The Gonzaga men’s basketball team held its nerve on Saturday evening inside Rupp Arena.
Despite wasting away a 10-point halftime lead, the Bulldogs outmuscled Kentucky on the interior and were nearly flawless from the foul line in a 89-85 win over No. 17 Kentucky inside Rupp Arena.
Led by Graham Ike’s 25 points and Ryan Nembhard’s nine assists, the Bulldogs pulled through with key late-game execution on both ends of the court for a crucial Quad 1 win (per the NCAA NET rankings) that will boost their NCAA Tournament hopes.
Gonzaga shot just 4-for-18 (22.2%) on 3-pointers, but the Zags went 28-for-50 (56%) on 2-pointers and 21-for-24 (87.5%) on free throws. Another key to the road win was a 43-31 rebounding advantage enjoyed by Gonzaga, including 18 offensive boards.
One of these metrics was to be expected: Gonzaga entered this weekend as a top-10 team in the nation when shooting 2-point field goals. The other one? Not so much: Gonzaga was a 69.7% free-throw shooting team entering Saturday’s game.