Dec. 1, 2015

No. 13/12 Gonzaga (4-1) at Washington State (4-0)
Game 7 | Dec. 2 | 8 p.m. PT | Beasley Coliseum | Pullman, Wash.
SERIES: Gonzaga trails, 98-51 - 150th all-time meeting
FIRST MEETING: 1907 - WSU won 21-18 in Spokane, Wash.
LAST MEETING: 2014 - Gonzaga won 81-66 in Spokane, Wash. (Spokane Arena)
TELEVISION: FOX Sports 1 (Aaron Goldman, Steve Lavin)
RADIO: 1510 KGA/Sirius XM/TuneIn App (Tom Hudson, Matt Santangelo)
LIVE STATS: | GAME NOTES: Gonzaga - Washington State

STORYLINES
- Gonzaga has defeated Washington State four straight times, including an 81-66 win last season at the Spokane Arena.
- GU is coming off a third-place showing at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, including a defeat of in-state rival Washington and then-No. 18 UConn. It marked the ninth straight time in which the Zags have finished third or better at an early season tournament.
- Kyle Wiltjer averaged 19.7 ppg and 7.3 rpg to earn B4A All-Tournament honors and subsequently WCC Co-Player of the Week honors.
- Gonzaga's top three big men - 7-1 Przemek Karnowski, 6-11 Domantas Sabonis and 6-10 Kyle Wiltjer - combine to score 42.0 points per game, amounting to 52 percent of the offense.
- After leading the nation in FG% last season at .520, GU picked up where it left off, shooting .510 in five games.
- WSU is Gonzaga's second of four Pac-12 matchups this season: (beat UW, face Arizona 12/5, and face UCLA 12/12).

ABOUT GONZAGA
- Gonzaga has a higher field goal percentage than all five opponents and outrebounded four of five opponents this season.
- Domantas Sabonis is averaging nearly a double-double at 14.4 points and 8.6 rebounds/game while shooting .714 (30-42) from the floor.
- Sabonis missed his second double-double of season by just one rebound with nine both games in wins over Washington and UConn.
- Gonzaga is 4-0 when Sabonis scores double figures, and 0-1 when he scores less than 10 points.
- Kyle Wiltjer leads the team in scoring at 18.8 points per game, and has had 20-plus twice this season and double figures in all five.
- Wiltjer had double-double by halftime of Washington game, ended with 24 points, 11 rebounds in win.
- Gonzaga returns two starters and eight overall letterwinners from its Elite Eight squad last season.
- Head coach Mark Few is the winningest active coach in NCAA Division I by percentage at .810 (442-104).
- Gonzaga was picked to win the WCC regular season title by the league's coaches receiving all nine possible first-place votes.
- Gonzaga has won at least 20 games for 18 consecutive seasons.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
- Head Coach Ernie Kent is in his second season and has a 17-18 record, including a 4-0 mark to start this season.
- The Cougars have forced 62 turnovers in four games, an average of 15.5 per contest, and outrebounded opponents by +8 per game.
- Josh Hawkinson averages nearly a double-double with a team-leading 18.0 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
- WSU is shooting .504 from the field on the season, including a .370 mark from three-point land.
- Ike Iroegbu runs the offense averaging 3.8 assists per game to go along with 13.8 points per game.

BACK-TO-BACK WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
On Monday, Kyle Wiltjer was named WCC Co-Player of the Week for averaging 19.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while the Zags went 2-1 at the Battle 4 Atlantis Wiltjer shot. 500 (21-42) for the week and scored 20-plus for the second time this season. That came one week after sophomore forward Domantas Sabonis earned the same honor averaging 20.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while making 19-of-23 field goals. In a 91-52 win over Northern Arizona, Sabonis scored a career-high 26 points on 12-of-13 shooting, while pulling down seven rebounds (four offensive) and adding one block.

ALL ABOUT THAT DEFENSE
For the second straight season, Gonzaga ranks in the top 25 in both field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense. The Zags were one of four teams to end the 2014-15 season ranked in the top 25 in both categories and currently rank that way in both this season. GU is 19th in FG percentage (.510) and 11th in FG percentage defense (.346). A large part of that is perimeter defense where Gonzaga ranks No. 1 in the nation in three-point FG percentage defense (.214).

JACK OF ALL TRADES
Senior Kyle Dranginis will be relied upon for leadership and his ability to fill up the stat sheet, and no example was more telling than his Battle 4 Atlantis line. In three games in the Bahamas, Dranginis averaged a team-best 8.0 rebounds and a team-best 4.0 assists to go along with 6.3 points per game and 1.0 steals per game. He also had one of the biggest buckets of the tournament for Gonzaga when he tipped in a miss inside the last minute against UConn to give Gonzaga a three-point lead. Coming off the bench in `14-15, the Nampa, Idaho, native was third in the team in blocks (15), fourth in steals (23), fifth in assists (63) and sixth in rebounding (2.6/game).

BENCH PRODUCTION
Gonzaga's bench has been huge this season, led by Domantas Sabonis' 14.4 and Silas Melson's 9.2 ppg. The Zags' bench has outscored opponents by a total of 150 to 79, including a 49-9 mark against Northern Arizona. Sabonis had 26 vs. NAU and 15 vs. MSM, while Melson had 10 vs. NAU and 15 vs. MSM. GU also outscored UW's bench 26-13 and UConn's bench 24-16. The Zags are 4-0 when outscoring the opponent's bench with the only loss coming to Texas A&M. The Aggies' bench won that battle 13-7.

BIG MEN, BIG REBOUNDING NUMBERS
Gonzaga's monstrous frontcourt has helped the team rank ninth in the nation in defensive rebounds per game (32.2), 21st in rebounds margin (+11.2) and 23rd in total rebounds (44.0).

ZAGS TO TRAVEL FAR AND WIDE
In its first month of the season, Gonzaga made the 5,900-mile (one way) trip to Okinawa, Japan, to take on Pitt at the Armed Forces Classic on November 13. After returning home on Nov. 14, the Zags jumped back on the plane on Nov. 22 and traveled to Paradise Island, Bahamas, for the Battle for Atlantis. That trek amounted to nearly 2,700 miles one way. All-told, between the two roundtrips, the Zags traveled more than 17,000 miles in the season's first three weeks. Now Gonzaga won't leave the state of Washington until Dec. 31.