Hands up, who thought that Gonzaga Basketball truly had a chance to beat the Kentucky Wildcats on the road Saturday night? I certainly didn't, not after seeing how they looked against any of the other top-150 teams in the country. It was one thing to destroy teams like Portland, LMU, and Pepperdine.
It's another team to not only beat the No. 1 scoring offense in the country, but to do it on the road. The Bulldogs looked to be up to the challenge early on, up 13-6 early through the first frame and leading throughout the first half, up by as much as 11 points.
However, led by freshman Reed Sheppard, the Wildcats made a furious 12-0 run to take the lead, midway through the second half. It looked as of Gonzaga was set to get run out of the building the rest of the way. Yet shame on me and others for doubting future HOF coach Mark Few, who found a way to get the Bulldogs back on track to retake the lead and through a stressful final few minutes, held on for the 89-85 road win.
As everyone has noted, this was the first Quad 1 victory for Gonzaga, and likely kept them alive for an at-large bid and not needing the WCC Tournament (for now) to keep its streak of NCAA Tournament appearances going. They still have plenty of work to do but as Saturday showed, they're still capable of pulling off big wins.
Here's a list of reasons how.