SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga and Kennesaw State will faceoff in the First Round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament Thursday in Portland, Ore. It will be the first-ever meeting between the programs. KSU won the Conference USA Tournament title.
 
SELECTION SHOW NOTES
- GU is making its 27th consecutive NCAA Tournament Appearance and 28th overall. The 27 straight berths to the field ranks as the third-longest current streak in the nation (Kansas 36 and Michigan State 28).
- The Zags are 47-27 all-time in the 26 previous NCAA Tournament appearances with 14 trips to the Sweet 16, six trips to the Elite Eight, two Final Fours and two appearances in the national championship game.
- The Bulldogs qualified for the NCAA Tournament after beating three-seed Santa Clara in the West Coast Conference Championships, 79-68, in Las Vegas on March 10. Mario Saint-Supéry made six threes and led GU with 21 points. Tyon Grant-Foster added 20 points, Graham Ike had 15, and Davis Fogle finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. Gonzaga scored 50 points in the second half, outpaced the Broncos 27-0 in fast break points. The Zags made 10-of-25 from behind-the-arc, and held SCU to 38% shooting from the field.
- GU won the WCC regular season title for the 27th time and the league's tournament title for the 23rd time in program history. The Zags were in the WCC Tournament Final for an NCAA record 29th straight time.
- Gonzaga reached the 30-win plateau for the ninth time in program history, and first since 2022-23. The Bulldogs have reached 30 wins in a season eight times, all coming in the last 14 years; 32-3 in 2012-13, 35-3
in 2014-15, 37-2 in 2016-17, 32-5 in 2017-18, 33-4 in 2018-19, 31-2 in 2019-20, 31-1 in 2021-22.
- Graham Ike was the WCC Player of the Year, and named the conference tournament Most Outstanding Player for the second straight season. He was also named a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award.
- Ike was named preseason All-American by CBS Sports and ESPN. During his career he was named First Team All-Mountain West Conference, First Team All-WCC twice, All-District twice, Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Top 10 three times, Associated Press honorable mention All-American.
- Ike became the 86th player in NCAA Div. 1 history to score 2,500 points in a career.
- Ike is first in the nation among active scorers in NCAA Div. 1 with 2,531 points. His 1,133 rebounds also ranks second among active players. He is the only active player with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
- Ike is 16th in the nation, and first in the WCC, with 14 double-doubles.
- The Zags currently lead the WCC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9, 4th in NCAA), assists (18.3, 10th), bench points (34.73, 5th), effective field goal percentage (.563), fast-break points (15.24, 20th), field goal percentage (51.0, 7th), field goal percentage defense (39.5, 11th), defensive rebounds per game (27.94, 13th), scoring margin (19.1, 4th), scoring offense (85.1, 18th), three-point percentage defense (30.8), turnover margin (4.8, 5th), and turnovers (9.7). GU tops the nation in points in the paint at 44.7 per game, and has outscored its opponents by 352 points inside-the-arc, which leads the country (Arizona 2nd, 201). The Bulldogs have also made 316 more shots from the field than their opponents (Houston 2nd, 218).
- The Bulldogs' 36 kill shots, which are 10-0 scoring runs, are the fourth-most in the country.
- Head Coach Mark Few returns as a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
- Eight different Zags have led the team in scoring in a game this season. Seven GU players have scored at least 20 points in a game, and 11 have reached double-digit scoring. Six Bulldogs are 1,000-point scorers.
- GU played nine games against teams projected in the NCAA Tournament, going 7-2 in those games.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES
- Gonzaga is making its 27th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 28th overall.
- The Zags also auto-qualified for the 2020 NCAA Tournament that was canceled as the WCC champion, which would have been 28 straight appearances and 29 overall. GU was No. 2 in the NET with a 31-2 record.
- The 27 straight berths to the field are the third-longest current streak in the nation (Kansas and Michigan State), and matches the fourth-longest in NCAA Div. 1 history (North Carolina, 1975-2001).
- GU is 44-25 in the NCAA Tournament under Few with a berth in all 27 seasons of his head coaching career.
- Mark Few's 44 NCAA Tournament wins is fourth among active coaches; Calipari (58), Izzo (57), Self (56).
- The Bulldogs have the most wins in the NCAA Tournament since 2017, going 23-8, Duke and Houston are second with 19 victories. Gonzaga's 28 wins in the tournament since 2015 (28-10) are also the most in the nation, with Duke second with 27, and North Carolina third at 24.
- Gonzaga is the only team in the country to win its opening-round NCAA Tournament game each of the last 16 tournaments, dating back to a 73-66 loss to Wyoming in 2002.
- The Zags are 38-21 all-time as a single-digit seed, with an 18-2 record in first round games.
- Gonzaga is a three seed, for the fourth time in program history, in the West Region. The Bulldogs play in Portland in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history, where it is 4-0 all-time in the event.
- In 2024-25, eighth-seeded GU cruised past ninth-seeded Georgia (89-68) in the first round in Wichita, Kan., before falling to top-seeded, and eventual national runner-up, Houston in the second round (81-76).
- During Mark Few's coaching career, his Gonzaga teams are 33-9 (.786) as the higher seed. Since 2009, the Zags have lost only five games against a lower-seeded team, a span of 14 NCAA Tournaments (26-5, .839).
- Few's teams have also pulled eight upset wins in his 26 previous NCAA Tournaments.