After its opening game against Baylor, Gonzaga had the college basketball world talking. An absolutely dominating 101-63 win against a fellow pre-season top-10 opponent set a strong tone for the Zags’ 2024-2025 season. After the game, many claimed the Bulldogs to be on the shortlist of national championship contenders. Unfortunately, after that, things weren’t as smooth sailing as Zag Nation had hoped.
Gonzaga had a couple more solid wins in early November, including a hard-fought win at home against Arizona State and an impressive road win in San Diego against the Aztecs. The team’s first loss came in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament against West Virginia, in part thanks to Javon Small’s 31-point performance. They quickly bounced back, however, and put together an efficient offensive performance against a ranked Indiana squad, featuring former Zag Oumar Ballo.
December was a tough month for the Zags. They opened with back-to-back close losses against 4th-ranked Kentucky in Seattle and 18th-ranked UConn in Madison Square Garden. Gonzaga battled UConn throughout the game but never held a lead the entire time. Kentucky, however, was a gut-wrenching loss. The Bulldogs led by 18 after the first possession of the second half and eventually lost in OT. Yep–brutal. A couple of controversial calls late in the game didn’t go the Zags’ way, but it would be foolish to blame anyone other than themselves for the result. Another ranked matchup against UCLA at the Intuit Dome came later in the month. It was a close, hard-fought defensive battle, but the Bruins managed to take the lead in the last minute of regulation and never looked back.
Gonzaga then began play in the West Coast Conference. Mark Few made a couple of lineup adjustments, which included moving Michael Ajayi out of the starting lineup. Just a year removed from leading the WCC in scoring at Pepperdine, Ajayi immensely struggled to find any rhythm and comfortability in Gonzaga’s offense all season. The team’s season hit a low point in mid-January when the Bulldogs suffered back-to-back losses on the road against Oregon State and at home against Santa Clara. Graham Ike hit a last-second three-pointer in regulation to send the game in Corvallis to overtime, but the Beavers stomped the Zags in OT. Santa Clara bested the Zags 103-99 in regulation, which was the most points ever scored by an opponent in the Kennel. Gonzaga’s only other losses in the regular season both came against Saint Mary’s, who went on to claim the WCC regular season title. The Zags ended the regular season on a high note with two impressive road performances against Santa Clara and San Francisco, highlighted by Ryan Nembhard breaking the WCC single-season assist record.
VIVA LAS VEGAS! The annual West Coast Conference tournament in the Orleans Arena went underway in the second week of March. In the semi-finals, Gonzaga was matched up against San Francisco. In what was mostly a tightly contested game, the Zags took the lead with under 10 minutes left and never looked back. They were carried to their 28th-straight WCC title game by huge 20+ point performances from both Graham Ike and Khalif Battle. Saint Mary’s was awaiting them in the championship (shocker, I know). The game was an absolute slugfest. Bodies diving for loose balls, hard fouls, blood drawn, and extra heightened emotion created an intense atmosphere. The Zags pulled away at the end to win the West Coast Conference tournament 58-51.
Selection Sunday came as somewhat of a surprise to many Gonzaga fans and college basketball analysts alike. After winning the WCC tournament, many predicted Gonzaga to be a 7-seed, possibly even a 6. KenPom–an analytical database that ranks college basketball teams based on a wide range of statistical data–ranked the Zags as a top-10 team in the country. Their record, which included several nail-biting losses, told a different story. The committee seemingly ignored the analytical data and “gifted” the Zags an 8-seed.
Gonzaga opened the tournament with a world-class offensive performance against Georgia, winning 89-68. They came out the gates on fire, leading 27-3 by the time Georgia called its first timeout. Khalif Battle highlighted the game with 24 points and 8 rebounds, and the Zags shot 60% from three-point range.
Gonzaga’s gift for winning their opening round was to face 1-seeded Houston in the round of 32. Houston had the #1 ranked defense in the country, according to KenPom. They opened the first 10 minutes of the game by swarming the Zags on defense, which included doubling their big men down low, blitzing their off-ball actions, and forcing panicked turnovers. Gonzaga continued to fight back, however, and brought it to an 8-point deficit at halftime. The second half was mostly steady as the Cougars maintained around a 10-point lead the entire time. Seemingly every time the Zags made a little push, Houston answered right back with a big shot (usually by LJ Cryer, who ended the game with a career-high 30 points). With two and a half minutes remaining, Gonzaga made an inspired push to fight back, eventually cutting the deficit to one point with 21 seconds remaining. The Zags had the ball, down by three, with 14 seconds left, but couldn’t manage to get a shot off and watched their valiant effort fall short. Their season had ended.
Gonzaga’s yearly goal of winning its first National Championship was unsuccessful yet again. Surprisingly, a very promising squad turned out to be one of Mark Few’s most under-performing teams in recent memory. A large portion of the rotation was in their last year of eligibility and will not be returning next season, including Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Ben Gregg, Michael Ajayi, and Khalif Battle. Graham Ike has one year left of eligibility but is uncertain to return. Dusty Stromer, who lost playing time as the season unfolded, announced yesterday that he is entering the transfer portal. That leaves Braden Huff, Emmanuel Innocenti, and potentially Graham Ike as the only rotation members set to return next season. The Bulldogs also hope to have a healthy Steele Venters back, although his form will certainly be a question mark after missing back-to-back seasons with serious injuries.
However, if there is anyone who has what it takes to right the ship and put together a championship-contending team, it’s Mark Few. He has proven time and time again that Gonzaga doesn’t rebuild, they reload. Few and his staff are expected to be eyeing the transfer portal closely and hope to put together a competitive team come November.
It was an equally frustrating, entertaining, hopeful, and head-scratching season for the 2024-2025 Gonzaga Bulldogs, but fun as always to follow along and root for. They didn’t come out on top this time around, but hey, at least there’s always next year.
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