Gonzaga Thrown Red-Hot Texas for Second-Round NCAA Tournament Matchup

94.91 percent of the NCAA Tournament brackets picked the No. 3-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs (31-3, 16-2 WCC) s to advance into the Round of 32 in the West region. The Zags did exactly that against the No. 14-seeded Kennesaw State Owls out of the Conference USA in Portland, Oregon, 73-64. Although, it was far from pretty.

Survive and advance is the name of the game in March. Doesn’t matter if it’s ugly. Just get it done. Helps that coach Mark Few’s unit had a home-court advantage and will continue to in the second round at the Moda Center.

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The No. 11-seeded Texas Longhorns (20-14, 9-9 SEC) beat star freshman forward AJ Dybantsa and No. 6-seeded BYU Cougars in the earlier first-round test in Portland, 79-71. Dybansta, a future NBA top-5 pick this May, was unstoppable with his 35 points on 11-for-25 field goals/12-for-12 free-throw shooting and 10 rebounds. But it was evident that the full potential of coach Kevin Young’s group is limited without senior guard Richie Saunders, who tore his ACL in his right knee back on Feb. 14.

The true lovers of the West Coast Conference in Gonzaga’s final go-around wanted BYU badly, with the two having a deep history in the league together from 2011 to 2023. It’s now a change in the scouting report, more focused on Texas’s 7-0 sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis. He has averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds per game in his first two March Madness games this year. 6-9 Ike and seven-foot sophomore center Ismaila Diagne off the bench will have their hands full with him down low. This is the pivotal defensive matchup to pay attention to in this second-round matchup.

On the lighter side: During the postgame media availability for the Zags before the second round on Friday, March 20, Ike put on his journalist cap and asked a very reasonable question. This team seems to be in good standing despite the early first-round struggles.

Under coach Sean Miller, the Longhorns have now won two games in the last three days after starting out in…

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Publish date : 2026-03-21 06:26:00

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