Athletic Florida State ends Gonzaga’s season

March 23, 2018 6:03 PM

Alyssa Charlston,

Posted: March 23, 2018 6:03 PM

Updated: May 14, 2021 2:17 PM

by Alyssa Charlston

LOS ANGELES — Slated against a ninth-seeded Seminoles team that reaches deep into their tall, athletic bench, the Gonzaga Bulldogs were upset by Florida State, 75-60, in the Sweet Sixteen in Los Angeles.

The Zags found out they would be playing without sophomore forward and the WCC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player Killian Tillie just before the game. Tough timing, as they faced one of the most athletic teams Head Coach Mark Few had seen since John Calipari’s Memphis team with Derrick Rose.

FSU got out to an early lead, one the Zags would erase, but then give up again, falling by 15 on Thursday night.

Killian Tillie: “It’s tough, it’s very tough just being on the bench and not being able to help them on the court, it was very tough. Honestly in a very important game like this I feel like it’s the worst moment to get injured.”

Josh Perkins: “We definitely feel that one, that’s one of our tremendous weapons you know he spaces the floor he’s very versatile offensively and defensively so when we heard he was going down we felt it. I mean we were still there we had some chances to tie it up.”

Silas Melson: “I mean it was fun, it’s an honor to even be in the locker room with some of these guys and we’ve come a long way just to make it to the second weekend is impressive because when we lost the championship last year, no one in the country was thinking Gonzaga will be back in the sweet sixteen, you know two games away from the final four and to be able to do that, it’s a proud moment and like I said I’m not going to let this game define us and I’m happy for us all.”