DETROIT – With 33 minutes left on the pregame clock at Little Caesars Arena, Steele Venters made a quick pit stop before joining his teammates in the locker room for a few final words before tipoff against Purdue in the Sweet 16.

Gonzaga assistant coach R-Jay Barsh and South Carolina sophomore forward Chloe Kitts go back so far that Barsh isn’t exactly sure how long. “She was a little kid,” Barsh said. “Nearly her entire life.” Barsh has helped train Kitts on the basketball court and he’s been a mentor away from the game.

Rui Hachimura and the Lakers had just wrapped a 5-1 road trip as he stood by his locker near the door.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs ran into a 7-foot-4 wall at the Sweet 16 on Friday.

DETROIT – This time last year, in between rehabilitation sessions, Graham Ike was watching and following the NCAA Tournament from a couch back home in Denver, likely with his right leg propped up on a chair or ledge, so as not to exacerbate the foot fracture he’d sustained five months earlier.

Pride and disappointment, the latter enters every locker room except one after the 67 games of an NCAA Tournament, were on display Friday as Gonzaga players processed a season-ending 80-68 loss to Purdue.

DETROIT — This Gonzaga season was not short on doubt. A couple of months ago, the Bulldogs' consecutive NCAA Tournament-appearance streak — which dates back to 1999 — looked like it might be in jeopardy. The Zags rallied, though, winning 19 of their next 21 games and shoving themselves into the Sweet 16 once again. On Friday, however, there was no doubt. Gonzaga got beat by a superior team ...

DETROIT – Fifth-seeded Gonzaga played with a shorthanded backcourt Friday night against top-seeded Purdue in the Sweet 16.

DETROIT – As a group of reporters huddled around Anton Watson, two teammates sitting near the senior forward decided to pause their own conversation and started eavesdropping on the one that was unfolding a few seats down.

Purdue’s Braden Smith dished out 15 assists – the second-highest total of his career – while scoring 14 points and nearing a triple-double with eight rebounds.

DETROIT – Gonzaga’s men dominated so thoroughly the first week of the NCAA Tournament, it almost seemed like they had been sandbagging during much of this inconsistent season.