The National Title game for Monday night is now all set for men’s college basketball, after a pair of National Semifinal games in the Final Four on Saturday night in Indianapolis.
In the first game, #1 Baylor built a 25 point halftime lead (45-20), and would roll to a 78-59 win over #2 Houston. Baylor (27-2) had five players in double figures, led by Jared Butler who scored 17 points. The Bears shot 53% from the floor. Houston ends their season at 28-4, after appearing in the Final Four for the first time since 1984. Marcus Sasser had 20 points for the Cougars.
In the nightcap, in one of the best Final Four games of recent memory the overall #1 seed Gonzaga (31-0) got a last second shot by Jalen Suggs from just past halfcourt to knock off #11 UCLA 93-90 in overtime. The game was back and forth all night with several ties and lead changes, with the Bulldogs holding a one point lead at halftime. Johnny Juzang had a chance to win it for the Bruins in the final seconds of regulation, but was called for an offensive foul. Andrew Nembhard gave Gonzaga a five point lead in overtime with a three-pointer with just over a minute left, but UCLA rallied and Juzang tied it by following his own miss in the paint for a layup with 3.3 seconds remaining. Suggs then dribbled up the court and took two steps past the halfcourt stripe, and let it fly from the edge of the Final Four logo banking it in at the buzzer. Juzang led UCLA in the loss with 29 points. Drew Timme had 25 points and Joel Ayayi had 22 for Gonzaga. The Bulldogs entered this game winning 29 of their 30 games by double digits. The Bruins (22-10) were just the second #11 seed to make it to the Final Four after playing in the First Four, and are just the sixth double digit seed in history to make it to the final weekend.
The title game will end with a first time champion on Monday night, with tipoff slated for 9:20 p.m. Baylor is in their first national championship game since 1948, where they lost to Kentucky. This is also just the second national title game for Gonzaga, who lost to North Carolina in their only other appearance in 2017.
