Report: Gonzaga to host Nicholls State as part of 2024-25 nonconference schedule
Four days after they tangle with the back-to-back champion UConn Huskies at Madison Square Garden, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will return home to face the Nicholls State Colonels in a nonconference game on Dec. 18, according to Rocco Miller.
The fifth standalone non-league game on the Zags’ schedule is against a veteran Nicholls squad that will likely feature six or seven seniors in its main rotation. Head coach Tevon Saddler is set to return three of his top four scorers after losing his lead man Diante Smith (UT Arlington) in the portal. Saddler managed to reel in Seattle native and Mill Creek product Jaylen Searles (Utah Tech), a 6-foot-8 forward who averaged 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds as a junior.
The Colonels also brought in Trae English from Southland rival McNeese State, which was Gonzaga’s opponent in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. English missed all of last season after he suffered a broken leg in February 2023.
Nicholls checked in at No. 165 on Bart Torvik’s 2025 projections, up considerably from where it finished last season (236th). Based on that projection, the Colonels' game would qualify as a Quad 4 game in the NET Rankings.
Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule has taken great shape over the past two weeks. Last Friday, it was confirmed the game against in-state rival Washington had been called off. Earlier this week the game against Kentucky was set in stone for the 2024 Battle in Seattle event on Dec. 7 at Climate Pledge Arena.
The Zags also look forward to three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, an eight-team event headlined by Indiana, Arizona and Providence, from Nov. 27-29. They’ll also take on San Diego State at Viejas Arena (San Diego, California) and UCLA at the newly built Intuit Dome (Inglewood, California). Dates for those matchups have yet to be confirmed.
Gonzaga is set to return seven of its top eight scorers from a team that won 16 of its last 19 games en route to the program’s ninth straight Sweet 16 appearance. Mark Few and the coaching staff diversified the roster through the transfer portal, as they brought in All-WCC wing Michael Ajayi (Pepperdine), 6-foot-5 grad transfer Khalif Battle (Arkansas) and defensive specialist Emmanuel Innocenti (Tarleton State). Colgate transfer Braeden Smith, the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year, will redshirt in 2024-25.
The Zags can schedule up to five more non-league games for next season. Per NCAA rules, teams are allowed to play 28 regular season games plus three in-season tournament games.
REGAN DICKSON