Report: Gonzaga expected to be in 16-team PK85 in November 2022

Gonzaga’s involvement with Phil Knight basketball tournaments is expected to continue in November 2022.

The Zags are expected to be in the 16-team field in the PK85, celebrating the Nike co-founder’s 85th birthday, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. The format will probably mirror the PK80 held in 2017 featuring two eight-team tournaments with games at the Moda Center and Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

The high-powered field is tentatively scheduled to include Duke, North Carolina, Villanova, Connecticut, Xavier, West Virginia, Iowa State, Purdue, Michigan State, Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Oregon State, Portland and Portland State.

Gonzaga and Alabama will likely be in different brackets since they’re scheduled to play in Birmingham in December 2022. The Zags are also expected to open a home-and-home series with Kansas in Lawrence in December 2022.

The Zags participated in the PK80 over the Thanksgiving holiday and they were lined up to face USC last November in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, but the game was canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. GU routed the Trojans in the Elite Eight in March.

No. 17 Gonzaga finished third in the PK80’s Motion Bracket, routing Ohio State 86-59, falling 111-105 in a double-overtime classic to No. 7 Florida and edging Texas 76-71 in overtime. Top-ranked Duke defeated Florida to win the Motion Bracket.

Rui Hachimura scored 20 points against Texas, Johnathan Williams scored a career-high 39 points vs. Florida and Williams had 21 points against the Ohio State.