Gonzaga (20-6, 10-2 WCC) at Portland (9-19, 3-10)
THURSDAY, FEB. 22 | 6 P.M. | CHILES CENTER | PORTLAND, OR
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THE TIP OFF
- Gonzaga travels to Portland Thursday at 6 p.m. It's the 175th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Portland. The Zags have a 108-66 advantage in the series and have won 16 straight over the Pilots.
- Gonzaga is 41-6 at home in the series, and has won 17 in-a-row over Portland at home, dating back to 2003.
- The Bulldogs are coming off a 102-76 win over Pacific in Spokane Saturday. Five Bulldogs finished in double-digit scoring for the third straight game, and GU made a season-high 66.1 percent of its shots from the field. Graham Ike had 21 points, while Ryan Nembhard had his second straight double-double of 18 points and 10 assists.
- GU clinched its 27th straight 20-win season, which is second for the longest active run in the country.
- The Zags are 15-0 this season when scoring 80 points and 14-0 when shooting 50 percent from the field. GU is 17-0 this season when shooting 30 percent from behind-the-perimeter and 16-1 when making six or more threes.
- Gonzaga leads the West Coast Conference in field goal percentage (51.4, 2nd in NCAA Div. 1), scoring margin (17.0, 5th in NCAA Div. 1), scoring (85.8, 5th NCAA Div. 1), and assists per game (16.2).
- Head Coach Mark Few reached the 700 win plateau in his head coaching career at Pepperdine. Few ranks second in NCAA Div. 1 history behind Kentucky's Adolph Rupp (700-136) as the fastest to 700 wins.
- Few currently boasts the best winning percentage among active head coaches at 83.3 percent, which also is the best in NCAA Div. 1 all-time with a minimum of 10 seasons.
- The Bulldogs have won 167 straight games when leading by 10 or more points at halftime.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
- Portland enters the week on a four-game skid. The Pilots fell at Pepperdine Saturday, 91-70. Tyler Robertson led Portland with 23 points and seven rebounds. Vukasin Masic and Bol Dengdit added 17 and 12 points. The Waves shot 61.7 percent and made 15 three-pointers in the win.
- Robertson averages 16.1 points per game, which ranks second in the conference. He's dished out a team-high 99 assists, 3.54 per game.
- Masic adds 13.0 points and Tyler Harris is scoring 12.1. Harris also grabs a team-best 7.4 rebounds per game.
- Portland leads the WCC averaging 8.6 made threes per game and 25.6 attempted three-pointers per game.
 
SERIES INFO
- The 175th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Portland. The Zags have a 108-66 advantage in the series.
- GU has won 17 straight versus the Pilots.
- The Bulldogs are 44-2 against Portland under Mark Few.
- The Pilots last win in the series came on Jan. 9, 2014, 82-73, at Portland.
- Gonzaga won last season's meeting in Portland 82-67. Julian Strawther had a career-high 40 points, including eight three-pointers. Anton Watson added 17 points.
- GU is 37-22 at Portland in the series. The Zags have won eight in-a-row, and 24 of the last 25, in the Chiles Center.
- In the first meeting this season in Spokane, Braden Huff scored 25 points, Anton Watson added 20 and Gonzaga beat Portland 96-64 on Feb. 7. The Zags made a season-high 15 three-pointers on 33 attempts (45.5 percent). Nolan Hickman had 12 points and shot 4 for 6 from beyond the arc. Ryan Nembhard had 10 points and six assists with no turnovers.
- Gonzaga is 42-6 at home in the series, and has won 18 in-a-row over Portland at home, dating back to a 72-68 loss on Feb. 19, 2003.
- Portland edged GU, 70-66, in the first-ever NCAA meeting on Jan. 18, 1959, inside the Spokane Coliseum.
 
