Arkansas stuns top-seeded Gonzaga, punches ticket to Elite Eight

The Arkansas Razorbacks stunned the top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday night, pulling out a 74-68 win that is sure to burn brackets across the country. With the upset victory, Arkansas advanced to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season. The Razorbacks forced the Zags into 15 turnovers and the Hogs played impressive defense all night long.

Arkansas was paced by 21 points from their star guard, JD Notae. While he poured in 21 points, he did so on 9-of-29 shooting. He had a number of impressive plays throughout the night, including an epic chase down block of Gonzaga’s Rasir Bolton in the first half. Notae also stuffed the stat sheet with six rebounds, six assists, three steals, and two blocks. The win on Thursday night was the first for Arkansas in program history against a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga fouled out of the game with 3:29 remaining in the game. He only had 11 points in 24 minutes, but did pull down 14 rebounds in the losing effort. The Zags missed his presence in the final few minutes of the game. A few of the fouls called against Holmgren were quite controversial. Andrew Nembhard drilled a three with 16.5 seconds remaining to cut the score to lead to Arkansas lead to three, 68-65, but that was as close as they got in the final seconds.

Before tonight, the Razorbacks were 0-10 all-time vs. No. 1 overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Trey Wade buried a huge three from the corner for Arkansas to put them up 66-58 with 2:08 remaining in the second half. The Razorbacks also had a big night from Jaylin Williams, who stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Gonzaga’s loss tonight was their first loss as a No. 1 seed in the Sweet 16. Arkansas will face the winner of the Duke and Texas Tech matchup in the Elite Eight.