Gonzaga faces unpredictable San Diego squad in prelude to Saturday’s WCC finale

At approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday, a massive bus branded with ESPN logos and decals will roll into Spokane to begin setting up for Saturday morning’s College GameDay show.

The transformation on GU’s campus will already be taking place by the time another bus carrying San Diego’s basketball team pulls into the loading dock at McCarthey Athletic Center later Thursday evening.

Much of the college basketball world has already diverted its attention to a top-15 matchup between Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s on Saturday, but the WCC regular-season finale will be a moot point if the Bulldogs (23-5, 12-2) don’t handle business against the Toreros (11-17, 4-10).

A Gonzaga loss on Thursday, combined with a Saint Mary’s win over Pepperdine – which travels to Moraga, California, as the only team yet to win a road game in WCC play – would give the Gaels their first WCC outright regular season title since 2012.

The Bulldogs’ chances of an outright championship are slim at this point. It would require Gonzaga to win Thursday and Saturday and Pepperdine to stun Saint Mary’s in Moraga.

If Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s each win Thursday, and the Bulldogs beat the Gaels at home on Saturday, the WCC would crown co-champions and turn to the NCAA’s NET ranking to determine the top seed at the conference tournament in Las Vegas.

The Zags know all the scenarios, which is why they understand the significance of winning Thursday’s game against San Diego, and shelving Saturday’s finale against Saint Mary’s for the time being.

“That was actually a big message we had today within our team,” senior forward Drew Timme said Wednesday on the most recent episode of his Gimme Timme Podcast. “Like look, everyone’s obviously amped up for this Saint Mary’s game, but San Diego has the third-best offense in our league, even better than Pepperdine.

“If we mess around … and end up losing, then what’s the point of the Saint Mary’s game? … It’s a big business week for us.”

Gonzaga has already played multiple games against six WCC teams, but the Bulldogs enter the final week of league play preparing for their first encounter with the Toreros this season.

The Bulldogs’ starting lineup has been a model of consistency with the five-man unit of Nolan Hickman, Rasir Bolton, Julian Strawther, Anton Watson and Drew Timme starting all 28 games for Mark Few.

San Diego falls on the other end of that spectrum.

Due to injuries and other circumstances, the Toreros have used 15 different starting lineups this season, never rolling out the same unit for more than four straight games.

In total, 14 different San Diego players have started games.

“They’ve had various lineups because they’ve been so injured,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “I don’t know what the status and all that is. They’ve done a good job of battling through those, though.”

If the Toreros are at full strength, fans will likely see four of the team’s top five scorers – fifth-year guard Marcellus Earlington, Oregon transfer Eric Williams Jr., Weber State transfer Sigu Sisoho Jawara and Stanford transfer Jaiden Delaire – back in the rotation for first-year coach Steve Lavin.

All four were missing in Saturday’s game against Saint Mary’s, but the Toreros impressively used a 24-4 run in the second half to take the Gaels down to the wire before eventually losing 62-59.

“They took Saint Mary’s down to the wire the other day,” Few said, “and they carved out a couple wins when I think people thought they might be done with when they were losing bodies like that.”

Tongue in cheek, the Gonzaga coach added, “playing us, I expect everybody to probably be back healthy again.”

No matter who’s available, the Toreros are bound to have at least one or two offensive weapons on the floor against Gonzaga.

Earlington, a reigning All-WCC Honorable Mention choice, averaged 26 points over a recent six-game stretch and has a season-high of 32 points. Williams Jr. exploded for 43 points in a 91-89 overtime loss to Utah State earlier this season. Sisoho Jawara scored 29 points in an OT win over UC Riverside, and Townsend set his season-high with 34 points against Pacific last week.

The Toreros rank No. 45 nationally in points per game and have caught Gonzaga’s attention with changes they’ve made on the defensive end of the floor.

“I think they’re switching up their defenses and they’re doing a nice job,” Few said.

Gonzaga is favored by 21.5 points in Thursday’s game while Saint Mary’s is a 19-point favorite against Pepperdine.