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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga, Washington State learn WCC matchups ahead of final year in league

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (13) battles against Washington State Cougars guard Isaiah Watts (12) and forward Ethan Price (3) in the paint during the first half of a college basketball game on Monday, Feb. 19, 2025, at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

Gonzaga’s final year in the West Coast Conference will take Mark Few’s program to many of the destinations the Bulldogs have come to know well during a 46-year stay in the conference, and also a new one, when conference play opens in late December.

The WCC released home-and-away pairings for every team in the conference Thursday morning while confirming the conference would maintain an 18-game schedule, even as it expands to 12 teams with the addition of Seattle U.

The conference traditionally announces its full schedule, with dates, tipoff times and television broadcast detatails, in early August.

The Seattle Redhawks, who’d previously been a member of the Western Athletic Conference since 2012-13, will show up on Gonzaga’s schedule twice next season, representing the first matchups between the schools separated by fewer than 300 miles.

Gonzaga will face six other WCC programs both at home and on the road: Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Washington State, Portland and Pepperdine. GU will face Pacific and LMU in home games and travel for its only games against Oregon State and San Diego.

WSU, which is set to follow Gonzaga to the Pac-12 after its second season as an affiliate member in the WCC, will play Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, Seattle, Oregon State, LMU, Pepperdine and Portland both at home and on the road.

The Cougars will host Santa Clara and Pacific in Pullman and travel to face San Francisco and San Diego.

WCC play will again start before the new year with conference openers taking place on Dec. 28. At the culmination of the 10-week schedule, all 12 teams will travel to Las Vegas for the WCC Tournament, from March 5-10 at Orleans Arena.

Gonzaga is looking to win its 26th and final regular-season conference championship in its last year in the WCC after Saint Mary’s claimed back-to-back regular-season titles in 2023-24 and 2024-25. The Zags have won 22 WCC Tournament championships since 1995, beating Saint Mary’s in a low-scoring title game at Orleans Arena last season.

WSU had mixed success in its first year as a WCC affiliate member, finishing sixth in the standings with an 8-10 record. The Cougars cruised past LMU 94-77 in their WCC Tournament opener, but lost 86-75 to San Francisco in the semifinals.