It's been a long wait for Gonzaga, but they finally reached the Final Four as a top seed with an 83-59 victory over Xavier on Saturday night. They'll represent the West region and will take on the winner of the South region, which will either be South Carolina or Florida. The Bulldogs got the victory by hitting 47.5 percent of their shots and hitting a stunning 12-of-24 3-point attempts. By comparison, the Musketeers hit just 2-of-16 3-pointers, making that the biggest difference in the huge final score discrepancy.
Xavier struggles from downtown
Trevon Bluiett (18.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg) has been the man leading the Musketeers, but he struggled from the field hitting just 3-of-14 shot attempts. He went just 1-for-6 from 3-point range and finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds. Prior to this game, Bluiett scored 21 or more points in the Ncaa Tournament. The last time he was limited to 10 points or less was against Villanova on February 11th where he recorded no points in 19 minutes of action.
J.P. Macura (14.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg) led the team with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. He was easily the most efficient scorer on the night -- with the exception of Tyrique Jones (4.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg) who made both of his field goal attempts.
Gonzaga has a better time from the perimeter
Two Bulldogs hit 7 of the 12 3-pointers that went in for the victorious squad. Nigel Williams-Goss (16.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg) made the most going 4-for-7 from downtown, and he also made 5-of-8 free throws. He finished with a team-high 23 points, 8 boards, and had a positive passing ratio of four assists to no turnovers.
Williams-Goss now has put up 20 or more points in five of his last seven games.
Three other players finished in double figures on the scoring end for Gonzaga. Josh Perkins (8.2 ppg) converted 3-of-7 3-pointers and ended up with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Johnathan Williams (10.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg) was stunning with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks. He followed up another good outing with 13 points and 6 boards against West Virginia.
