Best of the Big Dance: The top 10 individual performances in Gonzaga NCAA Tournament history

Brandon Clarke may only spend one season in a Gonzaga uniform, but the junior forward needed only 80 minutes last week in Salt Lake City to break the program’s single-game NCAA Tournament scoring record, matching his career high with 36 points against Baylor.

Clarke was a young pup – just 10 years old – when the previous mark was set. Adam Morrison, who scored 35 points to beat Xavier in 2006, was courtside on the Bulldogs’ radio broadcast as Clarke used an array of hook shots, free throws and emphatic dunks to propel GU to a 12-point win at Vivint Smart Home Arena.

The best showing by a Gonzaga player in NCAA Tournament history? On offense, there’s no doubt. Clarke’s 36 points came on 15-of-18 shooting, and he was 6 of 8 from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs’ sultan of swat added five blocked shots, grabbed eight rebounds and had two steals.

Strong individual performances have been woven throughout Gonzaga’s rich NCAA history.

From Richie Frahm in 2000 to Clarke in 2019, we rank the 10 best single games by Bulldogs in the Big Dance.

1. Brandon Clarke vs. Baylor, 2019: Clarke vaulted himself to the top of this long list of Gonzaga luminaries with a 36-point, eight-rebound, five-block effort against Baylor that pushed the Bulldogs into their fifth consecutive Sweet 16 with an 83-71 win in Salt Lake City. The San Jose State transfer soared for four dunks and went 15 of 18 from the field before matching his career high – and breaking Adam Morrison’s GU NCAA Tournament record – from the free-throw line late in the second half. Quantifying everything Clarke did for the Zags was the hard part, but Baylor coach Scott Drew gave it a shot afterward.

“And the biggest stat line was that he drew nine fouls on people guarding him,” Drew said.

2. Nigel Williams-Goss vs. South Carolina, 2017: A trip to the national championship game awaited the winner of a 40-minute tug-of-war between the Bulldogs and Gamecocks. Williams-Goss, the transfer point guard from Washington, was at his finest when the Zags needed it, scoring 23 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out five assists while playing 36 minutes in GU’s 77-73 semifinal triumph.

“I guess (the Gamecocks) were making comments before the game that we were the most nervous team in the tournament,” Williams-Goss said later. “We just heard everything this year – the (weak) conference, haven’t played tight games, we’re not tough.”

3. Adam Morrison vs. Xavier, 2006: The NCAA’s top scorer lived up to his profile in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, even as he was egged on and booed by traveling Xavier fans in Salt Lake City. The Bulldogs trailed by nine points in the first half and by three at halftime, but Morrison willed the Zags to the finish line, scoring 35 points while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 50 percent from the 3-point line and 81 percent from the free-throw line.

“That’s Adam. That’s been Adam for a long time,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “When he’s out there, special things happen and intense things happen. It’s vintage Adam.”

4. Zach Norvell vs. Ohio State, 2018: The redshirt freshman guard from Chicago debuted in the NCAA Tournament with 15 points and a timely 3-pointer that lifted Gonzaga over UNC Greensboro. He was brimming with confidence when the Bulldogs met the Buckeyes in the second round. The Chicago native was good for 28 points in a 90-84 win, making 6 of 11 3-pointers, and he grabbed 12 rebounds, nearly doubling his season high in that category.

“We have an overabundance of introverts, and that’s one thing he’s not,” Few said. “I call him our spiritual leader. He gets us going every practice, even the ones they don’t want to be at.”

5. Dan Dickau vs. Virginia, 2001: Casey Calvary’s putback with 9 seconds left was the decisive play in an 86-85 opening-round victory in Memphis, but Dickau’s early offensive surge – a 21-point first half – is what allowed the Bulldogs to build a 13-point lead. They’d need every bit of that in the second half – and every bit of Dickau’s 29-point effort. The point guard finished 9 of 19 from the field and connected on 6 of 9 from beyond the arc.

“Dickau was hitting shots. Loose balls, they’d go get them, he’d have them. Bang! Three!” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. “He’d be way out, shoot a scud, hit the rim, hit the backboard, go in. He was on fire.”

