Texas Longhorns

No. 17 Gonzaga, Texas try to overcome tough losses (Nov 26, 2017)

Published Nov. 25, 2017 4:45 p.m. ET

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AP

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A pair of close friends will square off when No. 17 Gonzaga and Texas finish the Phil Knight 80 Invitational.

Gonzaga head coach Mark Few and Texas head coach Shaka Smart have spent time together with USA Basketball and saw that time expand to a friendship off the court

"Shaka is one of my closest friends in the whole world," Few said. "He's done a phenomenal job -- they look good offensively ... they're defending good -- he's got athletes."

Come Sunday, though, neither will be looking to exchange pleasantries. They will just be hoping to lead their teams to victories after both suffered heartbreaking losses in the semifinals.

Gonzaga (4-1) is coming off the best game of the tournament when it took No. 7 Florida to double overtime on Friday night. But despite multiple chances to win in the end and a double-double from Johnathan Williams, the Bulldogs lost 111-105.

Williams was sensational, finishing with 39 points and 12 rebounds. He completely dominated the paint on both ends of the floor, using his size and athleticism to take advantage of Florida's lack of post presence.

"I tried just tried to stay aggressive," Williams said after the loss. "My teammates put me into the right places to score and Coach Few put me in great spots to go to work."

He may have a tougher time down low when he and the Bulldogs face off with Texas (4-1) and its star center, freshman Mohamed Bamba.

Bamba is Texas' most highly recruited player since Kevin Durant was a Longhorn back in 2006 -- which is the last time these two teams met.

Bamba struggled in his semifinal matchup with Duke and Marvin Bagley III. He finished the game with nine points and 10 rebounds, but made most of his presence known in the post, finishing with two blocks and altering countless others.

With each team possessing two star players down low, the game could be decided by two other unsung big men.

Gonzaga's Killian Tillie and Texas' Dylan Osetkowski don't get as many headlines as their fellow post players do, but both are instrumental to their team's success.

Tillie finished with 17 points and four rebounds against Florida before fouling out.

Likewise, Osetkowski was Texas' only scoring threat in the post against the Blue Devils. He finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists while taking a team-high 20 shots.

The game also features a good matchup with talented backcourts.

Gonzaga's Josh Perkins might be just as big a star as Williams, especially since he's the motor of the offense. He finished with 17 points (all after halftime), seven rebounds and seven assists against the Gators. Combined with Silas Melson, the Bulldogs' backcourt is tough and experienced.

Texas will counter with one of the quickest backcourts in the nation in Kerwin Roach II and Andrew Jones. They combined to score 34 points in the loss to Duke but it was their missed opportunities that gave away the 16-point lead early in the second half.

"The message was how bad do you want it," Roach said of the battle with Duke. "There were a lot of 50-50 balls that we didn't get down the stretch, a lot of mistakes we made. We can't make no mistakes."

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