By Ryan Vermont
In any war, like it or not, one side has to come out on top.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was Gonzaga that overcame West Virginia 61-58 in what was truly a war in the first of two Sweet 16 matchups played at the SAP Center.
“I mean, those are two really, really tough teams, two really physical teams that laid it out there on the line,” said Gonzaga head coach Mark Few.
With just under a minute to play, West Virginia’s Daxter Miles Jr. had the chance to push its lead to 3 with a pair of free throws.
He missed both and the ball was momentarily in the hands of WVU’s Nathan Adrian before it was stripped and the Zags were off to the races. Gonzaga’s Nigel Williams Goss fired a pass to an open Jordan Matthews in the corner, and without hesitation, he rose up and drained the shot to put the Bulldogs up by 2.
“I just let it go. I just didn’t think about it,” Matthews said. “I just shot it and I didn’t see it go in but I heard it.”
Gonzaga inched its lead to 3, courtesy of split free throws by Silas Melson with 37 seconds left in the game before what ended up being a wild final sequence to the game.
Mountaineers’ Jevon Carter was determined to take the final shot for his team. He had two opportunities to tie it up from behind the arc and missed both.
West Virginia rebounded the ball again and got it back to Carter, but this time he was swarmed with Bulldogs’ defenders and couldn’t get a shot off as time expired
“I should have drove it to the basket, but knowing it was a 3-point game, I tried to go for the 3 since I’d been hitting,” Carter said. “But if I’m in that position again I’ll take it to the basket.”
It wasn’t exactly a clean game nor was it very efficient
The teams combined 51 fouls leading to a total of 61 free throws turnovers as well 29 turnovers collectively.
West Virginia shot just over 26 percent from the field while Gonzaga shot almost 41 percent.
“We had shots. We just didn’t make them. Their size bothers everybody around the rim,” said West Virginia’s head coach Bob Huggins. “When you’re driving at the goal and you run into a 7’1″, 300-and-whatever-he-is, it’s hard to score. And then we just didn’t — we didn’t make shots that we normally make.”
Huggins’ squad exhibited its signature full-court press and gritty style of play, but the not-so-mid-major remained resilient and never caved under the pressure for more than a couple possessions.
Gonzaga always managed to get back on track.
“There were big shots being made right and left and fortunately we made the two big plays at the end,” Few said.
The Bulldogs were tied with West Virginia at 30 heading into the locker room and it remained a tight game the rest of the way.
With the win against West Virginia on Thursday at the SAP Center, the top-seeded Zags earned a ticket to the Elite Eight for the second time in three years.
“Just being able to play for a Final Four is something you grow up watching,” Matthews said. “You grow up watching March Madness and Sweet 16 games and to have that opportunity to be 40 minutes away with this group, with this university is very special.”
They will face Xavier on Saturday.