No. 8 Gonzaga faces No. 9 Florida State

The Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-6, 12-2 WCC) received their 12th consecutive NCAA Tournament berth today as they earned a No. 8 seed in the West Region. The Zags will square off against ninth seeded Florida State (22-9, 10-6 ACC) on Friday at 4:10 p.m. PST in Buffalo, N.Y. The winner will play either No. 1 Syracuse or No. 16 Vermont in second-round action.

It will be the first hardwood match up between Gonzaga and Florida State.

The third seeded Seminoles were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the ACC Conference Tournament, falling to the No. 11 seed North Carolina State Wolf Pack. Gonzaga was defeated by Saint Mary's 81-62 in the West Coast Conference Championship.

Florida State is one of the best defensive teams in the country; the Seminoles are first in defensive field goal percentage (.372), 18th in points per game (60.2) and 10th blocked shots (6.3). They were first in the ACC in those categories.

Sophomore Chris Singleton was named Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He is also a threat offensively, averaging 10.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Center Solomon Alabi (7-1, 241) averages 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

The Bulldogs are led by West Coast Conference Player of the Year Matt Bouldin who is averaging a team-high 15.8 points per game, one of four players averaging double figures. The others included Elias Harris (14.7), Steven Gray (13.7) and Rob Sacre (10).

Gonzaga is 0-2 against the ACC this season. They lost 77-75 to Wake Forest on Dec. 5 and 76-41 against Duke on Dec. 19.

STARTING LINEUPS

No. 9 Florida State Seminoles (22-9, 10-6 ACC)

Yr    Player                      Points        Rebounds        Assists
FR    Michael Snear          8.8                 2.6                    1.29
JR    Derwin Kitchen         8.2                 4.9                    3.90
SO    Chris Singleton       10.3                7.1                    2.19
SO    Solomon Alabi        11.6                6.2                     0.48
SR    Ryan Reid                6.9                 4.0                    1.17


No. 8 Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-6, 12-2 WCC)

Yr    Player                             Points        Rebounds        Assists
SR    Matt Bouldin                    15.8             4.6                  4.06
JR    Steven Gray                     13.7             4.1                  2.75
SO    Rob Sacre                       10                5.2                  0.56
SO    Demetri Goodson              6.5             2.1                  1.78
FR    Elias Harris                       14.7            7.2                  1.16