The weekend in college hoops 🏀

Happy post-Super Bowl Monday, the day when most people start paying attention (kinda) to college hoops.

But you already subscribe to a college hoops newsletter, so that ain’t you. Let’s dive in.

1. Gonzaga gets its marquee win — at Kentucky

It’s panic time in Lexington. But things are a little more chill in Spokane.

Gonzaga’s 89-85 win at No. 17 Kentucky on Saturday marked a few notable things:

• The Zags (18-6 overall) finally have a Quad 1 win this season, an important notch in its NCAA Tournament profile. It’s now 1-5.

• That’s important because they haven’t missed the NCAA tourney since 1998, and never under coach Mark Few.

• Kentucky (16-7) has lost three straight at Rupp Arena for the first time since it opened in 1976. It’s also 2-4 in its last 6 games.

• The Cats are still safely in the Big Dance … but they’ll be underdogs in half of their remaining games. And that’s putting Big Blue Nation on edge.

This isn’t just about results, either. Kentucky’s not healthy (it didn’t have Tre Mitchell again, but his defensive impact is debatable), and doesn’t have the same offensive verve from January. It started slow, trailing by 13 in the first half, and the players spoke afterward about their rising frustration.

If there’s a calm voice about Kentucky’s future, it came from the opposing bench.

“I see a lot of potential,” Few said. “I see a lot. I thought I saw two really, really good teams out there making plays at the highest level, and I think (Kentucky) is going to be fine.”

Maybe Few’s also talking about his own team.

Gonzaga was terrific on Saturday, whether that was big man Graham Ike (23 points, 5 boards) controlling the paint, Anton Watson (17 points, 7 boards, 5 assists) doing a little bit of everything, especially in the second half, or freshman Braden Huff, who provided offensive punch off the bench (12 points) when Ike sat with foul trouble.

“Big time, couldn’t do it without him,” Ike said of Huff. “The whole team collectively, too, Luka (Krajnovic) gave us some great minutes off the bench. We’re up 10 at half and they came out and gave us a big punch. It was great for the guys to stay even-keeled and that’s what we’re about.”

Gonzaga’s offense looks more like the efficient scoring machine of the last few seasons, topping 1.19 points per possession in six of its last eight games. It’s got four games to maintain that play before it closes its regular-season slate with a trip to the Bay Area against San Francisco and Saint Mary’s.

Two wins on that trip, and the Zags might not be sweating come Selection Sunday.

2. Arizona passes road tests, makes case for 1 seed

Until this week, Arizona’s metrics (Top 6 across kenpom, bartorvik and evanmiya) didn’t always mesh with its performance. Road losses at Stanford, Wazzu and Oregon State (a Quad 3 loss) were enough to wonder if the Wildcats were a really good, not great team, destined for a 2 seed come March.

Wonder no more. After wins at Utah and Colorado, the Wildcats (19-5, 10-3 in Pac-12) have the resume and the metrics for a 1 seed.

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