(Photo: NCAA; Story: Gonzaga Athletics)
#1 Gonzaga (37-1) vs. #1 North Carolina (32-7)
MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2017 | 6:20 P.M. | GLENDALE, AZ | UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX STADIUM
TELEVISION: CBS (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson)
LIVE VIDEO: NCAA March Madness Live
LIVE STATS: GoZags.com
ABOUT THE SERIES
- This is the third meeting between Gonzaga and North Carolina.
- The Bulldogs and UNC split the two previous meetings.
- Gonzaga beat the Tar Heels in the 2006 Preseason NIT semifinals, 82-74, in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
- In 2009, North Carolina beat the Zags, 98-77, in the Sweet 16.
ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA
- The top-seeded Tar Heels held off third-seeded Oregon in the second national semifinal Saturday, 77-76.
- Kennedy Meeks led UNC with 25 points and 14 rebounds. He went 11-of-13 from the field.
- Justin Jackson added 22 points with four three-pointers. Theo Pinson had five assists and eight boards.
- Jackson leads North Carolina with an average of 18.3 points per game.
- Joel Berry II adds 14.5 points per game and 132 total assists this season.
- Meeks chips in 12.7 points per outing and a team-high 9.4 rebounds per game. He also has 45 blocks this season.
- North Carolina tops the nation with 43.67 rebounds per game, 15.77 offensive rebounds per game and a 12.7 rebound margin. The Tar Heels are fourth in the nation averaging 18.1 assists per contest.
NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES
- Gonzaga is making its 19th consecutive NCAA Tournament Appearance and 20th overall.
- The 19 straight berths to the field is the fourth-longest current streak in the nation (Kansas, Duke, Michigan State).
- Gonzaga is 29-19 all-time in 20 NCAA Tournament appearances with eight trips to the Sweet 16, three trips to the Elite Eight and now a spot in the Final Four.
- GU is only the eighth team to reach the Final Four with one or fewer losses since the tournament expanded in 1985.
- The Zags are the first team from the state of Washington to make the Final Four since 1958 (Seattle University).
- Gonzaga is the first West Coast Conference team to make the Final Four since San Francisco in 1957.
- GU is 26-17 in the NCAA Tournament under Mark Few with a berth in all 18 seasons of Few’s head coaching career.
- GU is 0-7 against one seeds in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs fell to Duke in the South Regional Finals in 2015, 66-52, in Houston, Texas.
- Gonzaga is 20-13 all-time as a single-digit seed, with an 11-2 record in its first round game as a single-digit seed, 7-7 in the round-of-32, 2-2 in regional semifinal games, 1-1 in regional final games and now 1-0 in national semifinal games.
- The Bulldogs are one of only three programs to appear in the Sweet 16 in each of the last three seasons. Wisconsin and North Carolina are the other two programs.
- Gonzaga is one of only two teams to win its opening-round NCAA Tournament game each of the last nine seasons. Kansas is the other program.
- The Bulldogs receive a one-seed for the second time in program history. The 2012-13 Zags defeated [16] Southern as the top-seed in the West, before falling to [9] Wichita State. Both of those games were played in Salt Lake City.
- Gonzaga has played more NCAA Tournament games in Salt Lake City than any other site, winning six of the nine games played there.
- Last season, [11] Gonzaga defeated [6] Seton Hall and [3] Utah in Denver, Colo., to advance to the Sweet 16 where it fell to [10] Syracuse.
ANOTHER PROGRAM RECORD
- GU won its 37th game of the season against South Carolina, setting a new record for the most victories in a season in program history.
- Gonzaga is one win away from equaling the most wins ever by a Div. I in a single season.
- GU is only the fourth team to reach the national championship game with one or fewer losses since the tournament expanded in 1985.
- The 2014-15 Bulldogs finished the season in the Elite Eight at 35-3.
- Gonzaga also reached the 1,600-win plateau in program history with its win over Northwestern.
- The Zags boast a 1,603-1,088 all-time record, a .595 winning percentage.
NOT BAD FOR A FRESHMAN
- Zach Collins recorded his first collegiate double-double in Thursday’s national semifinal.
- The freshman pulled down 13 boards and scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
- The Las Vegas native became only the third player in Final Four history to score 10 points, grab 10 rebounds and make five blocks. (Danny Manning and Anthony Davis)
- He also blocked a career-high six shots, and has 15 blocks in the NCAA Tournament. He is just two blocks shy of tying the program’s record for most blocks in the NCAA Tournament over a career.
