Julian Strawther’s clutch late 3 from the logo lifts Gonzaga over UCLA in March Madness thriller

With his team trailing UCLA by one and down to its final possession, Gonzaga coach Mark Few drew up a dribble-handoff play for Julian Strawther to try to save the Zags’ season.

The purpose was to put Strawther in position to attack the basket, but Few made it clear that the junior had permission to improvise.

“If no one steps up on me, do you want me to shoot it?” Strawther asked.

“Absolutely,” Few responded, though he admits he probably used “a little stronger language than that.”

Strawther validated Few’s trust, sinking the biggest shot of his life. The Las Vegas native playing in his hometown pulled up from the edge of the half-court logo and buried a 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left in the game to send the Zags to a 79-76 victory in the West regional semifinals.

Strawther’s impossibly deep 3-pointer was the highlight of the latest thrilling March showdown between the West Coast’s top two programs. UCLA and Gonzaga battled to the buzzer in another classic NCAA tournament matchup, trading double-digit leads, wild emotional swings and late dagger 3-pointers.  

UCLA led by as many as 13 early in the second half and trailed by as many as 10 with just under three minutes to go. Drew Timme put Gonzaga on his back at times with 36 points and 13 rebounds, yet he also seemed destined to be a goat after his two damaging missed free throws in the final minute.

“I am the No. 1 Julian Strawther fan forever now,” Timme said after the game with a laugh.

Were it not for Strawther’s answer, the story of the game would have been the toughness of a UCLA team playing without injured starters Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona. The Bruins withstood Gonzaga’s second-half surge and then delivered a punch of their own, erasing Gonzaga’s 10-point lead with a frantic 14-3 rally in a span of barely two minutes.

Freshman Amari Bailey capped the UCLA run with a clutch left-wing 3-pointer with 12.4 seconds to go. Bailey’s shot gave the Bruins a short-lived one-point lead and had them one defensive stop away from playing for a spot in the Final Four.

Instead it will be third-seeded Gonzaga who faces fourth-seeded UConn on Saturday with a Final Four berth at stake. The Zags have made five Elite Eight appearances since 2015 and will be looking for their third trip to the Final Four. 

While UCLA and Gonzaga have only faced each other seven times before, the two West Coast powers share a storied history. They laid the foundation for a rivalry with three previous high-stakes NCAA tournament matchups, two of which were instant classics with unforgettable finishes that get replayed every March.

Exactly 17 years ago, Gonzaga endured the ultimate punch to the gut, a Sweet 16 loss so heartbreaking that it famously left Adam Morrison hiding his mustachioed face and sobbing into his jersey at mid-court. Trailing by 17 in the first half and by nine with just over three minutes to play, UCLA scored the final 11 points to escape with a 73-71 victory in a game it never led until the final 8.6 seconds.

Gonzaga twice extracted NCAA tournament revenge prior, once with a comfortable victory in the 2015 Sweet 16 and the second time with an iconic buzzer beater. Jalen Suggs finished off an all-time great national semifinal two years ago by banking in a 40 footer, thwarting UCLA’s upset bid and preserving Gonzaga’s undefeated season for another two nights.

Asked Tuesday if he’s rewatched that game in its entirety, UCLA head coach Mick Cronin told reporters that he “hit pause as soon as” Johnny Juzang tied the score with a put-back with 3.3 seconds to go.

“What the hell do I need to watch that for?” Cronin said. “You think I’m a masochist?”

Suggs and Juzang have since moved on to the NBA, but other key figures from that 2021 Final Four classic were also on the floor Thursday night. And yet if Thursday’s game was personal for UCLA seniors Jaime Jaquez, Tyger Campbell and David Singleton, they did a good job hiding it beforehand.

“It’s a completely new team,” Jaquez insisted.

Campbell said that “Jaime hit it on the head,” adding that the Bruins were “going into this game not worried about the past ones.”

Even so, UCLA played like the hungrier team in the first half on Thursday night. The Bruins took advantage of Gonzaga’s loose ball handling, shoddy pick-and-roll defense and lack of rim protection, scoring at will at the paint en route to a 13-point halftime lead. 

In the second half, with Malachi Smith and Hunter Sallis seeing the majority of the playing time in the backcourt, Gonzaga defended much better and took better care of the ball. That gave Timme more chances to exploit mismatches against the Bona-less Bruins’ frontcourt. 

Said Strawther: “There’s just so much fight in this team.”