Ben Gregg, the last member of Gonzaga’s runner-up squad in 2021, helps Bulldogs ‘make a statement’ against Baylor
Ben Gregg played 1 minute of mop-up duty in Gonzaga’s 2021 national championship loss to Baylor, played 17 minutes off the bench in a 2022 neutral-site loss against the Bears in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and had a much bigger say in how things played out during a third career meeting with Scott Drew’s program Monday night at the Arena.
This time for Gregg, it was from the confines of Mark Few’s starting lineup, which built an early lead before Gonzaga’s top unit handed things over to a capable bench unit in a runaway 101-63 win for the sixth-ranked Bulldogs over the eighth-ranked Bears.
Five years after Baylor spoiled Gonzaga’s undefeated season with an 86-70 victory in the national championship, Gregg is the only player remaining on Few’s roster who was on the bench April 5, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
If Gonzaga players had Monday’s season opener penciled on their calendar, Gregg had it circled, underlined and highlighted – likely with a permanent marker.
“I’m winless against them until tonight, so it definitely is a game you always circle on your calendar when you play against the Baylor,” Gregg said. “Just the history of the program the last 10 years or so. So circled them on our calendar, knew it was the first game. Said before the game we just want to make a statement tonight and we did that.”
That might even be underplaying it.
Gonzaga had its first double-digit lead midway through the first half, going up 25-14 on a layup from Braden Huff, stretched the advantage to almost 20 points at halftime and built its largest lead of the game in the final seconds, when Joe Few set up Emmanuel Innocenti for a layup that made it 101-63.
Gonzaga acing its first test of the season becomes even more impressive when you consider the Bulldogs didn’t have access to the study materials they’re accustomed to. Baylor, a team with four new starters, played two closed-door scrimmages before Monday’s game, but Gonzaga had tape from just one of those – an 80-72 victory over SEC opponent Texas A&M.
“It was just so hard. We only got one closed scrimmage of them, so we didn’t have a lot of film,” Gregg said. “But our coaches did such a great job coming up with the scout. I think we were prepared for any and everything, and we executed the game plan to the T. I think it really showed tonight and I think if we play like that moving forward, kind of carry out the game plan and the way we play, we’ll be really hard to beat.”
Gregg was a 17-year-old early enrollee who left Clackamas (Oregon) High School early to join Gonzaga’s 2020-21 squad in January.
The forward was a deep-bench option for the Bulldogs when they met Baylor in the national title game and subbed in for the final minutes of a 16-point loss.
“It was still a surreal feeling playing in the national championship game,” Gregg said. “Just being there, undefeated the whole year and then just so much was going into the game. That was just an awesome opportunity that whole year.”
Two years later, a 14th-ranked Gonzaga team led by seven points with 1 minute, 38 seconds remaining before sixth-ranked Baylor made two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws down the stretch to emerge with a 64-63 victory.
Gregg was the second-most productive player on GU’s bench, scoring five points to go with two rebounds and two steals in 17 minutes off the bench.
“I think we should’ve won that game,” he said. “Just kind of blew it toward the end there.”
Despite making his first start in three appearances against Baylor, Gregg played only 16 minutes on Monday – partially because the Zags relied heavily on three bench players and partially because GU was in control of a 34-point lead when the fifth-year senior checked out for the final time with 6:10 remaining.
Gregg was efficient and productive in his 16 minutes, scoring nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field while coming up with three rebounds, one assist and one steal. The forward made a tough three-point play near the end of the first half to end a 6-0 Baylor run that brought the Bears within 10 points.
“Tonight was so special, the environment here was unbelievable,” Gregg said. “It was just so fun to play in.”
Gregg’s father, Matt, foreshadowed the day’s events with one of his customary game-day tweets, which usually depict “Little Ben Gregg” in an older photograph and include an entertaining message to the Gonzaga senior.
Monday’s photo depicted a middle school-aged Ben Gregg posing on a bear rug in the middle of an aisle at Costco.
Matt Gregg accompanied the photo with a caption that read, “Game night v #8 Baylor in the Arena at 8:30pm on ESPN2. Senior season starts tonight! Hoping to watch little @bengregg20 help skin the bears for some Natty payback from his freshman year. #gozags”
Ben rarely takes issue with his father’s game-day posts, which have become increasingly popular among Gonzaga fans who use the social media platform X, but the fifth-year forward sent a text message shortly after Matt’s latest tweet went public at roughly 8:30 a.m. on Monday.
“I never text him. I let it slide, but today I was like, ‘C’mon man that was a little much,’ ” he said. “That was a little too much. But he’s stubborn and doesn’t care, so he’s going to let them roll. I don’t know what he’s going to have next, but it better not be like that.”