Baylor ruins Gonzaga’s bid for perfection, routs Bulldogs in national title game

The pursuit by Gonzaga to become college basketball’s first undefeated national champion in 45 years was rudely sidetracked Monday night by the tough, physical and precise play of Baylor.

The Bears, considered the nation’s second-best team all season, rose to the top of the mountain at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, riding a strong defense that totally took the Zags out of their game and getting a strong game from guard Jared Butler in an 86-70 victory that earned them their first national championship in men’s basketball.

The Bears (28-2), who defeated Villanova on their six-game road to the title, rolled through the Final Four, first with a convincing victory over Houston, then an excellent performance against the Bulldogs (31-1), seeking to be the first unbeaten national champion since Indiana in 1976.

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“All year long, this is what they do,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said of his players. “We have a starting rotation and each night might be someone different, but they all sacrifice for each other all year long.

“I’ve said it before — if you’re going to be in a bubble for three, four weeks, you’d better be with people you love. Spending time with these guys, they’re unbelievable people — great basketball players, better people.”

Baylor got off to a 9-0 start and led 29-10 about 10 minutes into the game. The Zags’ smooth cutting and passing was no match for the physical defense of the Bears, who would hold a double-digit lead the rest of the way except for a 26-second stretch early in the second half when Gonzaga got to within nine, 58-49, with 14 minutes, 29 seconds to play.

But Baylor got the lead back up to 20 about four minutes later and was never threatened again.

“It’s a really, really tough one to end a storybook season on, but Baylor just beat us,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “They beat us in every facet of the game tonight and deserve all the credit.

“Obviously we’re all disappointed in here, but as I told the guys, you make it this far and you’re 31-0 going into the last one, the last 40 minutes of the season. There’s absolutely nothing you should ever feel bad about, and they’ll look back on this season as time passes as something amazing and incredible.”

Butler led the Bears with 22 points and seven assists, knocking down four three-pointers. MaCio Teague added 19 points and Davion Mitchell, the third member of Baylor’s excellent guard trio, contributed 15 points, six rebounds, and five assists.

Jalen Suggs, whose memorable 35-foot bank shot at the overtime buzzer propelled Gonzaga into the championship game, led his team with 22 points. But the Zags’ top two scorers struggled. Drew Timme, who came in averaging 22.0 points in the NCAA Tournament, had only seven shots and 12 points, and Corey Kispert also added 12.

The question of whether Gonzaga would feel the after-effects of its exhilarating but physically draining 93-90 overtime win over UCLA two nights earlier was answered in the affirmative for the first 10 minutes of the game.

The Bears came out and were quicker and more physical than the Zags. They scored the first nine points of the game. When Adam Flagler knocked down a three-point basket to give Baylor a 23-8 advantage, Gonzaga was facing its largest deficit of the season.

The Bears kept their foot on the gas and took their largest lead at 19, 29-10, on Teague’s three-pointer with 10:04 remaining. At this point in the game, Baylor was 11 of 20 from the field and had drained all five of its three-point attempts.

The Bears would lead by 19 on two more occasions, the last time at 35-16 with 6:30 remaining in the half. At this point, however, the Zags were settling down and prepared to whittle down the deficit.

Scoring on five straight possessions, Gonzaga put together a 10-3 run capped by a dunk from Joel Ayayi off Kispert’s steal and trailed 38-26 with 3:41 left. Defensively, the Zags had switched to a zone that limited the Bears to two field goals in a four-minute span.

Teague would find a hole in the zone and drain three consecutive jumpers, one a three-pointer, to build Baylor’s lead back to 17, 45-28, with 2:16 to play but Gonzaga closed the half with a 9-2 run. In the final 38 seconds, Suggs converted a conventional three-point play and Anton Watson converted a Baylor turnover with a layup just before the buzzer, and the Zags had the deficit down to a manageable 10.

Gonzaga capitalized on a 12-2 edge on free-throw shooting to make it a closer game in the first half than the stats would indicate. The Zags sank only one three-point basket in the first half and committed eight turnovers.

Gonzaga was more aggressive in the second half, with its first six baskets coming on layups. Suggs made three, and a layup by Andrew Nembhard with 14:29 left brought the Zags to within 58-49, the first time the margin had been less than 10 since it was 13-4 five minutes into the game.

But the Bears answered with a 15-4 run over the next four minutes and extended their lead to 73-53 with 10:39 left on Mitchell’s two free throws. The closest Gonzaga would get would be75-62 on Kispert’s three-pointer with 7:06 to play but that was it.