Coming off upset loss to LMU, No. 6 Gonzaga will test its resolve on the road against Pacific

STOCKTON, Calif. – After surrendering a number of streaks during Thursday’s 68-67 home loss to Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga may not care to hear about the run of the success it’s had against the only team picked to finish lower than the Lions in the preseason West Coast Conference poll.

On the heels of their first loss to a WCC opponent other than Saint Mary’s or BYU since 2013-14, the Zags won’t take much comfort in knowing they’ve yet to lose to Pacific under Mark Few, or that they’ve won 16 of 17 games in the series by double digits.

Gonzaga’s track record against WCC teams the Bulldogs have historically dominated seems especially irrelevant now. More pressing is how Few’s team will rebound from Thursday’s loss and take advantage of a 48-hour window to regroup mentally and physically ahead of the next conference challenge.

Gonzaga (16-4, 5-1) will relinquish its No. 6 ranking on Monday, but how far the Bulldogs slide in the AP Top 25 poll – not to mention the NET rankings used to determine NCAA Tournament seeding – will depend on Saturday’s result against Pacific (10-11, 3-3) at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

Thursday’s loss was more evidence that Gonzaga’s ceiling may be lower than it’s been in the past – something Few’s hinted at multiple times during the first spate of conference games. Meanwhile, teams like LMU and Pacific continue to raise the WCC’s floor, proving they can catch the conference’s top dogs off guard on a given night.

“These teams are good. It’s not like we want to come in and just be in a close game with all these guys every single game,” Nolan Hickman said. “These guys, they’ve got a real good system, they’ve been playing real hard versus all of us. It’s just, we’re going to have to grit out a lot of these games.

“It’s not going to peaches and cream, I feel like this season.”

Gonzaga’s latest loss may have been a necessary midseason wakeup call, but it also reaffirmed to nine other WCC teams that the Bulldogs are more vulnerable than they’ve been in years. That became apparent during GU’s initial WCC visit to Northern California, when Few’s team had to dig itself out of 12- and 14-point holes to win at San Francisco and Santa Clara.

Pacific is coming off a 31-point loss to the Dons on Thursday, but may take confidence from its 78-72 win over the LMU team that just stunned the Zags.

Pacific has surpassed its win total from 2021-22 (8-22) and the Tigers are on pace, scoring 74.4 points per game, to post their highest scoring average since 1993-94.

“I think it’ll be just like this (LMU game),” Few said of the Pacific matchup during a postgame news conference Thursday. “I think it’ll be really, really physical, with some good athletes, some guards that can spread you out and make some plays. They’ve got a great shooter. It’ll be very similar to this, I would predict.”

Leonard Perry is in his second season as Pacific’s coach after spending six seasons as an associate coach under Damon Stoudamire. Perry coached at Idaho from 2001-06 and played guard for the Vandals under Larry Eustachy from 1989-91. The 54-year-old Perry and Deon Watson Jr., the father of Gonzaga starting forward Anton Watson, were on Idaho’s roster in 1990-91 when the Vandals made the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers don’t have anyone who ranks in the top 25 of WCC scoring, but six players average between 8.4 and 11.7 ppg. Oklahoma State transfer Keylan Boone is Pacific’s leading scorer and rebounder, posting 11.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

Boone, who’s played every game since missing the first six with an injury, leads a smaller, versatile, wing-centric lineup. On Thursday against San Francisco, the 6-foot-8 guard/forward started alongside 6-7 guard/forward Judson Martindale, 6-5 guard Luke Avdalovic, 6-4 guard Greg Outlaw and 6-1 guard Moe Odum.

Gonzaga’s scouting report probably shouldn’t end with the starting five. The Tigers lead the WCC and rank No. 17 nationally in bench points per game (29.4). The reserves have outscored the starters in two WCC games, including Thursday’s loss at USF when substitutes accounted for 42 of the team’s 57 points. The bench also scored 42 points in Pacific’s win over LMU.

One of Pacific’s options off the bench is 6-10 Minnesota transfer Sam Freeman (12.7 minutes per game). Eastern Washington transfer Makai Richards, another 6-10 post, is averaging 6.1 minutes per game.

Either big man could see extended floor time if Pacific’s smaller lineup is unable to limit Gonzaga forward Drew Timme, who overcame a slow start against LMU to score a team-high 17 points.

The game will be the first between the teams played in front of Pacific fans since the 2018-19 season, when Gonzaga won 86-66. The Bulldogs and Tigers only played in Spokane during the 2019-20 season, both matchups in 2020-21 were played inside empty arenas as a result of COVID-19 restrictions and last year’s game in Stockton was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within Pacific’s program.