Gonzaga vs. Kennesaw State final score: Highlights from NCAA Tournament game

PORTLAND, Ore. — Gonzaga is moving on to the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament after battling past Kennesaw State Thursday from the Moda Center.

It was far from pretty, but in a single elimination tournament, it's all about survive and advance for the Bulldogs, who trailed for a majority of the first half before flipping the script in the second half for a 73-64 win.

Graham Ike led the Zags (31-3) with 19 points and eight rebounds, Davis Fogle came up big with 17 points and five rebounds, and Jalen Warley added 12 points, 12 rebounds and five assists while playing center and point guard at different points for the Zags, who will play Texas in the second round from the Moda Center on Saturday.

Here's how it went down, including the turning point and first half recap.

Turning Point

Gonzaga turned a 4-point first-half deficit into a double-digit lead by the 17-minute mark of the second half by turning defense into offense, punishing its opponent on the interior and amping up its physicality.

Essentially, the Bulldogs looked more like their normal selves after the first 13 minutes of regulation. Up until then, they looked like a shell of the team that had won 30 games between the regular season and conference tournament, especially on the offensive end of the floor.

The switch to a "small-ball" lineup was also a defining moment for the Zags, who managed to turn the tides while Ike rested for the final 3 minutes of the first half. Warley did a superb job stepping in for the 6-foot-9 forward with his facilitation and creation off the short roll, opening things up for Gonzaga after it had struggled to generate any sort of flow offensively.

It looked like the lineup change put Gonzaga in a position to pull away following its 14-2 scoring run that spanned across both halves, but Kennesaw State wasn't down to just throw in the towel. The Owls responded with an 11-1 spurt of their own, with Johnson's foul pressure playing a key role in preventing Gonzaga from running away.

Gonzaga's counterpunch: two players playing in their first NCAA Tournament game.

The bright lights weren't too much for Mario Saint-Supéry and Davis Fogle, nor was Kennesaw State's swarming ball pressure in the second half a problem the two freshmen couldn't handle. In fact, Fogle took advantage of the Owls' decision to throw three defenders at Gonzaga's ballhandler with an alley-oop dunk along the baseline, putting his squad back up by eight with just over 10 minutes left in regulation.

Saint-Supéry, who knocked down a season-high six 3s in the WCC tournament final, found his groove from behind the arc in a crucial spot moments later. As the shot clock wound down, the Spanish guard cashed in on a heave from the NCAA logo near the midcourt line, generating the loudest roar from the pro-Gonzaga crowd of the night.

Perhaps the second-biggest reaction from Zags fans came a few minutes later, when the referees whistled Ike for a flagrant foul after he made a move out of the post and collided with Frankquon Sherman, who cashed in a couple of free throws during a late 10-0 run from the Owls.

A few puzzling foul calls against the Zags drew more groans and angst from the crowd, but the Zags never relinquished control down the stretch.

Halftime

The Zags went into the locker room with a 33-27 lead despite trailing for a good chunk of the first half.

A 10-0 scoring run from Gonzaga in the final 2 minutes helped flip the script, though, swinging momentum in favor of the Zags after they struggled mightily to find their rhythm offensively early on.

Ike paced the Bulldogs with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting. Davis Fogle and Jalen Warley came up big as the first half wound down, with the latter showing off his versatility as a "small-ball" center and the former playing a pivotal role in the 10-0 spurt to end the half.

Fogle scored all six of his first half points in the final minute and change, with a 3-pointer from the wing capping off a nice end to the first 20 minutes for Gonzaga.

First Half Vibes

It certainly wasn't a pretty basketball being played for the first 20 minutes of action between the West Region's No. 3 and No. 14 seeds.

Ike got Gonzaga on the board first but missed his next couple of field goal attempts, as the Owls threw everything and the kitchen at the All-American forward to try and rattle the Zags offensively.

Antoine Pettway told the media before Thursday's game that his team's strategy to slow down Gonzaga's dominant post scorer was through prayer. Early on, it looked that plan was working; not just with Ike, but with the Zags' offense as a whole.

To be fair, Kennesaw State didn't come out of the gate firing on all cylinders, either. Despite that, though, the Bulldogs couldn't turn defensive stops into points like they'd been accustomed to doing all season, making for some ugly basketball for a majority of the first half as both sides struggled to find the bottom of the basket.

Sped up beyond control, Gonzaga went 12-of-31 from the field in the first half, with an Ike putback dunk being the biggest offensive highlight in the first 20 minutes of play.

Kennesaw State, meanwhile, went missed 21 of its 31 first-half field goal attempts and recorded just one turnover before the halftime horn. Rickard was a bright spot for the Owls, though, with a pair of 3-pointers keeping his team afloat when all else seemingly failed. Frankquon Sherman played a big factor on the boards with three offensive rebounds.

Before The Tip

Crowd Vibes

A crowd that was once split between BYU and Texas followers transitioned into a very pro-Gonzaga crowd in the minutes leading up to tipoff, creating a very friendly atmosphere for the Zags as they warmed up for their first-round tilt.

A contingent of Owls fans was gathered in the section across from the team's bench, with pods of Longhorns and Cougars fans still occupying a solid chunk of seats. A significant portion of the BYU faithful didn't seem too upset over the results of the previous game to leave Portland without catching the nightcap.

Injury Latest

If the Bulldogs are to make it 10 Sweet 16 appearances in the past dozen years, it sounds like they'll have to do without one of their best players.

After his team heard its name called during the Selection Sunday show for the 2026 NCAA Tournament, Mark Few was less than optimistic about Braden Huff's chances of playing in the first and — if Gonzaga gets by Kennesaw State — second rounds.

"I don't think he's gonna be able to play this weekend or anything," Few said. "But he is jogging and shooting."

Huff has not played since suffering a knee injury ahead of Gonzaga's road game at Washington State on Jan. 15. The team initially gave a 4-8 week timeline for his return, with the tail end of that window coming right at the start of the NCAA Tournament.

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