Report: Gonzaga, Baylor in discussions about nonconference opener in Mexico City
A potential nonconference meeting between a pair of preseason top-10 teams, Gonzaga and Baylor, continues to gain traction as the 2024-25 college basketball season approaches.
As of Thursday, the teams that met in the 2021 national championship are still focused on scheduling a game during the early stages of the season, but after CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported the Zags and Bears were interested in playing in Las Vegas, the schools are apparently considering another potential destination.
An opening week game between the college hoops powerhouses could take place in Mexico City, according to Bracketeer.org’s Rocco Miller, who provided details on the potential matchup during Thursday’s episode of Locked On Zags with host Andy Patton.
Citing multiple sources, Miller said the marquee nonconference matchup would take place Nov. 6 on the third day of the 2024-25 college basketball season. That would presumably be GU’s season opener, seeing as the Bulldogs don’t have another game scheduled until Nov. 10, when the Bulldogs are slated to host Arizona State at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Major television networks haven’t shown interest in picking up broadcast rights for a game in Mexico City, according to the report, and streaming company FloSports would likely air the game with on-demand options.
If Gonzaga and Baylor are unable to reach an agreement to play in the Mexican capital, the nonconference foes are still interested in playing an early-season game at a neutral site, likely in Las Vegas, Miller reported.
The Big 12 Conference had previously committed to playing a series of basketball, baseball and soccer games in Mexico in 2024, but delayed those events – which included a men’s hoops game between Houston and Kansas – to 2025.
Under longtime coach Mark Few, Gonzaga’s taken an aggressive “anybody, anywhere,” approach to nonconference scheduling, playing a variety of high-major and blue-blood programs at hostile road arenas and unique neutral-site venues.
In addition to trips to the Bahamas-based Battle 4 Atlantis, Bulldogs have traveled outside the United States for a single game before, visiting Okinawa, Japan, in 2015 to play Pittsburgh in the Armed Forces Classic. The game was cancelled late in the first half due to slippery court conditions.
A wet court likely wouldn’t be an obstacle in Mexico City, but altitude might with the city of roughly 8.8 million perched at an elevation of 7,349 feet. Mexico City hasn’t hosted high-level college basketball, but the NBA has visited on multiple occasions, most recently for a 2022 game between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.
Gonzaga and Baylor have rich history, meeting in the 2021 national championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium – a convincing 86-70 win for the Bears that spoiled the Bulldogs’ unbeaten season – and more recently during a tightly-contested 2022 nonleague game at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Baylor prevailed in that game, 64-63, after erasing a late deficit.
Whether it includes Baylor or not, Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule is already shaping up to be one of the strongest in the country.
The Bulldogs have the aforementioned home date with Arizona State, a road game at San Diego State and neutral-site games against Kentucky at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, UConn at New York’s Madison Square Garden and UCLA at the Los Angeles Clippers’ brand new Intuit Dome.
Gonzaga is also returning to the Battle 4 Atlantis, where the Bulldogs will open with West Virginia and could play either Indiana or Louisville in the second round before a potential championship game matchup with former Bulldogs assistant Tommy Lloyd and Arizona.
GU set to host LBSU
The fourth known home game on Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule was revealed earlier this week.
The Bulldogs will host Long Beach State on Nov. 20 at the McCarthey Athletic Center, according to the LBSU schedule that was officially released on Wednesday.
Long Beach State is coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012, but enters the season with a first-year coach, former SDSU assistant Chris Acker, after firing Dan Monson.
Monson, who spent 12 years at Gonzaga including three as the head coach, was informed he wouldn’t be returning to LBSU in 2024-25, but was still allowed to coach the team at the Big West Tournament. Monson and LBSU proceeded to win the conference tournament, punching a ticket to the NCAA Tournament, where the team lost an opening-round game to Lloyd and Arizona.
Few, who succeeded Monson in Spokane, has traditionally avoided scheduling nonleague games against other members of his Gonzaga coaching circle and the game against LBSU in November will be the first meeting between the schools since 20023. The Zags are 2-1 all-time against LBSU.
Aside from LBSU, Gonzaga is expected to host Arizona State, Nicholls State and Bucknell in nonconference play, though the Bulldogs’ schedule has yet to be finalized.