The team arrived home early Sunday morning, just hours after the game ended and while they may have lost, they still have plenty to be hopeful about looking to the future.
Despite the loss, the players said they were proud to be a part of the organization and to have made it as far as they did, even if they did not overcome Gonzaga.
"Just kind of the heartbreak and having the season over, we had such an incredible season. For it to come to an end is unfortunate. This is the last thing we wanted to do. We wanted to be practicing tomorrow and getting ready to go to San Jose. All good things come to an end I guess," said guard Bryant McIntosh.
The team arrived back in Evanston at 2 a.m. and seemed in good spirits.
"It"s been an obviously crazy week. We fell a little short today, but it"s been an amazing ride," said senior forward Sanjay Lumpkin.
Alumni cheered on the "Cats at watch parties around the city.
"Kind of a rough call toward the end there, but it was a good season. It was a good game, it was much better than a lot of people expected," said NU alum Brady Edwards.
The Northwestern campus was quieter than usual with students out on spring break.
For the alumni who made the trip to cheer on the "Cats in Utah, the loss doesn"t make them any less proud of their squad.
"Walking around town, everyone was wearing purple and was like "Go "Cats" every time you passed them on the street and it was just so fun," said alum Gina Nolan.
"Being out here in Salt Lake City and seeing two thirds of the gym packed with some purple there, that"s an amazing following. I am sure there was a lot because it was the first time, but it just shows you there is a huge purple nation out here on the West Coast," said former Wildcats football player D"Wayne Bates.
College basketball owns the sports world this time of year. It begins to take over after the Super Bowl and gradually crescendos into a memorable four-week run. In the just-concluded championship week, Cinderellas clinch spots in the NCAA tournament alongside traditional powers following dramatic title games (Duke-Notre Dame, Arizona-Oregon, Weber State-North Dakota).
The first week of the NCAA tournament may be the best four days on the sports calendar, packed with buzzer-beaters and underdogs with quirky mascots knocking off college hoops royalty.
The second week, bluebloods rise to the top and bracket-busting higher seeds exit.
The third week, a national champion is crowned.
Can Gonzaga own March Madness? The Zags have the requisite numbers: a No. 4 ranking, a 32-1 record and folders full of advanced metrics that support their billing as one of the nations best teams.
Naysayers will point to their soft WCC schedule and the programs inability to reach a Final Four in 18 consecutive NCAA trips.
Will the 19th be different? Here are four reasons why this could be the year the Zags reach the Final Four:
Experience matters
The Zags starting lineup of Przemek Karnowski, Johnathan Williams, Jordan Mathews, Josh Perkins and Nigel Williams-Goss boasts 548 career games. Top sub Silas Melson has 100 career games under his belt.
Transfers Williams, Mathews and Williams-Goss combined for 231 games at their previous stops, but seasoning is seasoning and they played against high-caliber competition. Mathews played in the NCAA tournament with Cal last season.
Zach Collins and Killian Tillie rarely play like freshmen.
The Zags havent overlooked opponents. Theyve been relentless with 28 double-digit victories. They appeared rattled in their lone loss to BYU but bounced back to play well in tense situations at the WCC tournament.
Balance tips scales
Four quality bigs, four quality guards. The Zags have employed an eight-man rotation most of the season. Roles were established in the first month.
The frontcourt features Karnowski, a low-post nightmare for foes. Hes one of the best post defenders in the country. Opponents have to choose between guarding him solo or with double teams. He makes them pay either way with his soft touch and passing ability.
Williams is a strong finisher in the lane and a valuable defender, capable of guarding backcourt players. Collins has the stats of a starter even though he averages just 17 minutes per game. Tillie has a nose for the ball.
One of the differences between us and Saint Marys and BYU is (Eric) Mika gets in foul trouble at BYU and (Jock) Landale is in foul trouble every time we played them, gonzaga assistant coach Tommy Lloyd said. Zach gets four fouls in seven, eight minutes and were OK.
The backcourt of Williams-Goss, Mathews, Perkins and Melson provides points and defense.
Gonzagas 3-point shooting tailed off a bit late in the season, but its season-long numbers remain strong. The foursome combined for 195 3-pointers and the team shoots 38.2 percent from distance.
