NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Game Preview: #1 Purdue vs #5 Gonzaga

Purdue and Matt Painter have only made one Elite Eight in his tenure. All that stands between the Boilers and its first trip back since 2019, is a team and program that has been in this exact spot for nine straight seasons.

Mark Few has led Gonzaga to nine straight Sweet 16's, one of college basketball's most impressive streaks.

But Purdue is no stranger to the Zags. Purdue and Gonzaga have met in back to back seasons in the non-conference with Purdue winning both, this year's matchup as part of the Maui Invitational and the PK85 in Portland last season.

But a lot can change in four months. Coaches and players on both teams spent Thursday describing how its teams are different in March than they were in November when the two met during Thanksgiving week in Hawaii.

Both teams get into Detroit playing its best basketball of the season.

Purdue is 17-2 in its last 19 games.

Gonzaga is 16-2 in its last 18 games.

And both teams are playing for the same thing: a trip to the Elite Eight.

Despite early season struggles, Mark Few and the Bulldogs have proven again that if there's an NCAA Tournament going on, the Bulldogs are going to be involved. The nine straight Sweet 16's is only the tip of the iceburg when it comes to March success for Gonzaga.

Few has two runner-up finishes in the NCAA Tournament in his two decades plus at Gonzaga, and three more Elite Eight appearances since the 2014-15 season. As mentioned, the Zags have made nine straight Sweet 16's. Even without a National Title, Few's one of the most accomplished coaches in March history.

It didn't look like Gonzaga would make the tournament at times this season. Three games into the conference season, Gonzaga was just 11-5 with losses to the two top teams in the country (Purdue, UConn), and losses to San Diego State, Washington, and Santa Clara.

"We had some - whew - we had some pretty rough patches there early," Few said on Thursday. "If you watched some of our practices and even some of our early games."

But there is a bigger conversation to be had between the two coaches and programs. There have not been many programs more successful over the last two decades than Purdue and Gonzaga. Both have dominated their respective conferences, won a lot of games, and had a lot of March success.

But both coaches and programs are also plagued with the cruelness of March Madness.

Despite all the great teams Mark Few had at Gonzaga, it took him 18 seasons to break through to the Final Four. He's now been to two National Championship games, but he has still yet to win one. He's arguably the best coach in the country that hasn't won a national title.

For Matt Painter, Purdue has not made the Final Four in his first 18 seasons with Purdue. He got within a free throw and a rebound in the Elite Eight in 2019, but his last trip to the Sweet Sixteen involved losing to a #15 seed. Painter is arguably the greatest coach in basketball without a Final Four, and Purdue is the most disappointing program in March the last handful of seasons with losses to double-digit seeds in three straight tournaments including just the second loss to a #16 seed by a #1 in college basketball history.

But this Purdue team has handled those demons through its first two games of this tournament.

When asked about that post season burden of unmet expectations, Few had this to say.

"I just think you just totally, unequivocally, just focus on the task at hand," Few said. "It's just kind of a next-game mentality. I think they've done a wonderful job with that. They've hit it head on throughout the whole year, it seems like, all the way back to the preseason."

Painter, true to Few's words, and his own throughout the season, isn't backing down from the pressure.

"The game doesn't always love you back, but you've got to understand that going in," Painter said Thursday. "You're going to play a game, and one team's going to win and one team's going to lose. When you get used to winning a lot, the expectations that you raise and get it for your program makes it even harder than that."

"We've been beat up a lot, or I've been beat up a lot for the people that have beaten us. We're the higher seed, we should win, this and that. I always say that takes away from your opponent. That's not fair to them. Like they've earned it. We didn't get cheated out of anything. Somebody beat us."

"So I think for us, the most important thing to do and what we've always tried to do is be honest with ourselves in evaluation no matter how your season ends so you can hopefully make those corrections. But you can't correct your team or you can't correct your players unless you correct yourself."

Historic legacies aren't built on one game, but for both of these coaches, a win will give them a chance to get to a place they've never been.

Few has pressed the right buttons this season, including changing his starting lineup.

