Gonzaga races past Maryland 100-61, secures point differential to qualify for Players Era championship

LAS VEGAS – The objective was twofold for No. 12 Gonzaga on Tuesday night against Maryland.

With four other teams improving to 2-0 at the Players Era Festival before Mark Few’s squad tipped off at MGM Grand Garden Arena, it was imperative the Zags first beat the Terrapins to join a group of unbeatens in Las Vegas and stay alive in the championship picture.

As soon as they were squared away there, it was all about the points.

To qualify for Wednesday’s 6:30 p.m. (TNT) title game at Grand Garden Arena, Gonzaga needed a sizeable point buffer – at least 14 points against Maryland, and 24 over two games, to win the tiebreaker against Tennessee (+23), Kansas (+21) and Iowa State (+19).

None of those four was in position to catch Michigan, which impressively accumulated a 70-point margin in its opening games and secured one of two championship game berths before the Zags and Terps reached halftime.

Knowing precisely what it needed to do on Tuesday down to the point differential, Gonzaga didn’t have much trouble executing its game plan against a brand new Maryland squad still trying to find its footing under first-year coach Buzz Williams.

Thanks to a long-awaited 3-point shooting wave, the Zags were able to establish a double-digit lead early and avoid any point-margin drama late in the second half of a 100-61 romp at Grand Garden Arena.

Gonzaga’s opponent the last time the Zags (7-0) played in the championship of a three-game Thanksgiving-week tournament? Also Michigan. In the 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis, Gonzaga beat Southern Mississippi and Oregon to set up a championship matchup with the Wolverines, who won 82-64.

The seventh-ranked Wolverines (6-0) clinched a spot after thumping No. 21 Auburn 102-72 in a game that went final at Michelob Arena just as the Zags and Terrapins reached halftime roughly two miles away at the MGM.

Dusty May’s team won both of its first two games and maxed out its point differential (capped at 20 per game) with a 40-point win over San Diego State and Tuesday’s 30-point victory against Auburn.

“Just watching them, my mind wasn’t exactly dialed in, I was thinking about Maryland but very big, got incredible size, probably got one of the biggest teams in college basketball,” Few said. “Old and Dusty (May) just does a great job of putting those guys in the right spots and they looked really, really good. They’ve just blasted everybody down here so we know it’s going to be a really, really tough game and it’s going to be a fun game. We’re looking forward to it.”

Gonzaga’s 3-point barrage on Tuesday came from both expected and unexpected sources. That it came at all was a positive sign for a team that finished just 6 of 22 from distance in Monday’s 95-85 Players Era win over Alabama.

Steele Venters had a hand in the Zags finishing 14 of 32 from the 3-point line, making 4 of 7 to score 14 points, but Emmanuel Innocenti also joined the party, finishing 5 of 7 from deep to notch 15 points – his highest total in a Gonzaga uniform. Seven different GU players had at least one 3-pointer as the Zags eclipsed their previous season-high of nine 3’s, accomplished in a home win against then No. 23 Creighton.

“These guys have been working hard, put in a lot of reps and just the way they collapse on the ball, I think their style of play just kind of lends itself – especially on some of those throw aheads, because we were able to collapse the defense so much,” Few said. “Then we were also playing out of the post double. I thought we were doing a nice job – it was choppy there for a while, but we found some good shots and some good actions out of the post double again tonight.”

Braden Huff led Gonzaga with 20 points, making 9 of 10 shots from the field, and Graham Ike scored in double figures, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“They are incredibly good,” Williams said. “To be able to play a team that’s good enough to win the national championship in the fourth week of the season, there’s a lot for us to grow from.”

Gonzaga overcame a choppy stretch in the first half, when Ike was hit with a flagrant 1 foul and Innocenti was hit with a technical for motioning to Maryland’s bench after a corner 3-pointer.

Other than that, it was mostly smooth sailing. The Zags capitalized on Maryland’s mistakes, scoring 32 points on the Terrapins’ turnovers, and finished with a massive 51-9 advantage in bench points.

Gonzaga continued to build its lead up to the final buzzer, getting eight quick bench points from freshman wing Davis Fogle in under five minutes.