Gonzaga Bulldogs Dominate Iowa, Headed To Sweet 16

Gonzaga is better than most of the teams they play against, and when they shoot 61.5% from the field and 62.5% from three, you aren’t going to beat them.

There might not have been a more impressive first-round performance than the Iowa Hawkeyes’ and their 31-point demolition of A-10 champions Davidson. And Iowa got 39 points from their star duo in this one, but the depth of the Zags was too much.

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Gonzaga got whatever shot they wanted against the Hawkeyes and made almost two-thirds of them. The performance was a welcome sight to fans who had to sweat out Gonzaga’s first round victory over North Dakota State.

Kyle Wiltjer continued to be unstoppable scoring 24 points on 10-12 shooting and added seven rebounds. Domantas Sabonis (18), Kevin Pangos (16) and Gary Bell Jr. (10) also added double figure scoring outputs.

Things are looking good for Gonzaga who continues to get fantastic performances from all seven of their main rotation players. If that continues to be the case, the Zags will be playing in Indianapolis come next week.

March 22, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Domantas Sabonis (11) scores a basket against Iowa Hawkeyes center Gabriel Olaseni (0) during the first half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at KeyArena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Forwards Aaron White and Jarrod Uthoff make Iowa one of the most difficult teams in the country to match-up with. But the Zags took a “they’ll have to score 50 to beat us approach”, and let White and Uthoff get their 20 each, but the rest of the team combined for 29 points on 11-28 shooting.

Against UCLA, it will be up to the big guys to take advantage of the Zags’ biggest mismatch. Kevon Looney at 6’9″ and Tony Parker at 6’10” just don’t have the size to match-up with Przemek Karnowski, Sabonis and Wiltjer.

Gonzaga dodged a HUGE bullet when UAB took out Iowa State in the round of 64, and now get a much more favorable match-up with the Pac-12’s fourth best team instead of, possibly, the Big-12’s best.

We’ll have to see if they can take advantage.

Next: Five Reasons Gonzaga Can Reach The Final Four

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