Gonzaga went into the 1st round after winning the West Coast Conference Tournament for the fourth year in a row. They would enter as the number eleven seed where they would play the number six seeded Seton Hall out of the Big East Conference. Gonzaga had two loses in three games in February where they lost to conference foes St. Mary’s and Brigham Young University. Gonzaga finished 15-3 in the WCC, tied for first place with St. Mary’s. Seton Hall was kind of a conference tournament Cinderella story. They beat Creighton, Xavier, and the eventual #2 seed Villanova in the Big East Finals.

Prior to the WCC Conference Tournament, Gonzaga was not a shoe-in to make the tournament. It looked as if St. Mary’s would make the tournament instead; however, St. Mary’s would be a first four out team.

Gonzaga was led by Lithuania native Demantas Sabonis, who ended up scoring 21 points for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Gonzaga, who led at halftime 35-25, controlled the game from the start. Isaiah Whitehead, who was Seton Hall’s leading scorer with only ten points in the game stated, “I’ve faced some of the toughest defensive groups in the country, playing in the Big East… This is probably my worst shooting performance, but I think it was just more missing shots. I had some good looks, just was an off night.”

Gonzaga moves on to play the #3-seeded Utah Utes on Saturday night from Denver with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.