Elite defense
Gonzaga has never put up more points. The Zags average 84.6 per game, three points clear of the 2001 teams current record.
Their defense may be even better. It starts with protecting the rim, where Karnowski and company swat shots and, perhaps more importantly, alter shots.
Opponents average 61.2 points, 36.8 percent shooting and just 30 percent beyond the 3-point line.
We have decent length and decent athleticism on the perimeter so were able to stick on shooters tighter, Lloyd said. But all of that is predicated on if we get beat we have somebody at the rim to contest the shot.
Three-point defense has gone from troublesome to team strength.
Years ago, if we had to take a deeper look we were prone to being upset and it seemed like the No. 1 thing was the 3-point shot, Lloyd said. Teams were able to get 10, 11, 12 made 3s and its hard to win when you give up that many. We looked back at how we were teaching it, changed some things and weve grown teaching it over the years.
A finisher
Williams-Goss has been a reliable option in Gonzagas rare close games. He torched San Francisco for 36 points and BYU for 33. He had big buckets against Iowa State and Arizona.
His 3-pointer inside the final two minutes gave GU breathing room against Santa Clara in the WCC semifinals.
At the end of those close games, its hard to keep throwing the ball inside. Its hard to run a perfect play, Lloyd said. Sometimes it takes a guard creating and being able to make a shot.
HOUSTON For a while Friday night, Gonzagas strategy seemed to be: Lets miss shots by a smaller margin than UCLA. Gonzaga struggled to put the ball in the basket. UCLA struggled to put the ball near the basket. For long stretches, it was the kind of ugly game that makes people question why basketball has to be played in a dome. Or at all, really.
And you know what? It didnt matter. The Bulldogs were never going to lose this game. Never. Not from the opening tip, not when the teams combined to miss 19 straight shots and not when the Bruins went on a predictable run to start the second half, cutting Gonzaga's seven-point halftime lead to 35-34.
The Bulldogs were the tougher, smarter, more skilled team, and they knew it all along. The difference in Gonzagas 74-62 win in the Sweet 16 of the South Regional could be summed up in two players. UCLA has a freshman named Kevon Looney who could be an NBA lottery pick this summer. He finished with nine points and eight rebounds, but there were members of the Gonzaga band who had a bigger impact on the game.
Meanwhile, Bulldogs center Przemek Karnowski had 18 points, nine rebounds and roughly 11 yells with his fists outhe was one rebound away from a Caveman Triple Double. He was fantastic. Somebody should reward him with a jersey that isnt so tight,
And when it was over, Gonzaga coach Mark Few poured some verbal high fructose corn syrup on his press conference. He talked about all the lovey-dovey college stuff that makes people roll their eyes. But if you watched the game, you could see it. You could see what Few meant when he said this:
"The biggest thing with this win is, it allows this group to play together, which is the highest motivating factor theyve got going on. Were 40 minutes away from another week together. The way they feel about each other, care about each other and love each other, that is the motivating factor."
Thats nice, Coach, but those of us in the media will choose your motivating factors, OK? You just coach the team.
We have decided that your team's motivating factor is to bring Gonzaga to its first Final Four, thus legitimizing the incredible success the program has enjoyed for the last 17 years unless you then lose in the Final Four, at which point we will decide you need to win a national championship. Got it? Thats your narrative. Dont stray from it unless we give you permission.
Kidding aside, even Few would acknowledge that making the Final Four would mean so much for Gonzaganot just for the current players, but for all the former ones. And you know, its unlikely that the Bulldogs will beat Duke on Sunday, because the Blue Devils are the second-most talented team in the country and are playing extremely well. But its not impossible.
Duke has the nation's best post player in 6'11" freshmanJahlil Okaforbut does not have much depth behind him. And while Okafors defensive deficiencies have been overblown, he is always at risk of getting into foul trouble. With the 7'1"Karnowski and 6'10"Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga can make Okafor work on defense, and may be able to send him to the bench.
Thats where I think our teams deadly, said Zags star Kyle Wiltjer, who was speaking generally, not about Duke specifically. We have that depth and we can put really big foul pressure on other teams bigs. Sometimes we get easy baskets because they are scared theyre gonna foul.
