Report: Gonzaga-San Diego State game set for November

Bulldogs and Aztecs will reportedly meet at the Viejas Arena on Nov. 18

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

The Gonzaga Bulldogs and San Diego State Aztecs are set to complete their home-and-home series this upcoming season on Nov. 18, according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.

The matchup between two of the top college basketball programs in the West is set to take place in San Diego, California, at the Viejas Arena, where the Aztecs are 43-3 over the past three seasons. 

San Diego State pulled off a rare road win at the McCarthey Athletic Center last season on Dec. 29, when Reese Waters and Jaedon LeDee combined for 42 points in an 84-74 victory over the Bulldogs led by Graham Ike’s 20-point, 10-rebound double-double. That game marked the first double-digit loss at The Kennel for Gonzaga in over a decade.

The Zags will see a much different foe this time around, however, as the Aztecs lost over three-quarters of their minutes played from last season’s squad that fell to UConn in the Sweet 16. Waters is back for his senior season, though Lamont Butler (Kentucky) and Micah Parrish (Ohio State) left via the transfer portal, while LeDee prepares for his first NBA season with the Minnesota Timberwolves after earning All-American honors in 2023-24. Darrion Trammell, who played a key role with 17 points off the bench in last season’s meeting, has since graduated following a five-year college career.

Head coach Brian Dutcher replaced the outgoing talent by bringing in Nick Boyd, a 6-foot-3 guard who started for Florida Atlantic’s Final Four team two seasons ago, as well as Wayne McKinney III, a double-digit scorer with San Diego this past season. The Aztecs, who finished last season ranked No. 28 on Bart Torvik, sit at No. 77 in Torvik’s 2024-25 projections.

Still, the Nov. 18 game should pose quite a challenge as the only true road game on Gonzaga’s nonconference slate to this point. The Bulldogs will also face Kentucky in Seattle (Dec. 7), UConn in New York (Dec. 14) and UCLA in Inglewood, California (Dec. 28) before entertaining an 18-game West Coast Conference schedule. There’s also the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament (Nov. 27-29) in the Bahamas.

Per a report from Rothstein on Tuesday, the Zags agreed to a home-and-home series with Arizona State that’ll begin on Nov. 10 in Spokane. That came out just as the WCC released its league schedule, beginning on Dec. 30 when Gonzaga travels to Malibu, California, to take on Pepperdine.

The Bulldogs have four open slots to fill on their 2024-25 nonconference schedule, according to NCAA rules that state teams can play up to 28 regular season games plus three in-season tournament games.