SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — When it comes to a 16 seed beating a 1, it’s still true — anything really can happen in the NCAA Tournament.
Just not on Thursday night. And not against Gonzaga.
One year after dreamers and underdog lovers rejoiced at top-seeded Virginia’s first-of-its-kind, first-round loss, the Gonzaga Bulldogs crushed any thought of a repeat with a wire-to-wire 87-49 thumping of Fairleigh Dickinson in the West Region.
Rui Hachimura led the Zags (31-3) with 21 points and eight rebounds, and this game looked every bit as lopsided as most of the 1-vs.-16 contests since 1985, when the bracket was expanded to 64 teams.
Gonzaga led by 10 after the first 4:12, by 20 after 10:25 and by the score of 53-17 at halftime.
By the time Gonzaga turned it over when Josh Perkins tried flipping a no-look pass backward to Killian Tillie, coach Mark Few looked barely awake — sitting in his chair, cheek cupped in his hand. The Bulldogs led 70-34.
The game’s key questions were answered early:
— Could the Knights (21-14) muster a repeat of their amazing shooting two nights earlier in a come-from-behind win over Prairie View A&M in the First Four? No. Fairleigh Dickinson shot 30 percent and went 6 for 21 from 3-point range. Its star from the win, Darnell Edge, had trouble getting any looks, let alone good ones. He went 2 for 11 for seven points.
— Would the Bulldogs feel any lingering aftershocks from their unexpectedly ugly loss to Saint Mary’s last week in the West Coast Conference final? No. The nation’s highest-scoring offense this season could’ve picked its number in this one. Few started emptying the bench at the 8:30 mark.
Gonzaga is the only team to beat Duke and Zion Williamson at full strength this season, helping explain why the Bulldogs are the second favorite, at 5-1 behind the Blue Devils, to win it all. They put to rest any questions about whether they belonged on the 1 line over, say, Michigan State — a debate that picked up a bit of steam after the Saint Mary’s loss.
Gonzaga plays its second-round game Saturday against Baylor, which defeated Syracuse 78-69 in Thursday’s late game.
