UCLA Basketball will look to pull off all-time upset over Gonzaga

After becoming just the second team to ever go from the First Four to the Final Four, UCLA Basketball will face its greatest challenge yet in the quest for a 12th national championship in the form of the top-ranked, undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The Bruins‘ improbable Cinderella run to the Final Four – which saw tournament-opening victories over Michigan State, BYU, and Abilene Christian – was most recently capped off by two thrilling, unexpected wins over SEC regular-season champions Alabama and Big Ten regular-season champions Michigan.

After narrowly escaping the Crimson Tide in overtime, UCLA overcame the daunting task of taking down the top-seeded Wolverines in an offensive struggle, in a 51-49 victory that saw the Bruins avoid two potential buzzer-beaters.  With just their starting five providing offensive production, it was the heroics of Johnny Juzang and Tyger Campbell – who recorded 39 of UCLA’s 51 points with 28 and 11, respectively – that catapulted the Bruins to the win.

UCLA struggled mightily on the offensive end, shooting just 43.9% inside the perimeter and 23.1% outside on 0.86 points per possession – but the Bruins’ defense was impeccable, holding college basketball’s ninth-most efficient offense to a season-low in points.  On top of that, the Bruins shut down an offense that ranks in the top 50 nationally in shooting percentages, keeping the Wolverines to clips of 42.5% (2PT) and 27.3% (3PT).

The Bruins will now face the best team in the nation in Gonzaga.  Looking to become the first team since the 1976 Indiana team to claim the national championship while undefeated, the Bulldogs have cemented themselves as one of the most dominant teams in the history of college basketball, and that has shown in the NCAA Tournament.

Owning wins in the tourney over Norfolk State, Oklahoma, Creighton, and USC, Gonzaga has knocked off all four teams by an average of 24 points.  The Bulldogs’ most recent win over the Trojans was one of their most impressive yet, considering Gonzaga tied their fifth-worst shooting performance of the season with a 50.0% FG clip – and still knocked off sixth-seeded USC by an 85-66 margin.

Much of what has made Gonzaga so successful all year was on full display against USC, where the Bulldogs locked down a top-15 efficient offense while earning double-digit efforts from Drew Timme (23 points on 10-18 2PT), Jalen Suggs (18 points, 10 boards, eight assists), and Corey Kispert (18 points, eight rebounds).  The Zags’ deadly offense was impeccably efficient, dishing out 21 assists on 33 made field goals while averaging 1.18 points per possession.

It is no mystery that these two programs have history – and no greater example of the heated west coast rivalry is more prevalent than the 2006 Sweet Sixteen duel between UCLA and Gonzaga, in arguably one of the greatest college basketball games of all-time.  The Bruins, once down by 17, stormed back by scoring the game’s final 11 points to escape with a 73-71 win that ended Adam Morrison’s storied Gonzaga career – and delivered one of the most climactic endings, complemented by Gus Johnson’s call and the infamous shot of Morrison crying on the court.

This is now just the sixth meeting between the two squads, and obviously, the circumstances are now different – the once-heralded Cinderellas in Gonzaga are the dominant force in college basketball, whereas the game’s most-renowned program in UCLA is now the underdog.  To state the obvious: this is a beyond difficult hurdle for the Bruins to overcome.

But they have proven the college basketball world on numerous occasions already this tournament – and if they follow a handful of keys, they could produce one of the greatest upsets ever in sports.