No. 4/5 Gonzaga (3-0) vs. San Diego State (2-0)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18 | 7 P.M. | VIEJAS ARENA | SAN DIEGO, CA
TELEVISION: CBS Sports Network
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE RADIO | LIVE STATS
 
THE OPENING TIP
- Gonzaga travels to San Diego State for its first true road game of the season Monday at 7 p.m.
- The Bulldogs are coming off a 113-54 win over UMass-Lowell Friday. Six Zags finished in double-digit scoring led by Khalif Battle's 21 points. GU forced 25 turnovers and held the River Hawks to 36 percent shooting from the field.
- Gonzaga returned to the Top 5, ranked fourth in the Associated Press poll, and fifth in the USA Today/Coaches poll. The Bulldogs were last in the Top 5 at No. 2 in the first two polls of the 2022-23 season.
- Ryan Nembhard's 10 assists per game is second in the nation, after dishing out 30 assists through the first three games. The senior has two turnovers, both against Baylor. His 15.00 assist-to-turnover ratio is second in the country. GU is sixth as a team averages 22.3 assists per outing.
 
SCOUTING THE AZTECS
- San Diego State is off to a 2-0 start to the season after home victories over UC-San Diego (63-58) and Occidental (100-49). In the win over Occidental, five Aztecs finished in double-digit scoring led by Magoon Gwath, Wayne McKinney III, and BJ Davis who all had 16 points. Miles Heide grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Taj DeGourville had 14 points and five assists. SDSU made 18 three-pointers as a team.
- Miles Byrd scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the season-opening win, but missed the Occidental game with an ankle injury. Davis is averaging 13.5 points through two games, while McKinney and Nick Boyd add 10.5 points.
- San Diego State was picked fourth in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll.
- Reese Waters and Pharaoh Compton were named Preseason All-Mountain West and Preseason Freshman of the Year,
respectively. Waters returns as the team's leading scorer, rebounder and assists man, but is expected to be out until early January. Compton was the No. 80 rated player in the nation and is the first top-100 signee since 2005.
 
SERIES INFO
- Monday will be the sixth all-time meeting between GU and San Diego State, with the Aztecs leading the series 3-2.
- SDSU won in Spokane last season, 84-74, on Dec. 29. Graham Ike led No. 13 Gonzaga with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Ryan Nembhard scored 15 points and had nine assists.
- The Aztecs held off GU in the last meeting at Viejas Arena, 72-70, on Dec. 22, 2017.
- Gonzaga won the first meeting, 72-69, in the 1959 City of Roses Tournament in Portland. The Aztecs won the second matchup, 79-76, on Nov. 16, 2010, during the third annual ESPN Tip-Off Marathon. In the second game of the 2016-17 season, the Bulldogs cruised to a 69-48 win in Spokane during ESPN's Tip-Off Marathon.
 
UP NEXT
- Gonzaga returns home to host Long Beach State Wednesday in the McCarthey Athletic Center at 6 p.m.
- It's the fourth all-time meeting between the programs, but the first since a 90-55 GU win in Spokane on Dec. 20, 2002.
- The teams met in back-to-back seasons in 1961-62 and 1962-63. LBSU won the first-ever meeting, 90-83, at Long Beach State. Gonzaga won the second meeting 78-74 in the 1962-63 season-opener in the Spokane Coliseum.
- The Zags beat CSU Bakersfield last season, 81-65, in their last matchup with the Big West Conference.
 
SHARING IS CARING
- Ryan Nembhard's 10 assists per game is second in the nation, after dishing out 30 assists to just two turnovers through the first three games.
- The senior's last turnover was at the 12:05 mark of the second half in the season-opener versus Baylor.
- His 15.00 assist-to-turnover ratio is second in the country.
- GU is sixth as a team averages 22.3 assists per outing and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.39.
 
B HUFF BE TOUGH
- Braden Huff is off to a great start to his sophomore season. After scoring 14 points against No. 8 Baylor, he had a team-high 21 versus Arizona State, and then 13 versus UMass-Lowell.
- All three performances were off the bench, and he has made 22-of-35 from the field.
- The Illinois native recorded his fourth career 20-point game with team-high 21 points against Arizona State.
 
A LITTLE HELP FROM THE BENCH
- The Bulldogs' bench is averaging 42 points per game, which leads the West Coast Conference and is 17th in the nation.
- Last season's NCAA Div. 1 leader in bench points, Cornell, averaged 36.03 per game.
- The Zags averaged 19.1 bench points per game last season, reaching 40 points from the bench in four games, with the last coming against Portland (42-11) on Feb. 7, and the most against Eastern Oregon (58-36) on Nov. 14.
- GU had 48 bench points in the win over UMass-Lowell.
- Gonzaga outscored Baylor 42-19 in bench points.
- The 42 points were the most by Gonzaga against a ranked team over the last 20 seasons.
- The Bulldogs followed it up with 36 points off the bench against Arizona State (36-19).
 
THAT'S A LOT OF POINTS
- Gonzaga's 302 points matches the second-most through the first three games of the season. The 2019-20 Zags also had 302 points in their first three games.
- The 2018-19 GU team had 318 points in wins over Idaho State, Texas Southern, and Texas A&M. They had 402 through four games.
- The Bulldogs have scored 302 points in 224 possessions.
- Seven players are averaging at least 8.0 points per game.