Gonzaga still working on schedule after talking to Houston, Villanova

No. 1 Gonzaga has actively tried to fill open dates on its schedule this week, but for now the search goes on.

Bulldogs coach Mark Few reached out to Villanova counterpart Jay Wright about the possibility of a contest this weekend, but Wright said in a Zoom call with media the school’s first priority was finding a Big East Conference game.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein tweeted Tuesday night that No. 3 Villanova will host Georgetown on Sunday, filling an opening that was created when Xavier postponed Sunday’s game against the Wildcats because of COVID-19 issues.

The Zags on Monday were close to lining up No. 5 Houston on Saturday in Salt Lake City before negotiations broke down.

“We talked about it. It just didn’t work out,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson told the Houston Chronicle. “Ideally, we would go to Gonzaga. So we would fly to North Carolina and back (to face East Carolina on Wednesday), turn around and fly to Spokane and back and then go to Tampa and back to face (South Florida) next Wednesday.

“You’re not going to put your team in that position for a game this time of year.”

Gonzaga (17-0) is trying to find opponents after conference contests with Loyola Marymount on Thursday and Santa Clara on Saturday were postponed. The Zags are apparently close to finding a West Coast Conference foe for later this week.

LMU, Santa Clara, San Diego, San Francisco and Saint Mary’s called off games this week due to COVID-19 protocols in their programs.