The Gonzaga men and women are turning onto the homestretch of their seasons. The men have six of their 18 WCC games remaining while the women are down to only five. This is the time of the year when coaches across the sport hope to find their teams fine-tuning minor details and kicking their play into higher gears.
While both teams have the same objective — just keep winning — they have two very different paths to follow to reach that goal. Here’s what’s left for the two teams as they begin the final sprint into March.
THE MEN
Mark Few’s squad is riding high after picking up a massive non-conference win on the road against Kentucky last week, the team’s first NET Rankings Quad 1 victory of the season.While that win was critical, the Zags are still just 1-5 in Quad 1 and 2-1 in Quad 2 for a combined record in the top-two quadrants of 3-6. Despite the team’s gaudy computer metrics in important rankings like the NET and KenPom, it’s going to be hard to get into the NCAA Tournament with a record that far below .500 in Q1 and Q2.
Fortunately, the Zags have at least a pair of games remaining that can add to that win total (they could also potentially get one or two more in the WCC Tournament). On the other hand, they’re going to be tough games to win.
The season finale comes on the road at Saint Mary’s, which beat Gonzaga in The Kennel at the beginning of the month. Immediately prior to that they’re playing San Francisco, a team that hung with the Zags for 40 minutes in Spokane in late January.
Not to mention the game before those two is against the Santa Clara team that upset Gonzaga in the Bay Area three games into WCC play.
Those three teams are a combined 26-6 in league play. It will be a challenge, but a great opportunity.
Prior to that final trio, the Zags will face three teams on the other end of the spectrum with a combined 6-26 league record. Pacific is 0-11 in WCC play while Portland and LMU, the two teams of this group the Zags will face away from home, have just three WCC wins a piece.
Even if they make it through these final weeks unscathed, they’re still going to need help to earn a regular season title. With two league losses to Saint Mary’s zero, the Gaels will have to lose not just to Gonzaga, but another team they’ve already defeated in order to fall into a tie with the Zags.
Under Mark Few, the Zags have finished in second place just twice. The first was in 2000, Few’s first year as head coach, and the other was over a decade ago in 2012.
A pair of losses in these final six almost certainly locks Few into a first-ever third place finish. No losses, on the other hand, revives Gonzaga’s at-large hopes.
THE WOMEN
Like the men’s team, Lisa Fortier’s squad will face off against a pair of top-three teams. Unlike the men’s team, the women haven’t had any problems against their league foes this season. Also unlike the men, the women will host both of those top-three teams.The Zags are not only an undefeated 11-0 in conference play, they’ve been untested in getting there.
Gonzaga’s closest league game thus far was an 18 point win over San Diego. They’ve been held below a 20-point margin only one other time, though for what it’s worth San Francisco did that and the Dons are one of the top-three teams the Zags still have on the schedule.
Overall, Gonzaga has outscored its league foes by 340 points this season, which breaks down to 30.9 points per game.
It’s not impossible for the Zags to fall out of first place in the league — their season finale comes against second place and 9-2 Portland — but considering what they’ve done to the rest of the league, it’s extremely improbable.
Far more likely of an outcome is the first 16-0 regular season in WCC history.
Four times in the league’s history has a team finished the regular season undefeated — Gonzaga in 2011, 2010 and 2005 and Portland in 1997. Those were 14-0 records, however, as the WCC was an eight-team league back in those days as opposed to the nine-team league it is now.
Another record in play for the Zags is the league’s all-time conference scoring record. That’s currently held by the 2014 Pacific team which totaled 1,408 points in league play. In 2014, however, the league was home to 10 teams and played an 18, rather than 16, game slate.
Gonzaga currently sits at 900 points through 11 games. At 81.8 per game, they’re on pace to score 1,391, just 17 points shy of the Tigers’ record, despite having two-fewer games on their slate to get there.
Fall short of either, it’s still another impressive season from this Gonzaga program, but both records are within reach.
NEXT UP
MenGonzaga at LMU • Thu, Feb. 15 at 6 pm • CBS Sports Network
Gonzaga vs. Pacific • Sat, Feb. 17 at 6 pm • KHQ & ROOT Sports
Women
Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s • Thu, Feb. 15 at 4:30 pm • ESPN+
Gonzaga at Pacific • Sat, Feb. 17 at 2 pm • ESPN+
