Gonzaga Survives Rock Fight With Kennesaw State in Round of 64
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Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Davis Fogle (4) dunks against the Kennesaw State Owls during the second half of a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images [/caption]
PORTLAND, Ore. – You couldn’t dream of a choppier start to the NCAA Tournament for 3-seed Gonzaga in its first-round contest against 14-seed Kennesaw State. Connecting on just four of their first 20 shots from the field and not hitting their first three until the final minute of the first half, the Bulldogs’ shooting was anemic to start the game. Their offense was stagnant, congested, and collected as the Owls dragged the Zags into a slog, with neither team maintaining rhythm in its half-court offense.
But despite KSU leading for the majority of the first half, GU stayed at arm's length throughout. Then, Gonzaga began to play better off its exceptional defense and took a 10-0 run into halftime, riding that momentum out of the locker room into a 74-63 win. It marked the 17th straight season of the Bulldogs advancing from the first round of the tournament, and in a climate of higher seeds being upset, they will take the wins — no matter what they look like.
“I always, always understand just how hard it is to win a game in this tournament. So I think that’s one of the things I’m most proud of...” head coach Mark Few said. “I’m really happy we got through this one. It wasn't pretty, but bottom line is you just win, and now we get to move on.”
As expected, Kennesaw State committed a lot of bodies to Ike and did about as well as it could’ve hoped against the Third-Team All-American. Ike finished with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting while pulling in eight rebounds, but he didn’t have a true dominant stretch like in so many other games this season due to the physicality he faced. And for most of the night, the other Zags weren’t punishing their opponent for loading the paint.
There was a real lack of ball movement. In the first 17 minutes, GU had only four assists to five turnovers, with a couple of botched lob tries being direct consequences. That’s not to mention the scarce attempts to attack downhill, while the Bulldogs were also initially losing the rebounding battle as well. The latter has been a rarity for them this season, but the Owls entered play as the eighth-best offensive rebounding team in the country.
“We were really soft on the offensive end,” Few said.
Save for some impressive shotmaking by freshman Kaden Rickard on the other end, KSU was struggling offensively as well. Gonzaga did a great job of constricting space and contesting shots, limiting Kennesaw State’s chances for easy buckets. Having 43% of its team’s shot diet consisting of shots from deep on the year, just like the Zags, Kennesaw State couldn’t hit a three to save its life, ending the night 3-for-17 on triples.
Ike checking out with about three minutes to go in the first half actually coincided with the 10-0 run. Picking up the pace, the Bulldogs created some transition buckets for the first time and competed better on the boards. They finished the night winning the rebounding battle 45-34, with Jalen Warley’s 12-point, 12-rebound double-double playing a huge part in that. And by creating more dribble penetration, GU drew more fouls on a grabby Owls squad and drained 20 of 23 free throw attempts, one of the better marks of its season.
The stretch was capped by a three from freshman Davis Fogle, the first of the game for GU. Continuing to play that way out of the locker room, they opened the lead up to nine points, the largest by either team to that point.
But then the offense fell cold again, missing 10 consecutive field goal attempts that allowed KSU to creep back into the game. Its leading scorer, broad-shouldered RJ Johnson, put together a sequence of tough finishes over contact that trimmed his team’s deficit to one. So needing a final push to survive, just like in its most recent game against Santa Clara, Gonzaga called on its two budding freshmen to seal the victory.
Despite fouling out and shooting 2-of-11 from the field, Mario Saint-Supéry dished out eight of the team’s 17 assists, the second-highest total of his career and most he’s logged since the win over Maryland on November 25. Fogle was right behind Ike in scoring, contributing 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting for his 12th double-digit performance this season. During the final stretch of the game, he flushed a couple of dunks — including a lob from Saint-Supéry — and made a strong
Last week, Ike said the first-year pair weren’t freshmen anymore based on how they stepped up to capture the WCC title, and he stood on that statement tonight.
“They showed a lot of confidence, and they just stuck with it throughout certain things maybe not going their way,” Ike said. “They still made plays, next-play mentality, which was huge, and ultimately we came out with a dub, and they had a big part in that.”
The Zags will need those two to continue to produce going forward, as they will take on Texas in the Round of 32 on Saturday at 4:10 PM PT. Possessing a potent starting lineup, the Longhorns present a difficult task for a Bulldogs’ defense that will need to stack yet another strong showing to advance to the Sweet 16.
