Gonzaga men's basketball will host UMass Lowell in November

The Bulldogs' 2024-25 nonconference schedule is almost finalized

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

The Gonzaga men’s basketball program is down to finalizing its final nonconference game for the 2024-25 college basketball season.

On Thursday, the UMass Lowell men’s basketball team revealed its full schedule for the upcoming season, which included a game in Spokane against the Bulldogs set for Nov. 15. That matchup is sandwiched between Gonzaga’s presumptive home opener against Arizona State (Nov. 10) and its true road game at San Diego State (Nov. 18). 

🚨 SCHEDULE DROP 🚨

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The rest of the Zags’ home schedule this season: Long Beach State (Nov. 20) and Nicholls State (Dec. 18). Not the heavy-hitters fans clamor for, though Mark Few and company still put together quite a daunting nonconference schedule full of high-profile opponents on neutral site courts.

The Battle 4 Atlantis tournament (Nov. 27-29) features Arizona, Indiana, Louisville and Providence in the eight-team field. The Zags tip off the event against West Virginia with the potential of seeing either the Pat Kelsey-led Cardinals or former Zag Oumar Ball and the Hoosiers on day two. If the bracket shakes out in favor of the fans, Few faces Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats on day three.

Gonzaga has a week off before it heads west for a matchup against Mark Pope and Kentucky in the Battle in Seattle event set for Dec. 7 at Climate Pledge Arena. The new-look Wildcats are older across the board compared to the John Calipari era, as Pope’s roster features six fifth-year players compared to just three freshmen. Gonzaga won the first two head-to-head meetings; 88-72 in the Spokane Arena in 2022, and 89-85 last season in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

A week later the Bulldogs head to Madison Square Garden for a matchup with the reigning back-to-back national champion UConn Huskies (Dec. 14). Dan Hurley’s program is currently the betting favorite to cut down the nets for a third time in a row in 2025, despite losing four of his five starters from last season’s title team. The Huskies will surely be backed by a mostly pro-UConn crowd at MSG when the Bulldogs come to town.

After a long road trip the Bulldogs come home to host Nicholls State (Dec. 18) and Bucknell (Dec. 21). Then it’s off to Inglewood, California, for a matchup with Mick Cronin and UCLA at the Intuit Dome (Dec. 28). 

The final touches Few and company have to make to the schedule is locking in a matchup with Baylor, presumably at a neutral site during the opening week of the season. Few told Jon Rothstein that the Zags are “finishing up something” with the Bears, though they haven’t decided on the logistics of it all.

In total, the nonleague slate includes at least four games against teams ranked in the top 30 of Bart Torvik’s rankings, with the potential of two more if Indiana and Arizona end up on the Atlantis schedule. The Sun Devils, ranked 67th in Torvik, boast five-star talent and have been competitive under head coach Bobby Hurley. 

The trip to the Viejas Arena to face Brian Dutcher’s Aztecs won’t be an easy one either. San Diego State lost talent in the transfer portal and to the NBA, but it remains experienced and will be a handful to deal with defensively as always.

The River Hawks finished second in the America East last season. Head coach Pat Duquette has his eyes on a league title after returning three of his five starters, including premiere shot-blocking forward Max Brooks. The 6-foot-7 forward was 25th in the country in blocks last season.

Quinton Mincey, another fifth-year player, averaged more than 14 points and was named the 2023-24 America East Sixth Man of the Year.