SAN FRANCISCO. Twenty years ago, Eric Musselman was introduced as the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors. And two years later, he was fired for missing the playoffs in two consecutive seasons.
On Thursday night, however, Musselman found success in the Bay Area when he led his Arkansas team to a 74-68 victory over Gonzaga, the top seed in the NCAA Tournament and nationally ranked second last year.
Arkansas heads to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row, but only the third time since 1995.
Gonzaga got in late with a three-point finish when Andrew Nembhard hit a three-pointer with 16.5 seconds left in the game. But Chris Likes, an 87% free-kick shooter, paired up to push the Razorbacks lead to five. Blocking O’Deas Toney to Nembhard’s layup on the other end ended any hope of a Bulldogs comeback. Dunk Tony a second before the game focused on this moment.
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Arkansas was successful in this game with a couple of significant runs.
In the first half, Chet Holmgren — a projected top three pick this summer in ESPN’s last tryout draft — got his second foul with Gonzaga leading 22-17 and didn’t come back until the second half. Arkansas then went 15–7 ahead, turning the game in their favor.
Holmgren committed his fourth foul midway through the second half and Arkansas extended their lead to eight points shortly after he left the game. Holmgren eventually fouled with 3:29 left in the game.
JD Notae eclipsed everyone with 21 points. Notae averaged 17.5 points thanks to his team’s first and second round victories over Vermont and New Mexico State. He was warm on the pitch, shooting only 9 of 29, but he seemed to be in every game at both ends of the floor. A fake three-pointer with 6:33 left in the game increased Arkansas’ lead to nine points.
• 8.3% of participants moved Arkansas to Elite 8 (3.7% moved up one step to Final 4)
• Gonzaga was selected to win everything in 22.8% of the bracket, the highest ever.
• In 64.9% of the draws, Gonzaga, Baylor or Kentucky entered the right side of the draw and played in the final. None of them will play the second weekend, let alone the final game.
• Final Four options from the Western Region (percentage of groups in which they were selected to do so): Duke 17.2%; Texas Institute of Technology 10.6%; Arkansas: 3.7%
— Out of 17,357,209 male groups featured on ESPN.com.
Close to the five-minute mark, he cleared a loose ball and Jaylin Williams hit a three-pointer to extend Arkansas’ lead again. Notes were everywhere. It was his drive that cost Holmgren the fifth foul.
Jaylene Williams, an NBA prospect, scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Trey Wade scored 15 points.
Gonzaga entered this tournament as the favorite to win him. Mark Few has led his team to two of the last four National Championship games. With the return of Timme and the arrival of Holmgren, the Bulldogs clearly had the makings of a real contender.
In the end, however, Gonzaga missed due to too many shots on Thursday night. The Bulldogs entered the game shooting 37.2% from the 3-point line, their 25th-best record nationally, but they missed 15 of their first 19 3-point attempts against the Razorbacks, who will play the Texas Tech Duke winner on Saturday. . .
Timme (25 points) did his best. But trouble with the foul put Holmgren in a difficult position and limited his options. Timme and Nembhard also had five losses. It just wasn’t Gonzaga’s night. And when that happens in the NCAA tournament, the morning isn’t the best either.
It is unclear what will happen next with Gonzaga. Timme could come back or pursue his dream of playing at the next level. Holmgren (11 points, 14 rebounds) is likely to be selected for the NBA draft. And Few will try to make another try for his school’s first national championship.
With Thursday’s win, Musselman continues to play full circle after his team knocked out Gonzaga and smashed many nets.
“The day I was fired from the Warriors, I thought I would coach Sweet 16 in the Bay Area,” Musselman told reporters on Wednesday. “If anyone had asked me at this particular time, I would have said im there. there was zero chance. Not five percent, not 10 percent. Literally zero chance.”