It’s hard to think of a word.

Or a phrase.

Or really, anything to make sense of Gonzaga’s 74-68 loss to Arkansas in Thursday night’s NCAA Sweet Sixteen game.

Mark Few gave it a try, anyhow …

“It’s sad,” the coach said, “because we’re not used to losing at this round, and not still be playing.”

I suppose “sad” works for an immediate reaction — along with frustration that the Zags lost to a team they know they should have beaten.

Oh, and maybe a bit of anger at the officiating, which was hideous in all phases of the game, but was especially unfair to Chet Holmgren.

The 7-foot freshman, no doubt playing his last college game, fouled out with just over three minutes remaining.

At least two, and maybe three, of Chet’s fouls were just absurd — as though the zebras were punishing him for being too tall.

Or soon to be too rich.

Holmgren was limited to 23 minutes by the constant whistling, yet still managed 11 points and 14 rebounds.

IN FACT, it’s not a stretch to say that, with Arkansas playing defense using everything but ball bats …

Holmgren actually dominated the game when he was allowed a few minutes on the floor.

The Zags led 22-17 when Chet got his second foul, and that led to the Hogs outscoring Gonzaga by eight to lead 32-29 at halftime.

The second half was more of the same, with Arkansas extending a modest lead every time Holmgren had to sit.

The whole thing might have given Zags fans a terrible case of déjà vu, since Holmgren’s foul nightmare was eerily similar to the fate of another 7-foot frosh, Zach Collins, in the 2017 NCAA championship game — a loss to North Carolina that never should have happened.

The officials were pretty much as bad this time around, allowing Arkansas to hit a critical 3-pointer late in the game — despite a ballhandler clearly stepping out of bounds in the lead-up to the shot.

Aaarrgh!

Unfortunately, the Zags also had themselves to blame for letting Arkansas get away with this victory.

Gonzaga shot as poorly as humanly possible for a team that spent the season at or near the top of college hoops’ shooting accuracy charts.

THAT’S not an exaggeration.

The Zags, whose season finished so abruptly at 28-4, hit 52.7 percent of their shots in those 32 games.

What about 3-pointers?

They connected on 38 percent as a team, with Rasir Bolton at 47 percent, Holmgren at 39.2, Andrew Nembhard at 38.5, and Julian Strawther at 37.1.

In this unbelievable mish-mash with Arkansas, Gonzaga managed just 37.5 overall on 24 of 64 shots — and a hideous 5 for 21 from 3-point range.

“We got the shots we wanted,” Few said. “We just didn’t make them, and those were shots we make all the time.”

The exception, as usual, was Drew Timme with 25 points and a heroic effort to keep the game alive.

Nembhard had what was undoubtedly the worst game of his career, going 2 of 11 from the field with five turnovers.

The Zags point guard has been so routinely brilliant that this night seemed like aliens had taken over his body, or some other ridiculous explanation.

The weird thing is that Arkansas didn’t exactly light up the Chase Center — converting 40.3 percent from the field and 28 percent behind the arc.

The difference, if you try overlooking the officials, was that Gonzaga committed 15 turnovers, and they came at terrible times.

Shooting, passing, ballhandling (and whistles) all created the perfect storm.

And the Zags are done.

As Few said …

Sad.

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.”