No. 14/15 Gonzaga (9-3) vs. #22/21 UCLA (10-2)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28 | 1 P.M. | INTUIT DOME | INGLEWOOD, CA
TELEVISION: FOX
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE RADIO | LIVE STATS
 
THE OPENING TIP
- Gonzaga and UCLA meet in the 2024 West Coast Hoops Showdown in Inglewood, Calif., Saturday at 1 p.m. The Top-25 matchup is the first college game inside the new Intuit Dome.
- Gonzaga is coming off an 86-65 home win over Bucknell last Saturday. Graham Ike had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Ben Gregg scored 15 points and Nolan Hickman added 14. The Zags finished with 10 steals, including four by Ryan Nembhard, who also had nine points, nine assists and six rebounds.
- Gonzaga is first in the nation averaging 89.3 points per game, which would rank second in GU history. (2020-21: 91.0)
- Six Zags are currently averaging double-digit scoring. Five Bulldogs are 1,000-point career scorers.
- Ryan Nembhard's 122 assists are second in the nation (Sean Newman Jr., Louisiana Tech: 128). Nembhard's 10.2 assists per game leads the country. The senior has 26 turnovers. His 4.69 assist-to-turnover ratio is fourth in the country.
- As a team, GU is third in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.97). The Zags are sixth averaging 19.4 assists per game.
- The Bulldogs are seventh in the country shooting 81.2 percent from the free throw line. GU averages 17.3 made free throws per game, which leads the West Coast Conference.
- Khalif Battle is 17th in the nation from the line at 92.5 percent. He made 50 straight free throws before missing which ranks second in program history (Derek Raivio, 56)
- Gonzaga is fourth in the country in three-point percentage defense, holding opponents to 25.9 percent from behind-the-arc. No Zag opponent has shot at least 33% from 3-point range, and only two have made 10 or more threes in a game versus GU.
 
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
- UCLA had its nine-game win streak snapped in a 76-74 loss to North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic last Saturday in New York City. UNC rallied from a 16-point second half deficit. Tyler Bilodeau scored a career-high 26 points for the Bruins, making 5-of-6 from behind-the-arc. Sebastian Mack added 22 points.
- The Bruins other loss came to New Mexico in the second game of the season Nov. 8 in Las Vegas.
- UCLA owns road victories at No. 12 Oregon and over Arizona in Phoenix during the win streak.
- Bilodeau averages a team-high 15.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Eric Dailey Jr. adds 10.8 points, and Mack comes off the bench with 10.3 points.
 
SERIES INFO
- This is the 10th all-time between Gonzaga and UCLA. The Bulldogs have won seven of the previous nine meetings.
- The programs have met in each of the last four seasons, with the Zags winning all four.
- In the latest matchup, Anton Watson scored a career-high 32 points and No. 11 Gonzaga held off UCLA 69-65 in the fifth-place game at the 2023 Maui Invitational. Ryan Nembhard scored 12 points and Nolan Hickman added 11.
- The Zags have won the last three NCAA Tournament
matchups, with GU winning 93-90 in overtime in the national semifinal in Indianapolis in 2021. Jalen Suggs hit the game-winner as time expired from near half-court.
- In the 2023 NCAA West Region semifinal in Las Vegas, Gonzaga won 79-76 after Julian Strawther hit a 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left to answer a 3-pointer by UCLA's Amari Bailey.
- Gonzaga won the first all-time between the programs,
59-43, at UCLA on Dec. 11, 1999.
 
UP NEXT
- Gonzaga opens West Coast Conference play at Pepperdine Monday at 7 p.m.
- The Zags open conference play against the Waves for the third straight season.
- In the latest matchup, GU won at Pepperdine last season, 86-61. It was Mark Few's 700th victory. Graham Ike scored 24 points and added seven rebounds. Nolan Hickman added 19 points making three three-pointers. Ben Gregg got his first start of the season and grabbed 10 rebounds. Ryan Nembhard dished out eight assists with no turnovers.
- The Bulldogs have won 28 straight West Coast Conference openers, dating back to a 72-61 loss at Santa Clara in 1996. Gonzaga has won all 25 WCC openers under Mark Few.
- It will be the 98th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Pepperdine. The Zags have a 67-31 advantage in the series.
- GU has won 47 straight versus the Waves, with the last Pepperdine victory in the series coming on Jan. 18, 2002, 88-79, in Malibu.
- It ranks as the third-longest streak versus an opponent in Div. 1 history, and currently the longest active.
- The Bulldogs are 51-2 against the Waves under Few.
- Gonzaga has won 21 in-a-row inside the Firestone Fieldhouse and is 27-17 all-time in the meetings in Malibu.
- Gonzaga won the first-ever meeting, 93-70, in the Knights of Columbus Tournament in Portland, on Dec. 11, 1964.
 
SHARING IS CARING
- Ryan Nembhard's 10.2 assists per game leads the nation, after dishing out 122 assists (2nd in the country) to just 26 turnovers. He was the first in NCAA Div. 1 to 100 assists.
- His 4.69 assist-to-turnover ratio is fourth in the country.
- Nembhard finished with a career-high and single game tournament record 14 assists against Davidson in the Battle 4 Atlantis. He totaled 39 assists in the three-game event, setting a new tournament record, to just eight turnovers.
- Gonzaga is third in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.97. The Zags' 19.4 assists per game tops the West Coast Conference, and is sixth in the country.
 
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
- The Bulldogs' are only turning the ball over 9.8 times per game, which ranks 24th in the country.
- Gonzaga had four turnovers in the win over Long Beach State. The second fewest by the Zags in the past six seasons. (three turnovers, San Francisco on 3/11/24)
- The Bulldogs are eighth in the nation with a 13.5 turnover percentage. Ole Miss is first at 12.8 percent.
 
BENEFITTING FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
- Gonzaga is seventh in the nation making 81.2 percent from the free-throw line.
- The program record is 79 percent set in 1988-89. The best free-throw shooting team under Mark Few was in 2005-06, when the Zags made 78.2 percent.
- Over the three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis, GU made 54 of its 59 free throws (91.5 percent). The Bulldogs were 21-of-22 in the win over Indiana. Ben Gregg was 16-of-17 from the line in the tournament.
- Khalif Battle is 17th in the nation from the line at 92.5 percent (37-for-40) to start the season.
- Ryan Nembhard is sixth in the conference at 86.7 percent (39-of-45) from the free-throw line, while Gregg is seventh at 83.7 percent (36-of-43).
- 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.
 
SEATTLE'S BEST
- Nolan Hickman is shooting a career-best 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from behind-the-arc currently this season.
- The senior was 8-of-16 from three-point range at Atlantis.
- He eclipsed the 1,000-point career scoring mark while in The Bahamas.
- According to KenPom, Hickman is second in effective field goal percentage in the WCC at 62.9 percent. The next best Zag is Khalif Battle at 51.4 percent in 24th.
- He is 95-21 (.819) in his Gonzaga career appearances.