Gonzaga moves up to No. 1 in KenPom rankings

The Bulldogs own the top spot in KenPom’s updated rankings following their 43-point win over Long Beach State

Gonzaga men's basketball team. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

From opening night of the college basketball season, the Gonzaga men’s basketball team has established a case for being considered the No. 1 team in the country.

Since their 38-point blowout over Baylor at the Spokane Arena, the Bulldogs (5-0) have beaten Arizona State at home, decimated a good UMass-Lowell squad by 59 points, and went into the Viejas Arena to come away with an impressive win over San Diego State. All before Feast Week officially tips off. No other program in the country boasts a resume quite like the Zags’ do through the first three weeks of the season.

The human polls might not agree with Gonzaga’s case, but the computers do, especially after Wednesday’s 43-point drubbing of Long Beach State. Following their fifth straight victory to start the season, KenPom.com moved the Bulldogs up from No. 3 to the No. 1 spot in its daily rankings of all 364 Division-I teams. The Zags dethroned Auburn, now at No. 2, followed by Houston, Duke and UConn in the top five.

At 93.2 points per game, it’s no surprise Gonzaga also ranks No. 1 in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric. Part of that also has to do with taking especially good care of the basketball. The Bulldogs’ 11.2% turnover rate is the second-lowest in the nation and is on pace to be the lowest in the Mark Few era. It’s an even more incredible figure when considering they’ve faced three opponents with top-70-rated defenses to start the season, in addition to playing at an incredible tempo on offense.

Five players average 11 or more points and three put up 14 or more per game for the Zags. Senior forward Graham Ike leads with 14.6 points per game, followed by sixth-year guard Khalif Battle (14.4) and redshirt sophomore Braden Huff (14.0). Senior guard Ryan Nembhard (12.2 points) is tied with Purdue’s Braden Smith for No. 1 in the country in total assists (47). Nolan Hickman adds 11.2 points on .512/.435/1.000 shooting splits.

Defensively, Gonzaga is No. 18 in the country in efficiency, which would be the best ranking since it finished the 2021-21 season at No. 10. That was also the last time the Bulldogs held the top overall spot in KenPom’s rankings. In fact, that squad featuring Drew Timme, Chet Holmgren, Julian Strawther and Andrew Nembhard never relinquished the No. 1 ranking, from the preseason edition all the way through the NCAA Tournament.

The 2024-25 squad doesn't have the luxury of leaning on a 7-foot-tall rim protector to clean up any mistakes, but in totality, there haven't been many missteps for the Zags on that end of the floor thus far. Their opponents have particularly struggled from deep. After limiting the Beach to 2-of-20 from deep on Wednesday, Gonzaga allows the seventh-lowest 3-point field goal percentage in the country (22.7%).

"I think we had really, really, really good week on the defensive end, and then obviously the offense has continued to just be kind of coming along," Few said following the Long Beach State game. "But we had a great, great week defensively. That was two good halves there. We had a little five-minute letdown there at the end of the second or into the first half. But our numbers are getting better, and the guys are playing with great effort, playing with great physicality and against this team, we played pretty clean too."

KenPom joined EvanMiya.com as the two notable college basketball websites that see eye-to-eye on where the Zags stand among their competitors. Similarly, EvanMiya grades Gonzaga as the No. 1 overall team with the top-rated offense and a top-10 level defense (No. 9).

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

• What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after win vs. Long Beach State

• Gonzaga puts in strong defensive showing in win over Long Beach State: 3 takeaways

• Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. Long Beach State: Live updates recap, highlights

• Gonzaga up to No. 3 in Associated Press Top 25 poll

• Gonzaga's Khalif Battle throws down windmill dunk vs. UMass-Lowell

• Virginia transfer Jalen Warley on Gonzaga visit: ‘I’m really liking it’

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