Gonzaga routs Creighton to reach Elite Eight: Scores, stats, highlights and 3 things we learned

Gonzaga steamrolled Creighton to easily advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and there may be no challenger for Mark Few’s team in March Madness. 

The biggest line on the board for the Sweet 16 was Gonzaga laying nearly 14 points against Creighton. The oddsmakers were dead on as the Bulldogs barely broke a sweat in their dominant 83-65 win over the Bluejays, picking up where they left off on the first weekend to easily advance to the Elite Eight. This marks the 26th straight win by double-digits for Gonzaga, the longest streak in D-1 in 60 years.

The win helped Gonzaga improve to 29-0 on the season as they now stand just three wins away from becoming the first team since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers to complete a perfect season.

Highlights from Gonzaga’s win over Creighton

This game was over in the opening minutes when Gonzaga set the tone early and didn’t let up.

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Joel Ayayi hit a trio of 3-pointers, albeit on 10 attempts.

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Jaylen Suggs didn’t have his best game (9-6-5) but flashed the talent level that made him a five-star recruit.

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Let’s take a look at what we learned from this matchup with some key takeaways.

3 key takeaways from Gonzaga’s blowout win over Creighton

3. Don’t forget about Gonzaga’s inside presence

While the Bulldogs draw a ton of hype for their modern approach to offense, Mark Few’s team does have a strong interior presence. Drew Timme feasted on Creighton’s smaller interior players, racking up 22 points and six rebounds as the Bluejays couldn’t slow him down.

The fact that Gonzaga has the ability to beat teams down low is problematic for teams that have tried a small-ball approach to outshoot the Bulldogs. Getting big-time production out of guys like Timme will force opposing defenses to stay honest against post play, making it tough to collapse on Gonzaga’s outside shooters.

2. Creighton was doomed from the opening tip

The Bluejays got off to a brutal start, missing open threes and failing to get back in transition as the Bulldogs got down the court quickly to get easy layups. Head coach Gregg McDermott burned a timeout just two minutes and 24 seconds into the game, a sign that he was very concerned about the pace his team was playing at.

Without an inside presence to threaten them, Gonzaga made it a point to crash on Creighton’s three-point shooters and it paid off as the Bluejays knocked down just 5-of-23 three-point attempts. When Creighton’s questionable defense was factored into the equation it became clear that the Bluejays were doomed once their threes weren’t falling.

1. Gonzaga still hasn’t been pushed in the NCAA Tournament

We have now seen Gonzaga play three games in Indianapolis and win all of them by at least 16 points. That level of dominance makes the Bulldogs a scary foe but they haven’t been challenged at all, making it an open question about what will happen to Gonzaga the first time they really get punched in the mouth.

Other teams in the field have faced their fair share of adversity, including Baylor, which struggled against Villanova before finding another gear to win yesterday. The Bulldogs haven’t faced the pressure of being in real jeopardy of losing a win-or-go-home game yet and today’s game didn’t do much to show how Gonzaga will fare if their season is in danger.

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