Gonzaga coach Mark Few always builds an ambitious nonconference schedule, helping not only harden his team for March but also to balance the Bulldogs' weaker West Coast Conference slate when it comes to the NCAA selection committee.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Malachi Smith led six players in double figures with a season-high 23 points and No. 6 Gonzaga used a big first half to beat Portland State 102-78 on Thursday night in the opening round of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Tyrese Hunter seemed to be getting farther and farther away every time he let another 3-pointer fly.
No distance seemed out of his range.
Hunter scored 26 points and a led a 3-point shooting spree that pushed No.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — North Florida took a 10-8 lead early against No. 2 Gonzaga, but that just seemed to ignite Drew Timme and the Bulldogs.
Gonzaga went on a 26-0 run, helped by eight North Florida turnovers, to build a big lead they never relinquished.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — JD Notae scored 21 points despite missing 20 shots and fourth-seeded Arkansas made Gonzaga miserable on both ends of the floor, bouncing the top overall seed from the NCAA Tournament with a 74-68 win on Thursday night.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Gonzaga coach Mark Few has seen plenty of No. 16 seeds in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. When he watched video of Georgia State, the longtime Bulldogs' coach didn't see a team that fit that profile.
Gonzaga has two of college basketball's best big men and a roster loaded with talented players.
More often than not, Andrew Nembhard is the best player on the court.
A heady distributor who can also score, Nembhard is the orchestrator of top-ranked Gonzaga's highly efficient offense with a possible future in the NBA.
Gonzaga will head into the NCAA Tournament exactly where it ended up in the final AP Top 25: right on top.
In fact, that's where the Bulldogs began the season, too.
Touting his team's accomplishments has become a defense mechanism for Gonzaga coach Mark Few.
Hard to blame him with all the complaints that the Zags don't play anyone and are in a weak conference.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Coach Mark Few told his top-ranked Gonzaga team to treat this like a tough trip to face a pair of Big 12 opponents — even if it's actually the final week of West Coast Conference play.
Gonzaga has made two trips to the national championship game, annually beats the nation's top programs in nonconference games and wins more consistently than any other program.
Even with all their success, there's still a corner of college basketball fans who insist the Zags are overrated, a product of Mark Few's system and a weak conference.
The committee that will select the NCAA Tournament sees little gap between Gonzaga and Auburn as the top team.
For now, the Zags are the pick.
Gonzaga was the top overall seed in initial rankings released Saturday by the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, sitting ahead of Auburn, Arizona and Kansas as the other teams holding No.
Gonzaga keeps finding its way back to the top of the The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Second-ranked Gonzaga has been blowing out West Coast Conference opponents by an average of more than 30 points, but that wasn't going to be the case against No. 22 Saint Mary's.
PROVO, Utah (AP) — Chet Holmgren had 20 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and five blocks to lead No. 2 Gonzaga to a 90-57 victory over BYU on Saturday night.
The freshman sensation finished with a season high in rebounds and matched his season best in assists.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Chet Holmgren had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 2 Gonzaga past San Diego 92-62 on Thursday night for its 11th straight victory.
Drew Timme added 13 points and eight rebounds as six Bulldogs scored in double figures.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — On a night when shots weren't dropping for Drew Timme, freshman center Chet Holmgren stepped up to lift top-ranked Gonzaga.
Holmgren scored 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots in the Bulldogs' 78-62 victory over San Francisco on Thursday night.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Drew Timme scored 32 points and Andrew Nembhard had 19 as No. 2 Gonzaga routed Santa Clara 115-83 on Saturday for its 24th consecutive West Coast Conference victory.
The Bulldogs (14-2, 3-0 WCC), who lead the nation in both scoring and field goal percentage, eclipsed the century mark for the third consecutive game and shot 58.7% from the field (44 for 75) against the Broncos (11-6, 1-1).
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Coach Mark Few of No. 2 Gonzaga is always on his players to pick up the pace in games, and the Zags are doing their best to comply.
Drew Timme scored 30 points on 13-of-14 shooting as Gonzaga beat rival BYU 110-84 on Thursday night to extend the nation's longest home winning streak to 61 games.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Fourth-ranked Gonzaga had to postpone its first three conference games because of COVID-19 issues within the program, but when the Bulldogs got back on the basketball court, they were firing on all cylinders.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Julian Strawther scored 15 points, Rasir Bolton added 14 points and No. 4 Gonzaga beat North Alabama 93-63 on Tuesday to extend the nation's longest home winning streak to 59 games.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Chet Holmgren had 20 points and nine rebounds, Anton Watson scored 17 and No. 4 Gonzaga beat Northern Arizona 95-49 on Monday night to extend the nation's longest home winning streak to 58 games.
