SAN FRANCISCO -- The Arkansas Razorbacks beat the No. 1-ranked team for the second time this season.
It was much Sweeter the second time around.
The Razorbacks upset No. 1 Gonzaga 74-68 on Thursday night in a Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament matchup in the West Region in Chase Center.
The University of Arkansas (28-8) advanced to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive year.
Senior guard Au'Diese Toney's dunk with one second left punctuated the Razorbacks' victory.
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman went into the stands after the game to hug his family members, including his mother, Kris, who watched him coach the Razorbacks in person for the first time.
"We believed," Musselman said in a postgame interview with CBS about his Razorbacks being given little chance to beat Gonzaga. "Nobody else did."
Arkansas beat then-No. 1 Auburn 80-76 in overtime in Walton Arena on Feb 8 in Walton Arena.
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That victory was memorable and fans stormed Nolan Richardson Court, but it can't compare to the Razorbacks beating a No. 1 seed for the first time in 11 tries since the current NCAA Tournament format was adopted in 1979.
Gonzaga (28-4) was the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 overall seed and came into the game as a 91/2-point favorite.
"This is what we dreamed about," said senior All-American guard JD Notae, who led the Razorbacks with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. "This is what we came here to do.
"Coach said before we left Fayetteville, if we didn't want to win, then don't get on the plane. I feel like we brought that the whole time we're here."
Musselman said the coaching staff made sure the Razorbacks were aware of any slight from every expert who picked against Arkansas.
"Thank you to everybody who said we had no chance," Musselman told CBS.
"Just being the underdog, man, use it to your advantage," said Arkansas senior forward Trey Wade, who had 15 points and seven rebounds. "They never see you coming, and we just came out ... and we got it done."
Sophomore forward Jaylin Williams, who had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Razorbacks, said he saw one website that gave Gonzaga an 86% chance to win.
Williams said the Razorbacks also noticed the Bulldogs dancing on the court during pregame warmups.
"That was disrespect to us," Williams said. "We came into the game playing hard and had a chip on our shoulder."
The Razorbacks led for the final 16:34 after Wade hit a three-pointer to put Arkansas ahead 39-36.
Notae's three-pointer gave Arkansas its largest lead at 59-50 lead with 6:38 left.
Gonzaga pulled within 63-58 on junior forward Drew Timme's bank shot.
Wade hit a corner three-pointer with an assist from Davonte Davis to put the Razorbacks ahead 66-58 with 2:08 left.
Andrew Nembhard hit two free throws with 1:27 left to pull Gonzaga within 66-62, then Williams, Chris Lykes and Davis each hit 2 of 2 free throws for a 72-65 Arkansas lead with 8.1 seconds left and put the game out of reach.
"All the credit goes to Arkansas," Gonzaga Coach Mark Few said. "Their defense was pretty tough to get any rhythm against.
"I think we never really got any sort of rhythm in the first or the second half. To me that was the difference in the game, and I felt like we had stretches where we guarded them pretty good.
"We just couldn't get any rhythm on our offensive end, which is rare for us."
The Bulldogs, who came into the game averaging 87.8 points and shooting 52.6%, were held to 37.8% (24 of 64) by the Razorbacks.
It was the second-worst shooting game for Gonzaga this season after the Bulldogs hit 36.7% (27 of 61) in a 67-57 loss at Saint Mary's.
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"I just thought defensively we played so good," Musselman said. "I thought we did a great job of forcing turnovers."
The Bulldogs had 15 turnovers.
"Gonzaga is a great passing team," Musselman said. "They're extremely unselfish. We held them to nine assists, so that differential of assist to turnovers, we felt like that's what we wanted to do defensively."
Timme, a 6-10 All-American, led Gonzaga with 25 points, but the Bulldogs' other All-American -- 7-0 freshman Chet Holmgren -- played just 23 minutes because of foul trouble and had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Holmgren fouled out with 3:29 left when he made contact with Notae on a driving attempt.
"Obviously, [Holmgren] is a heck of a player, but we've been in situations like that all year, and it's next man up," Timme said. "That's how this team operates. We don't win or lose based on one player."
Toney guarded Nembhard and held Gonzaga's top guard to seven points on 2 of 11 shooting.
"I think his length was a factor," Nembhard said of the 6-6 Toney. "He is athletic. He did a great job, just kept pressuring me the whole game."
Williams said drawing fouls on Holmgren was a key for the Razorbacks.
"We wanted to keep driving at him," Williams said. "We wanted JD to play aggressive. We wanted our guards to keep driving at him.
"Getting him in foul trouble was a really big plan for us in that game."
Arkansas shot 40.3% (29 of 72) and had 13 assists with 8 turnovers.
Toney had 9 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. He powerfully swatted an attempt by Nembhard with nine seconds left and Arkansas leading 70-65.
Then Toney got to enjoy a dunk after catching a long pass from Williams.
"I saw him the whole time," Williams said. " I don't think I looked at anybody else.
"He was wide open. I just waited for a guy to clear, and I threw it to him, and he did his thing."
As did the rest of the Razorbacks in shocking Gonzaga.
Arkansas guard Davonte Davis (right) tries to drive to the basket past Gonzaga guard Hunter Sallis on Thursday during the No. 17 Razorbacks’ 74-68 victory over the top-ranked Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinals at Chase Center in San Francisco. More photos at arkansasonline.com/325ncaaua/. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
Arkansas forwards Jaylin Williams (left) and Trey Wade get instructions from Coach Eric Musselman during the second half of their Sweet 16 matchup with Gonzaga on Thursday at Chase Center in San Francisco. The Razorbacks upset the Bulldogs to advance to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row. More photos at arkansasonline.com/325ncaaua/. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)Gallery: Arkansas defeats Gonzaga 74-68 at NCAA Tournament
