Gonzaga faces inconsistent San Francisco in WCC road opener

The ninth-ranked Zags face the Dons on Thursday at 8 p.m. PST

Gonzaga forward Drew Timme is playing the best basketball of his career.

The senior is averaging 27.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game over an undefeated seven-game stretch for the ninth-ranked Zags (12-3, 1-0). He's also earned three West Coast Conference Player of Week awards during this timespan and was named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List on Wednesday.

In the early stages of their WCC slate, the Zags seem to be firing on all cylinders. However, that hasn’t been the case for every program, including the Zags’ next opponent.

Hosting Gonzaga on Thursday at 8 p.m. PST, San Francisco (11-6, 0-2) opened conference play with back-to-back double-digit losses to Santa Clara and San Diego.

It’s been an up-and-down season for the Dons, whose resume features a 37-point win over No. 25 Arizona State, but also a 68-63 loss to UT Arlington.

“We’ve struggled with the consistency piece and that’s the biggest thing in college basketball,” said USF head coach Chris Gerlufsen on the Gonzaga Nation podcast. “If you can harness that, you have a chance to be really good.”

Although it’s Gerlufsen’s first year at the helm, he’s already familiar with Gonzaga’s program from serving as USF’s associate head coach last season.

The last meeting between the teams came in the 2022 WCC Tournament semifinal, in which the Zags won 81-71.

USF senior guard Khalil Shabazz scored a game-high 27 points in that contest and he’ll likely be the top focus in Gonzaga’s defensive scheme on Thursday.

Shabazz is averaging a team-best 15.5 points, 3.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game.

“He’s somebody that I have a lot of trust in,” Gerlufsen said. He’s been through the wars of what this league is about, has helped us win a lot of games here over his career and I think he’s grown up a little bit in the sense that he's turned into a better leader than probably what he was in the past.”

Shabazz is paired in the backcourt with sophomore guard Tyrell Roberts, the team’s second-highest scorer at 14.2 points per game.

Roberts is known as a long-range shooter, making 38.2% of his 102 attempts from 3-point range this season after transferring from Washington State.

USF’s backcourt will be tested against the Zags, who feature a number of high-profile guards, such as Julian Strawther, Rasir Bolton, Nolan Hickman, Malachi Smith and Hunter Sallis.

But Gonzaga’s guard depth isn’t Gerlufsen’s top concern. Instead, he’s focused on Timme.

“I think it starts with Drew,” Gerlufsen said of Gonzaga’s success. “He’s faced just about every kind of defense you can face and figured out ways to score and be tremendously effective with his field goal percentage.”

When discussing his plan to defend Timme, Gerlufsen said, “there's not one singular guy on our roster or any roster in college basketball that can defend him one on one, so it’s going to be a team defensive approach with him.”

Gonzaga’s matchup with USF is part of a three-game road trip, which has the Zags visiting Santa Clara on Saturday and BYU on Jan. 12.

The team returns home to play Portland on Jan. 14.