3 keys to victory for Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. Texas Longhorns in Round of 32

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs survived and advanced on Thursday, defeating a pesky No. 14 seeded Kennesaw State team, 73-64, to move on to the Round of 32 for the 17th straight year.

Instead of lining up against former WCC foe BYU - the No. 6 seed in the region - Gonzaga will draw an unexpected matchup with No. 11 Texas, who knocked off the Cougars, 79-71, on Thursday afternoon in Portland.

Sean Miller's Longhorns barely snuck their way into the Big Dance after losing five of their last six games, but rallied to defeat fellow play-in team NC State on Tuesday before their dominant, near wire-to-wire win over BYU behind 23 points and 16 rebounds from big man Matas Vokietaitis.

Gonzaga will have their hands full with Vokietaitis and the rest of this highly efficient Texas offense. And while the Longhorns aren't nearly as stout on the defensive end of the floor, Gonzaga hasn't exactly been their typical elite selves scoring the basketball since Braden Huff's injury - and they will need to find effective ways to put the ball in the net to avoid a big time upset on Saturday afternoon.

Below is a look at three keys to victory for the Zags on Saturday against Texas:

1. Take Care of the Basketball

Texas does a lot of things well under coach Miller, but forcing turnovers is not one of them. Opponents turn the ball over against the Longhorns just 13.2% of the time, which ranks 350th in college basketball.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga has been outstanding at ball security this year, with a 13.7% rate that ranks 17th. If Mario Saint-Supery, Braeden Smith, and GU's other guards can avoid beating themselves with dumb mistakes - travelling, throwing the ball out of bounds, etc. - they should put themselves in good position to win this ball game.

2. Disrupt the Big Man

Gonzaga hasn't seen many big men quite as capable as Matas Vokietaitis. The Lithuanian is a true 7'0, 250 pound machine who averages 15.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, leading the SEC with a 61.8% field goal rate.

Gonzaga's rim protection has not been a strength this season, although they did do a good job against Kentucky's Malachi Moreno (5 points, 2-6), Arizona State's Massamba Diop (11 points, 4-9) and twice against SMC's Paulius Murauskas. However, they also struggled mightily against Aday Mara (13 points, 6-9) at Michigan, Nate Bittle (28 points, 10-19) at Oregon, and UCLA's Tyler Bilodeau (24 points, 7-13).

Vokietaitis is more of a back-to-the-basket big than Bittle and Bilodeau, to be sure, but ultimately he will present a big issue for Gonzaga on that end of the floor. It will be key to limit his easy looks around the rim, avoiding committing unnecessary fouls, while trying to get him in foul trouble as well.

The big man averaged 3.4 fouls in 26 minutes per game, a weakness that the Zags are equipped to exploit with Ike throughout this game.

3. Make Outside Shots

Gonzaga is a bad three point shooting team. This is not a secret, especially not after the team's abhorrent 3-18 performance on Thursday against Kennesaw State, but Texas is also very bad at defending the perimeter.

The Longhorns allow opponents to shoot 35.4% from three this year, ranking just 269th in the country. They have surrendered nine or more made threes 11 times this season, including a 12-24 showing from Virginia, 11-21 by Auburn, 11-19 by Arkansas, and 11-20 from Georgia.

Gonzaga has only made 10+ threes in seven games this year, and just three times since the calendar turned to 2026: against Portland twice, and last Tuesday against Santa Clara in the WCC Tournament championship.

The Zags cannot become overly reliant on the outside shot - which they've been vulnerable to lately - but this is also an opponent they have to punish with good looks from the perimeter, or else they'll end up going home early this weekend.

Gonzaga and Texas will square off on Saturday, March 21 at the Moda Center in Portland, OR. The game will tip at 4:10 PM PT and will be broadcast on TBS.

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