At a glance: No. 11-seed UCLA vs. No. 2-seed Gonzaga

No. 11-seed UCLA (22-13) vs. No. 2-seed Gonzaga (34-2)
NCAA South Regional semifinal
Friday, 4:15 p.m. PT, NRG Stadium (Houston)
TV: CBS (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson)
Radio: AM 570 (Chris Roberts, Tracy Murray)

Scouting report: Gonzaga is, simply put, the best offensive team that UCLA has played this season. The Bulldogs have enough weapons to survive an off night from any one player except Kyle Wiltjer.

Gonzaga is ranked first in the country in effective field goal percentage, and is accurate at the rim, beyond the arc, and most areas in between. Only 6.2 percent of the Zags’ shots get blocked, lower than all but four others in college basketball. Parts you could pick at? This isn’t a team that gets to the line all that often, or converts at a particularly high rate (68.7 percent). It’s not a truly dominant offensive rebounding team.

But overall, this is a very dangerous scoring roster. That offensive engine helped push head coach Mark Few over his recent round-of-32 hump, where Gonzaga ended its past five seasons.

UCLA didn’t get blown out in its only loss at Pauley Pavilion, but it also didn’t look competitive for most of the second half. The Zags led by double digits for almost that entire stretch, and easily snuffed out the one run the Bruins made shortly out of halftime. Still, this is a very different UCLA team than the one that lost five straight starting in December.

One key will be how well Kevon Looney — who fouled out against Gonzaga last time — matches up with Wiltjer. The future lottery pick has a 7-foot-plus wingspan, and if he bothers the Bulldogs’ star player, it could throw their offense out of sync. Wiltjer shot just 2 of 11 when BYU upset the Zags, 73-70, in February. Such slumps are rare, however: the 6-foot-10 forward has shot at least 50 percent in 17 of his last 21 games.

On the other end of the floor, Gonzaga is led imposing. It ranks top-15 in limiting opponents’ effective field goal percentage, but is not the disruptive type of defense that would really fluster UCLA. Notably, the Zags only are only 264th in the country in forcing turnovers.

A big question is whether or not Bryce Alford can sustain his ridiculous hot streak. He’s still a sliver below 40 percent from three on the season, but is hitting nearly two-thirds of his attempts in his last five games. He also did a good job of distributing the ball against UAB last weekend, finding his teammates when the Blazers made him a focal point of their defensive game plan.

Opposing player to watch: Wiltjer is the guy that makes the Gonzaga offense go, but point guard Kevin Pangos has been vital too. The senior is second in the country with a 3.71 assist-to-turnover ratio, and hasn’t had more turnovers than assists in any game this season. He’s also a great shooter (45.2 percent on 3-pointers), although he only hit 1 of 6 from beyond the arc the last time he saw UCLA.

Key stat: For all the size on its frontline, Gonzaga is not a great shot-blocking team. The Bulldogs are 236th in the country in block percentage, and Przemek Karnowski is the team leader with 37 blocks. Wiltjer has 23, but no one else on the roster has more than 14.

If center Tony Parker can stay out of foul trouble, his performance could do wonders for UCLA’s chances. Parker is coming off a career-best 28 points against UAB, but has struggled at times against teams that can throw similar size at him. He had five points, nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks against the Zags in December — but also had four fouls.

Odds: UCLA is currently an 8.5-point underdog against Gonzaga. kenpom.com gives the Bruins a 23 percent chance of winning.