Gonzaga trying to make history against No. 1 seed Purdue in the Sweet 16

Mar. 28—DETROIT — It's one of the only obstacles Gonzaga hasn't hurdled in 25 years on college basketball's national stage.

The Bulldogs have played in 25 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, 14 Sweet 16s — only UCLA (1967-80) and North Carolina (1981-93) had longer streaks than Gonzaga's current nine-year run — six Elite Eights and two national championship games.

Nine times they have run into No. 1 seeds, nine times they've lost. Two of those were top-seeded championship clashes when the Zags lost to North Carolina in 2017 and Baylor in 2021.

Next up: Fifth-seeded Gonzaga (27-7) and No. 1 Purdue (31-4) in Friday's Sweet 16 at Little Caesars Arena, a chance to make history and extend a season that few thought in mid-January would reach the second weekend of March Madness.

"Oh, that's crazy," said fifth-year senior forward Anton Watson, unaware of GU's 0-9 record against No. 1 seeds. "If you think about it, Gonzaga has been a No. 1 seed a lot of times, so we really don't match up against a lot of ones when it's like that.

"It'd be great if we did that (beat Purdue). The pressure's not really on us. I've been telling my teammates that. We can play freely and we're kind of underdogs for once. It'd be nice to knock off a one seed."

Underdogs, by five points according to oddsmakers, with a chip resting on their shoulder, essentially an imaginary addition to the Zags' uniforms.

It's been in place since GU's rugged 11-5 start sent some fans into a tizzy and the team into improvement mode over two-plus months that has resulted in the Zags now playing their best basketball of the season.

Gonzaga is back in the tournament spotlight with long memories in tow, even as the number of doubters continues to shrink after each impressive performance.

"We remember, we're not going to forget about what everybody said about us," junior forward Ben Gregg said. "We heard a lot of disrespect this year and we did take it personally. We're not going to forget about that. I don't care what they're going to say about us now.

"We just beat two really good teams (McNeese State and Kansas) by 20-plus points. We still have that chip on our shoulder, it's not going anywhere."

Friday's matchup against Purdue turns the clock back to November, when the Zags saw a five-point halftime lead evaporate in a 73-63 loss to the Boilermakers in the first round of the Maui Invitational. It was GU's second game against a Division I opponent and just its third of the season.

That Gonzaga team no longer exists. In its place is a different starting five and rotation, a red-hot offense, an improving defense and season-high confidence levels.

Purdue, too, has changed, but not as dramatically as the Zags.

"I know in our case we're vastly different," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "Whew, we had some pretty rough patches there early if you watched some of our practices and even some of our early games.

"We actually played really, really hard against (Purdue). We just turned the ball over too much and shot way too many 3s. So I think, hopefully, we'll get that cleaned up. We're sharing it better and we're much more purposeful on the offensive end. But they're better, too, so I think that will be the biggest challenge."

Gonzaga misfired on its last 16 3-point attempts, including 0 for 13 in the second half. The 3-pointer has become more of a weapon than a liability of late with seven games hitting at least 40%, including five in the 50s, over the past 10.

Meanwhile, Purdue rolled to another Big Ten Conference regular-season title, earned another No. 1 seed and pummeled Grambling 78-50 and Utah State 106-67 last week.

Zach Edey, a 7-foot-4 center and heavy favorite to repeat as national player of the year, leads the way at 24.5 points and 12.1 rebounds.

"He can really move, he's so physical and he's skilled," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "His unselfishness, I think, really separates him because if you double (team), he's a passer and if you don't, he's a scorer."

A strong supporting cast surrounding Edey's paint dominance makes the Boilermakers difficult to defend.

Guards Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Lance Jones average double figures in points and represent a major reason why Purdue is first nationally in 3-point percentage (40.9). Loyer hits 44.9% from distance, Smith 44% and Jones has a team-leading 73 3s at nearly 36%.

Three subs in the rotation check in at 44% or better. Purdue also ranks second in rebounding margin (plus 11.5) and assists (18.8). Smith is third nationally at 7.3 per game.

"What people don't really realize is how good Purdue's guard play is," Gonzaga wing Dusty Stromer said. "We have to focus on running those shooters of the line and make it as hard as we can on the big fella."