 victory.
Gonzaga shot 60.3 percent from the field as a team, including 53.3 percent from beyond the three point line. Anton Watson led the Bulldog scoring effort with 21 points while Nolan Hickman finished just behind him with 17 points. Graham Ike and Ben Gregg each contributed 15 points and Braden Huff added 11 points off the bench as 5 Bulldogs finished with double digits on the stat sheet.
Hunter Dickinson led the Jayhawk charge with 15 points while K.J. Adams and Dajuan Harris each added 10 points. The Jayhawks simply couldn’t keep pace with the Bulldogs ferocious scoring, shooting only 38.6 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from the free throw stripe.
The Bulldogs will move on and await the winner of number one seeded Purdue and eight seed Utah State’s 2nd round matchup.
