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Gonzaga Basketball

Report: Yale becomes first known home opponent of Gonzaga’s 2023-24 schedule

Gonzaga fans welcome ESPN’s Jay Bilas to the Kennel during ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, at McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

An Ivy League school will be visiting Spokane for just the second time as part of Gonzaga’s 2023-24 nonconference schedule.

Yale, the only Ivy League program to play a game against Gonzaga, will be traveling to the McCarthey Athletic Center next season, according to a report from CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein. A date for the game hasn’t been determined.

It becomes the first known home contest of Gonzaga’s 2023-24 nonconference slate, which also includes road games against Kentucky and Washington, along with a trip to Hawaii in November for the Maui Invitational.

The only other meeting between Gonzaga and a current Ivy League member came in December 1991, when the Zags beat Yale 70-59 at the Kennel as part of the Shootout Spokane game.

Yale is coming off a 21-win season that saw the Bulldogs win the Ivy League regular-season title and bow out in the first round of NIT. Yale lost to Princeton 74-65 in the championship game of the Ivy League Tournament.

As a No. 15 seed, Princeton went on to upset former GU assistant Tommy Lloyd and second-seeded Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before defeating Missouri to advance to the Sweet 16.

Despite missing out on the 2023 event, Yale is expected to field another NCAA Tournament-caliber team next season. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects the Bulldogs to win the Ivy League title, slotting them in as a No. 11 seed in 2024 bracketology projections released on Tuesday.

Yale has made the NCAA Tournament three times since 2016, notably upsetting No. 5 Baylor in the first round of the 2016 event.

Coach James Jones has been at the helm of Yale’s program since 1999-2000, the same season Gonzaga’s Mark Few was promoted to take over for Dan Monson . In 24 seasons, Jones has compiled a 373-301 record and Yale has finished with at least 20 wins five times since 2014-15.

Yale beat Eastern Washington 74-60 on Nov. 11 as part of the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu. Steele Venters, the former EWU standout and Big Sky Player of the Year who recently transferred to Gonzaga, scored 15 points in the game.