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After Final Four heroics, Gonzaga's perfect season attempt falls short in NCAA championship
Gonzaga freshman guard Jalen Suggs celebrates after knocking down a buzzer-beating three-pointer to lead the Bulldogs over UCLA 93-90 in the Final Four April 3.
The Baylor Bears celebrate their 86-70 national championship victory over Gonzaga April 5.
INDIANAPOLIS – Gonzaga was on top of the world...or table, as it were, after standout freshman guard Jalen Suggs banked in a deep three-pointer from about 40 feet away in overtime to put away pesky UCLA 93-90 in the Final Four April 3 and send the Bulldogs to the national championship game.
However, the celebration was short-lived, as the Baylor Bears easily handled Gonzaga 86-70 in that title game two days later to claim the trophy and put an end to the Bulldogs' quest to become the first team since Indiana in 1976 to have an undefeated season.
Gonzaga finished a still-historic campaign 31-1 and fell short of winning the program's first men's basketball national championship.
Baylor jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never trailed. The Bears connected on their first six three-point attempts and forcing Gonzaga's high-octane offense into uncharacteristic turnovers.
First-team All-American guard Jared Butler was the player of the game with 22 points and seven assists, while other Baylor stud guards MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell had 19 and 15 points respectively. Senior Mark Vital had 11 rebounds.
Gonzaga trailed by as many as 20 in the game and cut the lead as low as nine in the second half before Baylor once again clamped down on defense and prevented any major Bulldog runs.
The Bulldogs were led by Suggs, who rebounded from early foul trouble to score 22 points. No other Gonzaga player scored more than 12 points. One was previous tournament star Drew Timme, who scored just 12 points and committed four turnovers. Senior All-American Corey Kispert also scored 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting, but the sharpshooter was just 2-of-7 from deep.
Gonzaga will now look to re-tool for next season. The Bulldogs have top recruits and promising underclassmen ready to take key roles, but are expected to lose Suggs, Kispert, Timme and Joel Ayayi to the NBA Draft.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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