UP NEXT
- The 102nd all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Santa Clara. GU owns a 70-31 advantage in the series.
- GU has won 49 of the last 52 against the Broncos.
- The Zags are 46-5 against SCU under Mark Few.
- The Bulldogs are 35-6 all-time in Spokane in the series, and has won 15 straight at home versus the Broncos. SCU's last win in Spokane was on Feb. 12, 2007, 84-73.
- In the meeting earlier this season in Santa Clara, the Broncos upset No. 23 Gonzaga, 77-76. Adama-Alpha Bal scored the go-ahead basket with 4.6 seconds remaining. Bal had 17 points and six assists as the Broncos beat the Bulldogs for the first time since Jan. 20, 2011, snapping a 26-game losing streak. Anton Watson matched a career-high with 32 points to lead Gonzaga. He added nine rebounds and six steals in the loss. Ryan Nembhard scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half, and Braden Huff added 14 points.
- In the last season's meeting in Spokane, No. 12 Gonzaga defeated Santa Clara 88-70. The Bulldogs outscored the Broncos 28-4 in the paint and held an eight-rebound advantage in the first half. A 13-1 run midway through the first gave GU a 16-point lead it wouldn't relinquish. Anton Watson scored 11 points in the first half, finishing with 18.
- Gonzaga is 26-24 all-time at Santa Clara, but have won 22 of their last 24 at SCU.
- Santa Clara won the first all-time meeting between the programs, 67-62, in Santa Clara on Feb. 3, 1959.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
- Anton Watson is 15 points from passing John Stockton (1,340) for 26th on the program's all-time scoring list.
- Watson has played 142 games at GU, which is tied for fifth in program history with Kevin Pangos. Kyle Dranginis and Silas Melson are third at 143 games. Josh Perkins owns the record at 153.
- Watson is 125-17 (88.0) in his career appearances, his 125 wins rank fifth all-time at GU. Corey Kispert and Silas Melson are tied for third at 126, and Przemek Karnowski owns the record at 137.
- Graham Ike is 11 points from 1,200 in his career.
- Nolan Hickman is four rebounds from 200 and five games played from 100.
- Ben Gregg is three games played from 100.
 
WHERE WE RANK
- GU is second in the nation in field goal percentage (51.4) and 22nd in field goal percentage defense (40.1).
- The Zags lead the WCC in scoring offense (85.8), which also ranks fifth in the nation. GU is fifth in the country in scoring margin at 17.0, which tops the conference.
- Gonzaga is 11th in the country in rebound margin (8.8), and 22nd averaging 40.04 rebounds per game.
- Ryan Nembhard tops the WCC in assists per game (6.3), which also ranks 14th in the country. He also leads the WCC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.81).
 
COMPUTER LOVE
- The Zags are receiving stellar rankings from the metrics.
Opta Analyst: 13               ESPN BPI: 19
Haslametrics: 15               KenPom: 20       
Massey: 16                          Bart Torvik: 21
Evan Miyakawa: 16          NET: 23
 
20/27 VISION
- Gonzaga clinched its 27th straight 20-win season.
- The Zags' 27-straight 20-win seasons rank second for the longest active run in the country. (Kansas 33)
- Prior to the previous 26 seasons, the Bulldogs reached 20 wins in a season eight times since 1907-08.
- Gonzaga has won at least 25 games in each of the last 16 consecutive seasons.
 
QUITE THE FEAT
- Ryan Nembhard notched double-doubles in both of Gonzaga's double-digit wins last week, posting 16 points and 11 assists against Loyola Marymount, and 18 points and 10 assists against Pacific.
- The junior became the first Bulldog to have back-to-back double-digit assist games since Derek Raivio had 11 assists versus Portland State and 13 assists against Montana to open the 2004-05 season.
- Nembhard was the first Zag to get back-to-back double-doubles with assists since Dan Dickau on Jan. 12 and 13, 2001 (13 pts, 10 asts at USF and 15 pts, 12 asts at SMC).
 
NEMBHARD NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- For his efforts last week, Ryan Nembhard won Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the second time this season.
- His average of 10.5 assists per game last week was the fifth-highest average in the nation for the week.
- This is the second time that Nembhard has been named the CU1 WCC Player of the Week (Dec. 4) and it is the Zags' fourth Conference player of the week accolade this season.
 
GOLDEN GRAHAM
- Graham Ike led Gonzaga with 21 points in the win over Pacific, his third straight 20-point outing, making all nine of his shots from the field. It was the most makes without a miss by a Zag since Rui Hachimura went 9-for-9 against Denver on Dec. 21, 2018.
- Ike has scored 20 or more points in seven of the last 10 games and has a team-high ten 20-point games.
- He is averaging 16.6 points per conference game, which ranks fourth in the West Coast Conference.
- The junior is shooting 61.4 percent from the field, which ranks second in the conference.
 
DIALING FROM DEEP
- Gonzaga made a season-high 15 three-pointers in the win over Portland. The Zags were 15-of-33 (45.5 percent) from behind-the-arc.
- Seven Bulldogs made a three, led by Nolan Hickman's 4-for-6 shooting from deep.
- GU is 17-0 this season when shooting 30 percent from behind-the-perimeter.
- The Zags are shooting 38.3 percent from three-point range in their wins and 20 percent in the losses.
- Gonzaga is 16-1 when making six or more threes in a game, with the loss being against Purdue (6-32).