LAS VEGAS – The objective was twofold for No. 12 Gonzaga on Tuesday night against Maryland.

With four other teams improving to 2-0 at the Players Era Festival before Mark Few’s squad tipped off at MGM Grand Garden Arena, it was imperative the Zags first beat the Terrapins to join a group of unbeatens in Las Vegas and stay alive in the championship picture.

As soon as they were squared away there, it was all about the points.

To qualify for Wednesday’s 6:30 p.m. (TNT) title game at Grand Garden Arena, Gonzaga needed a sizeable point buffer – at least 14 points against Maryland, and 24 over two games, to win the tiebreaker against Tennessee (+23), Kansas (+21) and Iowa State (+19).

None of those four was in position to catch Michigan, which impressively accumulated a 70-point margin in i

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