Few moved freshman wing Dusty Stromer out of the starting lineup and replaced him with junior big man, Ben Gregg.

It was an unorthodox change, with Gregg, Gonzaga is starting three big men. Anton Watson is an athletic, multi-positional forward, Graham Ike is a strong, back to the basket center, and Gregg is a 6-10 stretch forward, and the change helped Gonzaga find its offense.

Gregg's ability to stretch the floor allowed more room for Ryan Nembhard to run the offense at the point. Ike has excelled in both back to the basket touches and in the pick and roll, but Nembhard's ability to get into the paint and pick defenses apart is what makes the Zags really run.

Nolan Hickman has also been able to use his length and burst to get to the rim where he's one of the nation's more creative finishers. Gonzaga has more shooters with Gregg on the floor and an elevated patience and purpose has created more efficiency in the offense.

Gonzaga was 11-5 with Stromer in the starting lineup.

It has gone 18-2 since.

For Purdue, the starting lineup has stayed the same. Change has happened with gained experience with its guards around Zach Edey, and Purdue's freshmen wings finding comfort and expansion in their roles.

In the first matchup, it was Braden Smith and Lance Jones combining to attack Gonzaga on offense. Jones in transition was able to get to the basket and take advantage of his speed. For Smith, it was an early showing of his growth both as a scorer and ability to control the game from the lead guard spot.

Smith's ability to finish inside, get to the hoop, and find his teammates sparked against Gonzaga, but has crescendo'd throughout the season.

Smith had just 13 points, but was 6 of 8 from the floor and had 4 rebounds and 6 assists.

But neither team played well against each other. Both teams shot poorly and turned the ball over too much.

Purdue was 4 of 17 from three.

Gonzaga was 6 of 32.

Purdue had 13 turnovers and Gonzaga had 14.

Gonzaga is shooting 36% from three on the season. Purdue is over 40% for the year.

Both teams looked young, and have grown together throughout the season, but the teams also present each other with difficulties.

Ike might have played the best twenty minutes against Edey that any big has since Zach Edey became this Zach Edey.

While the Zags had surprising success challenging Edey in the post with Ike, Edey presents his own challenges to the Zags. Edey dominates the glass and cuts off the middle of the floor where Nembard does his best work. Ike became a jump shooter against Edey, making two of his three threes on the year in the early season matchup.

If you missed it yesterday, I went in depth on the big man matchup between National Player of the Year, Zach Edey, and Gonzaga transfer big Graham Ike.

Ike defended Edey better than anyone else, but Purdue has answers.

"I think the experience of playing them gives you a reference point, like it gives them a reference point, but I think it means very little," Matt Painter said on Thursday about the two team's already having played this season. "I don't think either team played very well in the game. I don't think either team shot very well in the game. So they had a lot of open looks that they don't normally [miss] in that game."

While neither team feels its the same at this point in the season, Few does recognize an advantage in at least having some experience with someone as unique as Zach Edey.

"So he's an entity that you just don't see," Few said Thursday. "The positive is we have seen him. We played him in the PK-85 early a year ago. Like I mentioned, we played him in the Maui tournament at Thanksgiving. At least we've felt his size and his strength, and also played against a really, really good PUrdue team. So anything we can draw on some of those experiences."

With Gonzaga moving to three big men, and Purdue playing two post players in its starting five, eyeballs will be in the paint. But both coaches have a lot of respect with what the opposing guards can do.

"More than anything, they've got really good guard play," Painter said about Gonzaga. "Your guards have to play well. Your guards have to take care of the basketball. [Ryan] Nembhard and [Nolan] Hickman are two of the better guards in the country. I like their combination. I think they have a little bit better combination. It seems to be fluid for them."

For Few, things start with Braden Smith away from Zach Edey and the collection of shooters that surround them.

"It's not just about him [Edey]," Few said. "Braden Smith's had a great year. They've been great this year. They've got great balance - Matt's as good a coach as there is in all of college basketball. He puts them all in the right spots and places, and they execute perfectly. Then they're constantly changing and subbing and putting more skill guys in these positions and these actions to make it really, really hard to guard."

"It will be fun trying to deal with all that."