No. 3/4 Gonzaga (4-0) vs. Long Beach State (1-3)
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 | 6 P.M. | McCARTHEY ATHLETIC CENTER | SPOKANE
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THE OPENING TIP
- Gonzaga returns home to host Long Beach State in the McCarthey Athletic Center Wednesday at 6 p.m.
- The Bulldogs are coming off an 80-67 win at San Diego State Monday. In the first true road game of the season, GU never trailed and limited the Aztecs to 37 percent shooting from the field. Graham Ike scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half, and Ryan Nembhard added 19 points and 10 assists.
- The Bulldogs went 27-of-31 from the free-throw line in the win at San Diego State. The last time Gonzaga shot 85 percent with 30 or more free throw attempts was versus Santa Clara on Jan. 16, 2020. The last time GU did it on the road was at Santa Clara on Jan. 5, 2013.
- The Zags have not trailed since the 7:21 mark of the second half against Arizona State, 69-67, on Nov. 10. GU has not trailed in the last 86 minutes and 27 seconds of game action.
- Ryan Nembhard's 10 assists per game is second in the nation, after dishing out 40 assists through the first four games. The senior has five turnovers. His 8.00 assist-to-turnover ratio is 12th in the country.
- Gonzaga is back in the Top 5, ranked third in the Associated Press poll, and fourth in the USA Today/Coaches poll. The Zags were last in the Top 5 at No. 2 in the first two polls of the 2022-23 season.
 
SCOUTING THE BEACH
- Long Beach State is 1-3 to start the season. After opening with a 93-48 win over La Verne, the Beach dropped their next three, including the last two against West Coast Conference members San Francisco (84-54) and Portland (63-61).
- Against the Pilots on Saturday, four LBSU players finished in double-digit scoring led by Ramel Lloyd Jr. and Cam Denson who both scored 15 points. Devin Askew added 10 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
- Askew averages a team-high 17.3 points and 5.5 assists per outing. TJ Wainwright chips in 15.5 points.
- Derrick Michael Xzavierro pulls down 6.5 rebounds.
- The team faces a true rebuild, with 12 newcomers and just three returning players. Long Beach State returns less than five percent of its scoring, rebounding and minutes played from the 2023-24 team.
 
SERIES INFO
- Wednesday is 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.
 
UP NEXT
- Gonzaga opens the Battle 4 Atlantis against West Virginia Nov. 27, at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time. The annual tournament is held on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
- Gonzaga is 5-0 all-time against WVU. In the last meeting, then-ranked No. 1 GU rallied to an 87-82 over the No. 11 Mountaineers in the 2020 Jimmy V Classic in Indianapolis.
- West Virginia begins year one under new Head Coach Darian DeVries, who led Drake to six consecutive 20-win seasons. The Mountaineers were 9-23 last season, including 4-14 in the Big 12 Conference, but bring in an almost completely new roster under DeVries.
- The Mountaineers are off to a 2-1 start to the season.
- It will be Gonzaga's third trip to the tournament, after placing second there in 2019.
- The Zags are 4-2 all-time at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
- GU placed third at the event in 2015.
 
GIVING THANKS FOR THESE EVENTS
- Gonzaga is 46-13 under Mark Few in events during the week of Thanksgiving, and 35-7 in the last 10 Thanksgiving week events.
- Under Mark Few, GU has won seven tournaments during the week of Thanksgiving, and played in 11 of
the 17 tournament championship games.
- Last season at the Maui Invitational, the Bulldogs fell to eventual champion Purdue in the quarterfinals, before picking up wins over Syracuse and UCLA.
 
BACK TO THE BAHAMAS
- Gonzaga will be part of a loaded field in the 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis. The Zags join Arizona, Creighton, Davidson, Indiana University, Louisville, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.
- In the 2019 event, the Zags fell to Michigan in the tournament championship game, after beating Southern Mississippi and Oregon.
- Gonzaga won two of its three games in the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis, beating Washington, falling to Texas
A&M and then defeating UConn for third place.
 
SHARING IS CARING
- Ryan Nembhard's 10 assists per game is second in the nation, after dishing out 40 assists to just five turnovers through the first four games.
- His 8.00 assist-to-turnover ratio is 12th in the country.
- GU is 16th as a team averages 20.3 assists per outing and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.25.
 
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, 13 versus UMass-Lowell, and then 10 at San Diego State.
- All four performances were off the bench, and he has made 26-of-45 from the field (57.8 percent).
- 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 36.5 points per game, which leads the conference and is 34th 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 382 points are the second-most through the first four games of the season in program history.
- The 2018-19 Bulldog team had 402 points in season-opening wins over Idaho State (120), Texas Southern (104), Texas A&M (94), and Illinois (84). They had 493 points through the first five games of that season.
- This season's Bulldogs have scored 382 points in 294 possessions.
- Seven players are averaging at least 8.0 points per game.