clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Baylor crushes Gonzaga’s dream of an undefeated season

The Bears won their first national championship in program history.

NCAA Basketball: Final Four-Baylor vs Gonzaga Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

The Baylor Bears and Gonzaga Bulldogs were by far the best two teams in the NCAA all season.

Baylor arguably may have entered the NCAA Championship undefeated as well if it hadn’t been for their disruptive stretch of the season due to Covid-19 protocols.

The Zags came in having won all 31 games.

However, while the Bears opponent came in undefeated, they made sure it didn’t stay that way. From the opening tip, the Bears were the more dominant team. They were up 16-4 and then 29-10 in the first half.

They just looked like the more athletic and dominant side, causing havoc virtually on every possession. While that did lead to fouls, it didn’t hurt them too much. The Bears quickness completely took Drew Timme out of his rhythm. Jalen Suggs was really the one that got much of anything going.

The two teams did go into halftime with just a 10-point gap separating them.

With a chance to get it down to single digits late in the game if they had hit their free throws, both after shooting fouls and on the front end of a 1-and-1, the Zags just let the game completely slip away.

The Bears ended up winning 86-70. Coming in as five-point underdogs, no one expected Baylor to be this dominant. The Baylor Bears are the champions of college basketball, and hats off to them for a terrific season.