Final Thank you for joining me folks! My name is Jeremy Blanding and please join me again next time!
Final The VAVEL USA player of the game is Kyle Wiltjer. Wiltjer finished with 24 points and 7 rebounds.
Final Gonzaga will now face #11 UCLA in the sweet 16.
Final Gonzaga defeats Iowa by a score of 87-68.
2nd Half (15) That will do it! Gonzaga is going to their first sweet 16 since 2009!
2nd Half (53) Free throws coming up for Iowa.
2n Half (1:20) Gonzaga is just chewing the clock at this point.
2nd Half (2:16) Kevin Pangos with the steal and the layup on the other end. Gonzaga leads 80-60.
2nd Half (2:37) With time running out it appears that Gonzaga is close to moving on to the sweet 16.
2ndHalf (2:48) Aaron White finishes the dunk. Iowa trails 76-60.
2nd Half (4:10) Wiltjer finishes the layup. Gonzaga now leads 74-53.
2nd Half (5:00) Wiltjer with another three! Gonzaga leads 72-51.
2nd Half (6:35) Kevin Pangos burries the three-pointer. Gonzaga now has their biggest lead of the game. They lead 69-49.
2nd Half (7:49) Sabonis makes both free throws for the Zags. They lead 64-49.
2nd Half (7:49) Official TV Timeout. Gonzaga leads 62-49.
2nd Half (9:55) Bell makes both free throws and Gonzaga leads 62-49.
2nd Half (9:55) Bell is fouled and he will head to the line for Gonzaga.
2nd Half (10:50) Gesell finishes the layup for Iowa. They are trailing 60-49.
2nd Half (11:30) Jarrd Uthoff with the big dunk for Iowa. They trail 58-47.
2nd Half (13:03) Aaron White gets the three to go. Iowa trails 56-43.
2nd Half (13:58) White makes his free throw. Gonzaga leads 54-40.
2nd Half (13:58) Aaron White is fouled and makes the basket! He will head to the line for Iowa.
2nd Half (14:30) Aaron White has not been nearly as agressive as he should be.
2nd Half (15:51) DEEP three from Kevin Pangos! Gonzaga leads 51-37.
2nd Half (16:46) Gonzaga turns it over. The momentum has shifted over to Iowa this half.
2nd Half (17:32) Jarrod Uthoff gets another jumper to fall! He is putting Iowa on his back.
2nd Half (18:09) Karnowski is fouled and he will head to the line for Gonzaga.
2nd Half (18:51) Jarrd Uthoff gets the jumper to go! Iowa cuts the lead down to 48-35.
2nd (19:50) Jarrod Uthoff gets the layup to go for Iowa.
Halftime It's almost time for the 2nd Half!
Halftime Kyle Wiltjer leads all scorers with 13 points.
Halftime Iowa is shooting 45 percent from the field and 33 percent from three.
Halftime At the half Gonzaga is shooting 62 percent from the field and 70 percent from three.
Halftime If Gonzaga can keep up this impressive play they will be going to the sweet 16 for the first time since 2009.
Halftime Gonzaga leads Iowa 46-29 at the half.
1st Half (3) Gonzaga takes a timeout. They lead 46-29.
1st Half (1:01) Gary Bell Jr answers right back with a three of his own! Gonzaga leads 46-29.
1st Half ( 2:09) Anthony Clemmons with another three for Iowa! They are refusing to go away.
1st Half (2:45) Bell makes the wide open three for Gonzaga! They now lead 39-26.
1st Half (4:43) Alley-oop to Aaron White. Gonzaga leads 34-24.
1st Half (5:25) Anthony Clemmons gets the three to go for Iowa! Gonzaga leads 34-22.
1st Half (5:55) Lose ball foul against Gonzaga.
1st Half (6:31) Another three pointer for Wiltjer! Gonzaga leads 34-19.
1st Half (7:05) Karnowski gets the floater to go. Gonzaga leads 31-19.
1st Half (7:49) Official TV Timeout. Gonzaga leads 29-19.
1st Half (8:00) Iowa called for an over and back.
1st Half (8:50) Uthoff gets the jumper for Iowa. Gonzaga leads 29-19
1st Half (9:19 Iowa takes a timeout. Gonzaga leads 29-17
1st Half (10:00) Sabonis makes the put back for Gonzaga, They now lead 27-15
1st Half (11:20) Kevin Pangos makes the long three for Gonzaga. They lead 23-15.