PHOENIX (AP) — Gonzaga went into its game against Texas Tech expecting to be pushed, poked and prodded. The Red Raiders may have a new coach, but they still have one of college basketball's most aggressive defenses.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Drew Timme scored 22 points, making all eight of his shots, and No. 5 Gonzaga beat cold-shooting Merrimack 80-55 on Thursday night.
Freshman center Chet Holmgren had 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Julian Strawther added 15 points for Gonzaga (8-2), which has won 57 consecutive home games — the longest streak in the nation and a program record.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a town known for major championship fights, it seemed only fitting a long-anticipated 40-minute heavyweight bout between No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 5 Duke take place in Las Vegas.
Paolo Banchero scored 21 points to help Duke hold off a turnover-prone Gonzaga team 84-81 on Friday night in front of an announced 20,389 fans — the largest basketball crowd ever in Nevada.
Gonzaga and UCLA continued their hold on the top two spots in The Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll on Monday, setting the stage for their highly anticipated showdown this week, while Purdue and Duke barged their way into the top five.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Top-ranked Gonzaga was a scoring machine in its 92-59 win over Bellarmine on Friday night, but coach Mark Few was most impressed by his team's defense.
Gonzaga held Bellarmine to 40% shooting, including just 3 of 25 from 3-point range, and forced 18 turnovers.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Drew Timme scored a career-high 37 points and made it look easy as he sank 15 of 19 shots to lead top-ranked Gonzaga over No. 5 Texas 86-74 on Saturday.
“That's a great team win, man," said Timme, a leading candidate for player of the year.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Drew Timme scored a career-high 37 points as top-ranked Gonzaga beat No. 5 Texas 86-74 on Saturday night in an early-season showdown.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few returned to the sidelines after serving a three-game suspension for a DUI, sitting out two exhibition games and the season-opening win over Dixie State.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona's players weaved freely off screens, hit teammates with crisp passes and used its defense to set up easy transition baskets.
Look familiar?
The Wildcats looked a lot like Tommy Lloyd's old team in the coach's Arizona debut, dishing out 25 assists on 28 baskets to open the season with an 81-51 win over Northern Arizona on Tuesday night.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Chet Holmgren caught everyone's attention during his college debut for No. 1 Gonzaga.
The nation's top recruit this year, Holmgren had 14 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and seven blocks as the Bulldogs beat Dixie State 97-63 in their season opener Tuesday night.
Drew Timme could have left for the NBA after leading Gonzaga into last season's national title game. He likely would have been drafted and gone on to have a solid career.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — At one point during Gonzaga's yearlong run at No. 1 last season, coach Mark Few felt so comfortable with the leadership he had on the floor, he could have left a rack of basketballs on the court, walked away and the Bulldogs could have run practice themselves.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Tommy Lloyd spent 20 seasons working under Mark Few, helping turn Gonzaga into one of the nation's best programs.
Lloyd's task in his first season as a head coach will be to return Arizona to a place among the nation's elite.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Gonzaga coach Mark Few has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence in Idaho and must pay a fine of $1,000 in lieu of spending four days in jail, according to court documents.
Gonzaga carried a No. 1 ranking all last season before falling a win short of becoming college basketball’s first unbeaten national champion in 45 years.
Mark Few’s Bulldogs start this season in the same position, hoping to complete that final step this time around.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few's breath smelled of alcohol and he had bloodshot eyes on the night he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, though he initially told a police officer he had not been drinking, according to newly released documents.
COEUR d'ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few has been cited for driving under the influence and said he exhibited “poor judgement” operating a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Former Gonzaga player Stephen Gentry was hired Monday as an assistant basketball coach to replace Tommy Lloyd, who left the Bulldogs to become the head coach at Arizona.
Gentry was most recently an assistant coach at Illinois.
Tommy Lloyd had chances to coach other programs. He turned them all down.
The longtime Gonzaga assistant had no interest in leaving Spokane, Washington, and was in line to succeed Mark Few when he eventually retired, so there was no reason to consider anywhere else...
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The weight of the line, not the lure, unspools the reel. The timing, the rhythm whisk the fly back and forth before it lands in the desired spot...
It’s not easy to bury a team as good as USC, let alone in a half, no matter how easy Gonzaga made it look...
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Top-seeded Gonzaga has heard the resounding refrain all week.
Four more wins to capture the school's first national championship, four more wins to finish the first perfect season in men's basketball in 45 years...
By at least one measure, this is the most chaotic Sweet 16 field to date.
The seed numbers of the 16 remaining teams add up to 94, the highest total since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985...