Few called upon that strength during the only moment when there was any real tension in Friday's game, after the Bruins had gotten within one point two minutes into the second half. He called timeout, tweaked the Bulldogs' defense against pick-and-rolls and reminded his team to play inside-out.
We called a bunch of sets that pretty much demand the ball goes in there, Few said.
Gonzaga respondednot just by playing well, but by playing well in exactly the way Few wanted. As Wiltjer, the junior forward who finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, said: We really just stayed true to our values Were very confident. We believe that we belong here. Were playing with a chip on our shoulder.
Few said afterward: We didnt play perfect tonight. Probably didnt even play what we would consider really good. But we were tough and we were physical.
The Bulldogs werent very good, but they were good enough. Thats the sign of an outstanding team. They will have to be great to beat Duke. But know this: They will be ready. After all these years, give them that.
Fast Breaks: (1) Wisconsin vs. (2) Arizona preview
The Wisconsin Badgers will take on the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday in an Elite Eight matchup in the West region.
Duke held Gonzaga without a field goal in the final 6:40 of play on Sunday in Houston.
Duke was looking for its 12th Final Four berth. Gonzaga was looking for its first.
On Sunday in Houston, history repeated itself at NRG Stadium in the South Regional final. No. 1 Duke locked down the Bulldogs on defense and made free throws and clutch shots down the stretch to earn a 66-52 win over No. 2 Gonzaga, along with the last Final Four berth awarded in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Talented freshmen carried the day for Duke: Matt Jones (16 points, 4-for-7 from three) fired away from deep, Justise Winslow (16 points) mixed threes and free throws, and Tyus Jones contributed 15 points and six assists. That production made up from another relatively quiet game from Jahlil Okafor, who finished with just nine points and seven rebounds.
But it was defense that made the difference down the stretch for the Blue Devils, who held Gonzaga without a field goal for the final 6:40 of play, building a double-digit lead in the process. Bulldogs big men Przemek Karnowski and Domantas Sabonis combined for just 13 points, and while Kentucky transfer Kyle Wiltjer's 16 points led Gonzaga, only one other Zag, Byron Wesley, scored in double figures.
The victory gives Duke and Mike Krzyzewski 12 Final Four appearances, tying Coach K with John Wooden for the most Final Four appearances by a coach in college basketball history.
Here are three things we learned from Duke's latest Elite Eight win under Krzyzewski.
1. Duke can be great without much from Okafor
In 40 minutes against Gonzaga, Duke committed just three turnovers one in the first half (with 1:44 left on the clock), and two in the second, one of them deliberate. Gonzaga had 11.
That care taken with the ball helped make up for a relatively mortal day by Okafor, who struggled to find a rhythm against Gonzaga's bigs, and underwhelming shooting inside the arc, where the Blue Devils made only slightly more than a third of their shots. Duke took 56 shots to Gonzaga's 50, and 19 free throws to the Zags' nine; keeping the ball for long enough to take shots and get fouled was the main difference there.
2. Duke is immune to shooting struggles in Houston
The NCAA Tournament has made three trips to the Houston Texans' stadium for regional and Final Four play since 2010. The cavernous venue, and the use of huge black curtains to cover seats not sold for those games, have wreaked havoc on shooting percentages most notably in the 2011 NCAA Tournament final, a game in which UConn shot 34.5 percent from the field,nearly doubling Butler's wretched 18.8 percent shooting on the night.
But Duke? Duke has been just fine in Houston.
In four NCAA Tournament games in what was Reliant Stadium in 2010 and is NRG Stadium now, Duke has made 28-of-66 threes, and shot better than 40 percent from distance in three of four tries, including an 8-for-19 performance on Sunday. 10 other teams have had a combined 14 chances to shoot in Houston, and just one of those three-point performances, Baylor's 8-for-17 night against Saint Mary's in 2010, topped the 40 percent mark.
That magic the Blue Devils have at this venue has helped make them a perfect 4-0 in games in Houston since 2010, propelling them to two Final Fours.
3. Gonzaga just didn't have enough
Gonzaga had a chance to tie the game with just under five minutes to play on a Wiltjer layup, but he missed. From that point on, Duke would outscore the Zags 13-1.
