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Sweet 16 notebook: Whistles galore as Gonzaga prevails

Gonzaga forward Johnathan Williams (3) battles for the ball with West Virginia’s Nathan Adrian during the West Regional Sweet 16 game in San Jose, Calif.

 

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Fouls came early and often at the Sweet 16, with Gonzaga and West Virginia combining for 27 in the opening half.

The final count was 51 fouls in the Zags’ 61-58 win.

Daxter Miles picked up two fouls within the opening 3:04, the second coming on a high forearm while trying to clear out. Esa Ahmad also was hit with two fouls in the first 10 minutes, though the first came on a blocking call when he appeared to have position established on Johnathan Williams’ drive.

For Gonzaga, Josh Perkins picked up his second foul at 12:12. And reserve Killian Tillie picked up three fouls in only 7 minutes of action, the last on a clean-looking offensive rebound over Tarik Phillip, who stands eight inches shorter.

Six Bulldogs and four Mountaineers had at least two fouls at the break.

“We were conversing with the officials quite often,” said Gonzaga coach Mark Few. “I mean, it’s a hard game. They’re a very difficult team to officiate, and we are, too. We’re physical and we’re good at vertically contesting going straight up around the rim.

“I thought they did a really, really good job, and I would have said that win or lose. I thought it was a fair game. It was tough — a lot of collisions, a lot of stuff going on throughout that game.”

Pressing Gonzaga

Because Gonzaga hadn’t faced any full-court defenses, West Virginia coaches couldn’t find film to evaluate how Zags ballhandlers would react.

That made for a feeling-out process early in the game.

The Zags ultimately committed 16 turnovers, five more than their season average.

“They make it very helter skelter, they deny all your passes,” said Bulldogs guard Nigel Williams-Goss. “We pride ourselves on great ball movement but they really get in the passing lanes and don’t make any passes easy. It’s tricky — no one plays like West Virginia. You got to give them a lot of credit for the effort that they play with.”

Rare records

Gonzaga became only the sixth team in the past four decades to start 29-0.

The last team to do was Kentucky in 2015, a unit West Virginia also had the misfortune of meeting in the Sweet 16.

Gonzaga dominance

The Zags improved to 4-0 all-time against WVU, including a 77-54 romp in the 2012 NCAA tournament.

Gonzaga swept a home-and-home the ensuing two seasons, winning 84-50 in Spokane and 80-76 in Morgantown.

March memories

When it comes to favorite March Madness memories, Nathan Adrian smiled big before the game and recalled being among the 22,497 fans at the Carrier Dome in 2010 for WVU’s upset of top-seeded Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

“Hard to beat that one,” he said.

Cleveland product Ahmad pointed to Kemba Walker’s unstoppable 2011 tournament run, a stretch that resonated with Walker’s fellow Brooklyn native Tarik Phillip.

“Kemba was no joke,” Phillip said. “He started this March Madness stuff for me.”





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