PORTLAND, Ore. — The Gonzaga Bulldogs are headed to Portland as the overall number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Zags will face No. 16 seed Georgia State Panthers in the first round.
Gonzaga’s head coach Mark Few has said he isn’t one to look at the road ahead in the NCAA Tournament, but Gonzaga is a 24.5-point favorite in the game. A loss by the Bulldogs would likely be considered the biggest upset in tournament history.
Gonzaga will be looking to set a tone for the rest of the tournament, which they are also favored to win. Look for Gonzaga to get the ball to Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren in the early going.
Game time and how to watch
For those of you wondering what channel the Gonzaga-Georgia State men’s basketball game is on, here are the details:
The Gonzaga vs Georgia State NCAA Tournament game will be aired on TNT. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. PDT on Thursday, March 17.
The game will also stream live on mobile, tablet, and web with the NCAA’s March Madness Live. Live streams are also available on Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV.
Bulldogs vs Panthers
2022 marks the 23rd consecutive season the Zags will compete in the NCAA Tournament and the 24th time in program history. Head coach Mark Few has never missed the NCAA Tournament in his tenure.
Gonzaga enters the tournament fresh off a West Coast Conference Championship, where the Bulldogs avenged a loss to Saint Mary’s in the final game in Las Vegas.
At 26-3, Gonzaga ended the regular season as the top-ranked team in college basketball. It is a familiar spot for the Bulldogs, who made it to the NCAA Championship game last year as a top seed. While some players remain from last year’s run, this team is built differently.
Whereas last year’s team nearly ran through the season undefeated, this year’s Zags team took some time to find itself. Gonzaga lost two games early on to very good teams in Duke and Alabama, before putting together a dominant stretch where it won 17 games in a row.
Despite the winning streak and confidence going in, Few said to be successful in the tournament the team needs to take it one game at a time.
"It's a fool's errand to look down the road," Few said in a post-selection press conference. "There are so many good teams and so many good players."
Gonzaga is led by junior forward Drew Timme, freshman center Chet Holmgren, and senior guard Andrew Nembhard.
Georgia State enters the game after winning the Sun Belt Tournament Championship. The Panthers beat Louisiana 80-71.
Georgia State is 18-10 on the season but has been playing much better lately. They finished the season winning 12 of their last 13 games.