Drew Timme scored a game-high 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting as top overall seed Gonzaga cruised into the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, defeating fifth-seeded Creighton 83-65 Sunday in a West Region game in Indianapolis.
The Bulldogs (29-0), who have won their past 26 games by double-digit margins, will face the winner of Sunday's late game between Pacific-12 Conference rivals USC and Oregon for the regional title Tuesday and a berth in the Final Four.
Andrew Nembhard scored 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting with eight assists and Joel Ayayi added 13 points and eight rebounds for Gonzaga, which is seeking to become the first team to cap an undefeated season with a national title since Indiana in 1975-76.
Corey Kispert and Jalen Suggs, who along with Timme were named to the10-man Wooden All-American team, scored 12 and nine points, respectively. Suggs added six assists and five rebounds and Kispert grabbed seven rebounds. Timme had six rebounds and four assists.
Marcus Zegarowski led Creighton (22-9) with 19 points. Denzel Mahoney added 13 points and Christian Bishop scored 12 with five rebounds and three assists.
The Bulldogs never trailed.
Nembhard, whose younger brother Ryan has committed to Creighton, opened the scoring with a 3-pointer and made a dunk on a fast break to give Gonzaga an early 9-2 lead.
Creighton rallied to pull within 27-25 on a Zegarowski 3-pointer, but the Bluejays missed their next nine field-goal attempts.
Gonzaga led 43-33 at the half despite Kispert, a finalist for the Wooden Award as the national player of the year, attempting only one field goal and scoring two points.
Nembhard opened the second half with a layup off an offensive rebound and Kispert followed with a pull-up jumper and the Bluejays never got within 12 points the rest of the way.
Gonzaga led by as many as 27 points, 80-53, with 4:42 remaining.
The Bulldogs shot 59.6 percent from the field (34 of 57) and outscored Creighton 50-30 in the paint. Gonzaga also had a 14-0 edge in fast-break points.
--Field Level Media
Creighton | Gonzaga | |
Marcus Zegarowski 19 | Scoring | Drew Timme 22 |
Mitch Ballock 3 | Assists | Andrew Nembhard 8 |
Christian Bishop 5 | Rebounds | Joel Ayayi 8 |
Antwann Jones 2 | Free Throws Made | Jalen Suggs 3 |
Damien Jefferson 3 | Steals | Corey Kispert 2 |
N/A | Blocks | Ben Gregg 1 |