6. Domantas Sabonis vs. Utah, 2016: They didn’t need his low-post scoring so much as they did his defense, though the Bulldogs still did get 19 points from Sabonis – and an efficient 19, on 8-of-12 shooting. But here’s where his presence was felt most: Jakob Poeltl, Utah’s dynamic big man and the 2016 Pac-12 Player of the Year, scored just five points (2 of 5) in a game he was expected to dominate. Sabonis erased the Utes’ 7-footer and the Zags marched into the Sweet 16 behind his 19 points and 10 rebounds.

“He’s an incredible player,” Poeltl told the Associated Press. “He made some really good plays today. It’s his versatility that makes him so tough to guard.”

7. Matt Santangelo vs. St. John’s, 2000: “The upset specialists from the Great Northwest,” as they were named in the following day’s Chicago Tribune, rose to the occasion to knock off No. 2-seeded St. John’s in Tucson, Arizona. Santangelo and GU sliced up the Red Storm’s zone defense and overcame a halftime deficit to prevail 82-76. The Zags’ senior guard hit six 3-pointers – on nine attempts – for a game-high 26 points.

“If people need to call this an upset or (say) that we are a Cinderella team, then it’s OK,” Santangelo said in the Tribune. “Because it means we’re still playing and still winning and that’s what it’s all about.”

8. Richie Frahm vs. Louisville, 2000: Validation for the Zags’ 1999 tournament run came the following season, when Gonzaga danced into the Sweet 16, eventually losing to Purdue. Louisville was the first obstacle and Frahm helped GU clear it, scoring 31 points while making 4 of 8 3-pointers and shooting 9 of 14 from the field on a night when both Santangelo and Casey Calvary struggled.

“It’s a load off our shoulders, proving to ourselves that we can come back after a season like last year and win another game in a place like this,” Frahm said.

9. Kevin Pangos vs. Oklahoma State, 2014: Gonzaga’s point guard played a big role on both ends of the floor in a first-round win over Oklahoma State in San Diego. The 6-2 point guard scored 12 of his game-high 26 points from the free-throw line – on 14 attempts – and chipped in three steals to go with his three assists and three rebounds. Sparked by Pangos, the Zags prevailed 85-77 in a game that saw 61 fouls called.

“Especially at the end, it got a bit choppy,” Pangos said. “But it was smart on their part. It prolonged the game, with empty possessions and a weird rhythm. But our team did a great job of pulling through and getting it done, no matter how the tempo went.”

10. Kyle Wiltjer vs. Iowa, 2015: The Bulldogs went five long years without advancing past the first round of the tournament, but finally extinguished that drought in 2015, courtesy of Wiltjer’s most efficient game in a Gonzaga uniform. The Kentucky transfer made 12 of 14 shots from the field and was 4 of 6 from beyond the arc to finish with 24 points, the most he’d score in an NCAA Tournament game. Wiltjer scored 13 in the first half, helping the Zags establish a healthy 46-29 lead, and GU eventually won 87-69.

“When you get on a roll and my teammates do such a good job of finding me, you just get more and more confident,” Wiltjer said. “That’s what I was doing in the first half.”

Honorable mention: Rui Hachimura vs. Ohio State, 2018: He may have been overshadowed by Norvell Jr., but Hachimura still contributed 25 points, shooting 9 of 11 from the field.

• Domantas Sabonis vs. Seton Hall, 2016: In a 68-52 win, Sabonis filled up the stat sheet with 21 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.

• Marquise Carter vs. St. John’s, 2011: The guard reached his career high with 24 points, adding six rebounds and six assists in an 86-71 win.

• Adam Morrison vs. Winthrop, 2005: Morrison’s all-around game – 27 points, six boards, five assists and two steals – helped the Zags fend off the Eagles 74-64.

• Casey Calvary vs. Indiana State, 2001: The Zags blew past the Sycamores 85-68 behind Calvary’s 24-point, seven-assist, four-rebound effort.

• Tony Skinner vs. Arizona, 2003: GU lost a 96-95 double-overtime battle, but Skinner still made five 3-pointers and scored a career-high 25 points.