Zach Norvell makes his mark in his first NCAA Tournament game

Nothing ever comes easy in March. Just ask the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The Zags held off a second-half rally and dug deep to win an absolute rockfight against the No. 13 UNC Greensboro Spartans in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, all so we can breathe a bit easier and wait 48 hours for the next go round.

A lot of things went terribly for the Zags during the game, specifically free throw shooting and long range shooting. Gonzaga held UNC Greensboro to 3-of-22 from long range, but UNC Greensboro held Gonzaga to 4-of-22 until this one shot.

Last season it was Jordan Mathews with the biggest three point swing shot, and this season it was Zach “Snacks” Norvell Jr. The redshirt freshman was having an atrocious shooting day, but history will wipe much of that from memory thanks to the biggest shot of his young career. Norvell finished with a respectable 15 points, but seven of those came from the free throw line. He went 3-of-12 from the field.

Did Norvell have any question it was going in? Like all good scorers—he knew it immediately.

And with it, Gonzaga gets to live another day, and they put the Madness directly into March.