WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — It was a fun day for Khalif Battle and Gonzaga.
Battle scored 24 points, Nolan Hickman had 18, and the eighth-seeded Zags routed Georgia 89-68 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
Battle went 9 for 13 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds in his first March Madness game in his sixth season of college basketball. The graduate student played for Butler, Temple and Arkansas before joining the Bulldogs.
He gave Gonzaga coach Mark Few a high-five as he ran down the court after making one of his four 3-pointers.
“It felt good, I can’t put it into words,” Battle said. “You’ve kind of been watching this as a kid. ... So to be dancing with these guys is special. And I'd run through a wall for them any day after I have the jersey on. So it’s been special for me, and I just want to keep on dancing.”
Braden Huff added 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting as Gonzaga (26-8) advanced to an intriguing second-round matchup with top-seeded Houston. The Cougars rolled to a 78-40 victory over SIU Edwardsville.
The Zags used a sharp, focused performance to move into the second round for the 22nd time since Few took over as coach in 1999. They went 12 for 20 from 3-point range and shot 55% from the field overall.
“Couldn’t be happier," Few said. "We played a great first half on both ends of the floor, and I thought our defense was solid throughout the whole night, and I’m happy our guys took the plan and executed it perfectly.”
Asa Newell scored 20 points for Georgia (20-13), one of a record 14 SEC teams that made the field for the tournament. Silas Demary Jr. had 15 points.
“It was a tough day, you know, for our program, for this team, didn’t see that coming, didn’t anticipate that outcome, obviously, especially the first 10 minutes of the game," Georgia coach Mike White said.
Georgia got off to a slow start, and Gonzaga took advantage. It was 13-0 by the first media timeout. Ben Gregg's layup made it 27-3 with 11:44 left.
Gonzaga opened its biggest lead at 76-50 midway through the second half.
Georgia shot 35% (21 for 60) from the field. It was 5 for 26 from 3-point range.
A contrast of programs
It was the 25th straight NCAA Tournament appearance for Gonzaga, and Georgia made the field for the first time since 2015.
Takeaways
Georgia: It was a rough finish to the season for the Bulldogs, who dropped six of their last 10 games.
Gonzaga: Battle, Hickman, and Huff combined for 60 points as Gonzaga led from wire to wire.
Up next
Gonzaga will look to make it to the Sweet 16 for the 10th straight season.
