Gonzaga is heading to the Sweet 16 after blitzing McNeese St. in the Round of 64 and making a further statement against 4-seed Kansas Saturday.

The Bulldogs and Jayhawks went back and forth to start Saturday’s Round of 32 matchup. Mark Few’s squad didn’t make things as close in the second half, making it a one-sided affair with a final score of 89-69.

The Bulldogs turned it up on the defensive end in the 2nd half while Kansas struggled to stop a Gonzaga offense that was all gas, no breaks the entire afternoon. By game’s end Gonzaga had averaged just under 1.4 points per possession – a very strong number.

Gonzaga is looking dangerous moving into the Sweet 16. Here are 3 takeaways from the Bulldogs’ win:

Could THIS Gonzaga team earn the Bulldogs their elusive title?

We need to have a quick aside regarding the potential threat this Gonzaga team may pose to the rest of the field.

There’s a chance no team has performed as Gonzaga has thus far in this tournament. Sure, UCONN looked stout against Stetson and Arizona has won a pair of games in dominant fashion, but the Zags seem to be flying under the radar after a slightly underwhelming regular season as compared to their usual superiority in the WCC.

Gonzaga has never won a national championship despite reaching the tournament every year since 1998. The Bulldogs have been the runner-up twice and have played in 6 elite 8s since 1999.

Could this be the year, of all the years, the Bulldogs make their run? As stated, they seem to have escaped the spotlight thus far, but now the cat may be out of the bag.

We’ll see how they fare against either Purdue or Utah State next weekend. It’ll be interesting to see which sportsbooks favor the Zags in the Sweet Sixteen, if any.

Anton Watson leads a dominant offensive performance

Anton Watson led the way during Gonzaga’s huge win over the Jayhawks, dropping a team-high 21 points with 6 rebounds, 1 assist, a pair of blocks and a steal. On top of that, Watson was uber efficient, nailing 8 of his 11 shots from the field while draining all 4 of his free throws.

Watson wasn’t the only Bulldogs just carving up the Jayhawks defense, though. Five Bulldogs eclipsed double digits Saturday, with Nolan Hickman dropping 17 points and Ben Gregg not far behind with 15 points.

What stands out most about the Bulldogs was their overall efficiency at the rim and from range. Gonzaga nailed 8 of their 15 shots from range and combined to shoot 35-58 from the field – a red-hot 60.8%.

A date with Zach Edey on the horizon?

In all likelihood, the Bulldogs will draw No. 1 seed Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen. But to do that the Boilermakers will still have to get past a sneaky Utah State team that decimated a good TCU team on Thursday.

As we said earlier, this Gonzaga team is playing at an extremely high level right now. And it goes without saying that Purdue’s efficacy in March is well-documented. The Boilermakers will definitely have their work cut out for them against the Aggies.

Back to Gonzaga, which is now going to compete in its 9th straight Sweet Sixteen. The Bulldogs’ dominance in the first weekend of March – especially in an era where upsets are becoming more and more trendy – is very impressive.

Let’s see what the Zags are made of moving forward.