SPOKANE, Wash. — 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.
Tipoff of the Gonzaga-Georgia State game is set for 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 17. The game will air live on TNT.
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-selections press conference. "There are so many good teams and so many good players."
WATCH: Gonzaga Basketball: NCAA Tournament Press Conference: Chet Holmgren, Drew Timme, Mark Few and more
Gonzaga is led by junior forward Drew Timme, freshman center Chet Holmgren, and senior guard Andrew Nembhard. Both Timme and Holmgren are semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year.
Drew Timme
Timme put together another strong season, winning WCC Player of the Year honors. Timme has averaged 17.5 points per game this season, along with 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and nearly a block a game. He also shot 58.8% from the field.
Timme has struggled a bit recently, specifically against Saint Mary’s, where he scored just 10 points and 6 points in their last two match-ups.
Chet Holmgren
Holmgren, who many project as the top seed in the NBA draft, has had a standout freshman season. He was named Defensive Player of the Year for the West Coast Conference and named Newcomer of the Year.
Holmgren has averaged 14.2 points per game this season along with 9.6 rebounds per game. He has proven difficult to guard, as the 7’ center looks just as comfortable in the paint as he does from the three-point line, where he is shooting over 41%.
Holmgren has been even more spectacular on the defensive end of the court. The freshman is averaging 3.6 blocks per game, and his 104 total blocks are fourth in the nation.
Like Timme, Holmgren struggled in the last two matchups with Saint Mary’s. Holmgren put up just 8 points and 6 points in those games, while dealing with foul trouble.
As a freshman, this will be Holmgren's first time playing in the NCAA Tournament, and it's a moment he's thought about for a long time.
"It's a lot of fun to do it with this group of guys, with this coaching staff," Holmgren said in a press conference. "If I think back to me as a little kid, I definitely wouldn't see myself here."
Andrew Nembhard
Andrew Nembhard has stepped up his game this season, with the senior guard setting career highs in points per game (11.7), assists (5.7), rebounds (3.2), and steals (1.6).
Nembhard was named to the All-WCC Men's Basketball First Team and is a finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year award.