And it wasn't shooting that got the Blue Devils those points: Duke made just two field goals in the final 6:40, while Gonzaga made none. But Duke, and especially Winslow, was able to drive on Gonzaga to create scoring opportunities at the line, while Gonzaga simply couldn't do the same with a team lacking in players capable of breaking down a defense off the dribble.
HOUSTON For a while Friday night, Gonzagas strategy seemed to be: Lets miss shots by a smaller margin than UCLA. Gonzaga struggled to put the ball in the basket. UCLA struggled to put the ball near the basket. For long stretches, it was the kind of ugly game that makes people question why basketball has to be played in a dome. Or at all, really.
And you know what? It didnt matter. The Bulldogs were never going to lose this game. Never. Not from the opening tip, not when the teams combined to miss 19 straight shots and not when the Bruins went on a predictable run to start the second half, cutting Gonzaga's seven-point halftime lead to 35-34.
The Bulldogs were the tougher, smarter, more skilled team, and they knew it all along. The difference in Gonzagas 74-62 win in the Sweet 16 of the South Regional could be summed up in two players. UCLA has a freshman named Kevon Looney who could be an NBA lottery pick this summer. He finished with nine points and eight rebounds, but there were members of the Gonzaga band who had a bigger impact on the game.
Meanwhile, Bulldogs center Przemek Karnowski had 18 points, nine rebounds and roughly 11 yells with his fists outhe was one rebound away from a Caveman Triple Double. He was fantastic. Somebody should reward him with a jersey that isnt so tight,
And when it was over, Gonzaga coach Mark Few poured some verbal high fructose corn syrup on his press conference. He talked about all the lovey-dovey college stuff that makes people roll their eyes. But if you watched the game, you could see it. You could see what Few meant when he said this:
"The biggest thing with this win is, it allows this group to play together, which is the highest motivating factor theyve got going on. Were 40 minutes away from another week together. The way they feel about each other, care about each other and love each other, that is the motivating factor."
Thats nice, Coach, but those of us in the media will choose your motivating factors, OK? You just coach the team.
We have decided that your team's motivating factor is to bring Gonzaga to its first Final Four, thus legitimizing the incredible success the program has enjoyed for the last 17 years unless you then lose in the Final Four, at which point we will decide you need to win a national championship. Got it? Thats your narrative. Dont stray from it unless we give you permission.
Kidding aside, even Few would acknowledge that making the Final Four would mean so much for Gonzaganot just for the current players, but for all the former ones. And you know, its unlikely that the Bulldogs will beat Duke on Sunday, because the Blue Devils are the second-most talented team in the country and are playing extremely well. But its not impossible.
Duke has the nation's best post player in 6'11" freshmanJahlil Okaforbut does not have much depth behind him. And while Okafors defensive deficiencies have been overblown, he is always at risk of getting into foul trouble. With the 7'1"Karnowski and 6'10"Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga can make Okafor work on defense, and may be able to send him to the bench.
Thats where I think our teams deadly, said Zags star Kyle Wiltjer, who was speaking generally, not about Duke specifically. We have that depth and we can put really big foul pressure on other teams bigs. Sometimes we get easy baskets because they are scared theyre gonna foul.
Few called upon that strength during the only moment when there was any real tension in Friday's game, after the Bruins had gotten within one point two minutes into the second half. He called timeout, tweaked the Bulldogs' defense against pick-and-rolls and reminded his team to play inside-out.
We called a bunch of sets that pretty much demand the ball goes in there, Few said.
Gonzaga respondednot just by playing well, but by playing well in exactly the way Few wanted. As Wiltjer, the junior forward who finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, said: We really just stayed true to our values Were very confident. We believe that we belong here. Were playing with a chip on our shoulder.
Few said afterward: We didnt play perfect tonight. Probably didnt even play what we would consider really good. But we were tough and we were physical.
The Bulldogs werent very good, but they were good enough. Thats the sign of an outstanding team. They will have to be great to beat Duke. But know this: They will be ready. After all these years, give them that.
Fast Breaks: (1) Wisconsin vs. (2) Arizona preview
The Wisconsin Badgers will take on the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday in an Elite Eight matchup in the West region.
