Gonzaga @ San Francisco preview
War Memorial Gymnasium
Last Meeting ( Jan 2, 2021 ) San Francisco 62, Gonzaga 85
Top-ranked Gonzaga aims to defeat San Francisco for the 21st consecutive time when the teams meet Saturday night in West Coast Conference play on the Dons' home floor.
San Francisco last knocked off the Bulldogs on Feb. 18, 2012 when it eked out a 66-65 home win.
The teams met on Jan. 2 in Spokane, Wash., with Gonzaga recording an 85-62 victory. That win improved the Bulldogs to 43-4 versus the Dons during coach Mark Few's 22 seasons.
Gonzaga (19-0, 10-0 WCC) will be looking to sew up its 24th consecutive 20-win campaign in the rematch. The Bulldogs also own the nation's longest active winning streak at 23 games.
The contest will also be the fifth straight road game for the Zags. COVID-19 issues among other WCC programs prompted the situation in which Gonzaga hasn't played at home since routing Pacific 95-49 on Jan. 23.
"I think we're so focused on just getting better every game, game-in and game-out, so whenever we go on the road, it has been just like a home game to us," guard Aaron Cook told WCC Hoops.
Gonzaga certainly fared well in its most recent contest, as it never trailed in an 82-71 victory at BYU.
Jalen Suggs fueled the triumph with 24 points for his third 20-point effort of the season.
"He's not going to play perfect every game out," Few said afterward. "Some nights like (Monday) the shots will be dropping, and then other nights are a little bit tougher. He was on it from the jump."
Drew Timme had another strong outing in the interior with 20 points and a career-best 13 rebounds for his third double-double of the campaign. Timme has scored 20 or more points in six of the past eight games and 10 times overall this season.
Timme said he was inspired by the Zags' game-opening 15-2 burst.
"It always helps us get going," Timme said of the fast start. "We like to run and gun, so it's nice to get some cheap ones and get ahead."
Timme ranks second on the Bulldogs in scoring (18.9 points per game) and rebounding (7.1). Corey Kispert averages a team-best 19.5 points while Joel Ayayi (11.3 points) leads the squad with a 7.3 rebounding average.
Suggs averages 14.4 points and has a team-best 37 steals.
Kispert was the force in last month's win over the Dons as he knocked down 9 of 11 shots while scoring 26 points.
San Francisco (10-9, 4-5) entered that contest with confidence that it could give Gonzaga a battle, partly due to its stunning, 61-60 upset of then-No. 4 Virginia on Nov. 27.
But the contest turned into another loss as the Bulldogs owned a 40-25 rebounding edge and shot 52.6 percent from the field. The Dons shot 38.9 percent.
"I thought we did some good things, we just didn't take care of the ball well enough and we let them get too many transition points," San Francisco coach Todd Golden said afterward. "If you allow that to happen against this team, you will make things difficult on yourself."
Jamaree Bouyea scored 18 points for the Dons but 16 of them were in the first half. Bouyea leads the club with a 16.7 scoring average, but he scored a season-low four points in Wednesday's 76-68 home loss to Pepperdine.
Khalil Shabazz, who ranks second with a 16.2 average, scored a team-best 20 against the Waves. He is averaging 22 points over the past four games, but the Dons have dropped three of the contests.
--Field Level Media