1st Half (11:55) Official TV Timeout. Gonzaga leads 20-15.
1st Half (12:49) Olaseni is fould and makes the basket! He will head to the line.
1st Half (14:40 HUGE dunk by Jarrod Uthoff. Gonzaga leads 13-9
1st Half (15:00) Offensive foul called on Karnowki. Gonzaga leads 11-7.
1st Half (16:00) Gessell makes both freee throws. Gonzaga leads 11-7.
1st Half (16:00) Gessell is fouled and he will head to the line for Iowa.
1st Half (17:30) Long two from Wiltjer! Gonzaga leads 11-6
1st Half (20:00) Woodburry puts it in for Iowa. Gonzaga leads 5-2.
1st Half (20:00) Iowa wins the tip and we are underway!
We are just ten minutes away from tip off! Make sure you stay right here for live commentary.
Gonzaga will surely need to be sharp if they want to advance to the sweet 16 for the first time since 2009.
Gonzaga has outrebounded their opponents in 30 of their 35 games this season, and they will need to do this again against Iowa.
Gonzaga is a step ahead of Iowa in offense. The Zags boast the best field goal percentage in college basketball (52.4%) while Iowa ranks 202nd at 43%.
The Bulldogs will still not be ready to knock off. The Bulldogs lead the nation in field goal percentage, with Kyle Wiltjer and Kevin Pangos able to score in bunches.
Height is also a big advantage for the Hawkeyes. At the five spot for Iowa they have Adam Woodbury, an eye poker extraordinaire, and his backup Gabriel Olaseni who stands at seven-foot-one and six-foot-ten respectively. It's not just in the post that the Hawkeyes are big. Aside from guards Mike Gesell and Anthony Clemmons, who are both six-foot-two, the Hawkeyes only play guys six-foot-five and tall.
The #7 Hawkeyes know they will essentially be playing a road game and they don't seem to mind. It still comes down to what happens when you take the floor,'' Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. ''Do you take care of the ball, do you move the ball, do you get good shots, and can you rebound with this team?''
As a team Iowa shot 51 percent from the field. The Hawkeyes also outrebounded Davidson, 46-30, with nine different players pulling down a board.
However, it will not be an easy task to knock off #7 Iowa. No team among the four winners on Friday was more impressive than Iowa with its 83-52 blowout of Davidson. Senior Aaron White has been the leader all year for Iowa and he poured 26 on Davidson on 11-of-14 shooting in what was the most lopsided 7-10 game ever played.
The Bulldogs haven't always been handed the easiest round of 32 assignments since last reaching the Sweet 16. Only once during this five-year run was Gonzaga the higher seed. Twice they were knocked out by No. 1 seeds: Syracuse in 2010 and Arizona in 2014. Second-seeded Ohio State eliminated the Bulldogs in 2012 and a year earlier it was No. 3 BYU. The one that sticks out the most is two years ago when Gonzaga was a No. 1 seed and got knocked out by ninth-seeded Wichita State as the Shockers made a surprising run to the Final Four.
This may be the best chance the Bulldogs have to advance to the sweet 16.
The Bulldogs are playing essentially a home game since the game being played in Seattle, is just a few hours from Spokane.
''There is a process of what it takes along the way, to focus on what it takes to win that one game,'' Pangos said. ''It's not in my mind. My mind is what we have to do.''
That has given Kevin Pangos and the rest of his teammate’s motivation to go further.
Gonzaga is in the NCAA Tournament for the 17th consecutive year, but the Bulldogs have not reached the Elite Eight since 1999. That year was also the last time that Iowa reached the Sweet 16. This is the first time that Gonzaga has reached the second week of the tournament since 2009.
No. 11 UCLA awaits the winner of this game. The Bruins punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 by beating UAB on Saturday, 92-75.
Gonzaga advanced by holding off a tough North Dakota State team in the Second Round, 86-76, while the Hawkeyes destroyed No. 10 Davidson 83-52.
It’s now down to the round of 32, as the 2-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs and the 7-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes will square off for a chance to get into the Sweet Sixteen.
Hello and welcome to VAVEL USA's LIVE coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament 3rd Round match-up between the #2 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs and the #7 seed Iowa Hawkeyes Tip-off is scheduled for 7:10 PM EST. Keep following along here for the latest news from the game.