Watch: Gonzaga shocks Kansas with 15-0, 14-0 runs to pull away
For 21 minutes, Kansas-Gonzaga was a tight, back-and-forth battle. Then the Bulldogs went on a huge run.
Trailing 49-48, Gonzaga locked down on defense and simply stopped missing on offense. For a 4:34 stretch, Gonzaga hit five straight shots from the field, adding a pair of free throws. Meanwhile, Kansas missed 10 straight shot with four of those misses coming from star freshman Johnny Furphy.
Kansas head coach Bill Self was helpless to stop the disaster from unfolding. There were two timeouts during the 15-0 run and neither helped the Jayhawks turn it around.
He used his last timeout with more than 10 minutes remaining in the game after a Ben Gregg three-pointer extended Gonzaga's lead to 18 points.
The Jayhawks never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way, ultimately losing 89-68. After the 15-0 run, Kansas scored twice. Then Gonzaga answered with a 14-0 run. Overall, for a 12:40 stretch of game action, Kansas made only three baskets and got outscored 32-6.
Gonzaga shot a ridiculous 60.3 percent from the floor, led by Anton Watson's 21 points and Ryan Nembhard's 12 assists. But it felt like the 15-0 run simply stunned Kansas, and by the time the 14-0 run occurred, the numb Jayhawks just wanted things to be over.
This is the ninth straight Sweet Sixteen appearance for head coach Mark Few and Gonzaga, who have the most March Madness wins since 2015. They are 27-8 overall during that span.
It's the fourth second-round exit in five years for Self and Kansas. Lucky for him, when they did make the Sweet Sixteen in 2022, they won the whole thing.
Self's teams have been all or nothing — especially during the second half on Saturday.
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