For almost 30 full minutes of scary basketball on Thursday …

Gonzaga seemed doomed to give new meaning to the phrase, “March Madness.”

The top-seeded Zags could do no better than trade baskets with No. 16 Georgia State throughout a ludicrous first half.

Even then, it took nearly 10 more minutes to truly find another gear.

The opening half was a complete circus, during which Gonzaga clanked 10 of 19 free throws — not to mention missing a boatload of layups, put-backs and assorted other little shots that your average junior high team would have canned.

Twitter came positively alive when the Zags led just 62-58 deep into the second half.

“We’ll be a meme in about an hour if we don’t start playing our game,” offered Barstool Zags.

Besides the Zags silliness — hey, maybe they were a little tight with first-game jitters, or they were dreaming of Georgia State alum Julia Roberts — the unfancied Panthers played ferociously, despite losing their emotional leader and all-Sun Belt center Eliel Nsoseme to a gruesome knee injury in the first few minutes.

MAYBE it was the lack of Nsoseme’s strength around the bucket, or perhaps the gutty Panthers just ran out of gas (and fouls) trying to contain Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren, but the hammer finally dropped on these 22 1/2-point underdogs.

Leading just 62-58 with 10:38 remaining, the Zags went on a 21-zip blitz — covering nearly six minutes and bumping the score to 83-58 — that pushed some breath back into those all those Gonzaga fans at Portland’s Moda Center. (The final was 93-72.)

Not to mention several thousand around the world who believe this is THE year.

Until that sudden Gonzaga explosion (which wasn’t the usual it’s-gotta-be-coming deal), this looked just a teeny bit like Virginia’s opening-round loss in 2018.

In other words, the only defeat suffered by a No. 1 seed in its first game, which had occurred exactly once in 145 tries.

Or in just ONE word …

Frightening.

Gonzaga fortunately returned to playing its brand of ball in that decisive run, even if it didn’t cap a spectacular shooting display — or anything like it.

It was all about Big Boy Ball.

The Zags understood who needed to score, because when the game was turned over to the reserves for the final three minutes, they had logged 21 assists on 22 second-half baskets.

The lone score without an assist was a jaw-dropping steal and slam by Holmgren, who somehow turned a rolling ball into a quick, controlled dribble — the kind of play that you see from 5-foot-8 guards (who rarely finish with a two-handed flush while being fouled).

STILL …

The Zags will have to rummage around for their shooting boots if they’re going to have a chance against Memphis on Saturday.

Georgia State was quick and annoying, but not tall enough to stop any of Gonzaga’s shooters, and yet we watched a pretty miserable display.

The final stats got a bit glossier with that three-touchdown rally.

Get it, 21-0?

Hey, I’m reaching to make this thing more pleasant, OK?

Some numbers, though, were nevertheless WAY out of character for these Zags.

For instance, Gonzaga managed just 53.3 percent from the foul line (16 of 30) — oh, and of the seven Zags to try at least one free throw, everyone but Rasir Bolton (of course, Rasir) got tagged with a miss.

THERE’S more: The Zags also shot 27.8 percent from 3-point range (5 for 18), and those treys all came from Bolton (2 of 4) and Andrew Nembhard (3 of 5).

Everyone else was zero-for-Oregon.

Fortunately for Gonzaga’s success in avoiding that dreaded piece of No. 1 history, Timme and Holmgren eventually overwhelmed the smaller Panthers — especially with Nsoseme out of the game.

The two large fellas combined for 51 points and 40 rebounds, with Timme accounting for 32 points and Holmgren adding seven blocks.

So, the big kids on the block at last sent the little kids home.

But …

It wasn’t much fun for a long, LONG time — and no fun at all if you bet on Gonzaga, which gave up two late free throws and thus didn’t cover the spread.

They are playing again on Saturday, though.

Which brings up another well-used NCAA tournament phrase, one particularly apt for the Zags at this very moment …

“Survive and advance.”

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published weekly during the season.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”