What Gonzaga's players ahead of Georgia matchup in 2025 NCAA Tournament

The Zags prepare to take on the SEC's Bulldogs in the first round of March Madness

Cole Forsman | Mar 19, 2025

Gonzaga seniors Ben Gregg (33) and Ryan Nembhard (0). / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

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After battling a full 31-game regular season and a conference tournament championship that followed, the Gonzaga men's basketball team is set for its annual postseason run in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Mark Few.

The 8-seeded Bulldogs (25-8, 14-4 WCC) will be making their 26th consecutive appearance in the big dance official on Thursday, when they take on 9-seeded Georgia in a first-round matchup from Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas, at 1:35 p.m. PT on TBS.

While Few's track record in the NCAA Tournament speaks for itself, some of his players will be making their first impressions on the sport's biggest stage. Khalif Battle, Michael Ajayi, Emmanuel Innocenti and Ismaila Diagne are all first-timers in the tournament, while Braden Huff and Dusty Stromer are making their second appearances.

Then on the other hand, there are players with loads of experience in the tournament, like senior forward Ben Gregg, who is set to play in his 13th NCAA Tournament game. To put that stat into perspective, only three other players in program history have played in more NCAA Tournament games.

How will Gonzaga's varying levels of postseason experience play a role, if any, against a talented Georgia squad? Here's more from Ajayi, Battle, Gregg, Huff, Innocenti and Nembhard regarding their first round opponent, the importance of 'Zag time' and much more.

Keys to victory and thoughts on facing Georgia:

Ajayi: "Just shutting down their playmakers and Asa Newell, the freshman, and just being an aggressive team — punching them first and being aggressive throughout the game. I feel like that's what it's going to take."

Gregg: "They're a very physical team. I think that's the big key for us — match their physicality. Obviously they got a lot of size and they're athletic, but you know we just have to play our way, just be us. That's always worked for us, playing the Zag way, so we'll do that and hopefully be alright."

Huff: "They're a really good team. They're gonna be a tough first round matchup. Super physical, got good guard play and got good bigs so, it's gonna be a good matchup for us. I think the coaches have prepared us well and got a good game plan going in so I'm excited. They're super athletic, super physical so we kinda gotta use that against them."

Stromer: "Lot of size. They're definitely dogs ready to play and ready to fight. It's gonna be a super physical game but I think we're more than ready for it. Obviously we match their size pretty well with Graham and B-Huff in the starting lineup so, we're ready for them."

On battling through close games all season and 'Zag time':

Ajayi: "We had a lot of [close games] during the season. Just learning from the mistakes that we had and executing. We have this calling called 'Zag time,' so every time you know it's a close game, we say 'Zag time, Zag time.' That means it's time for winning basketball — making your free throws, defending well, getting the rebound. So when we get to close games, Zag time is real."

Battle: "At the end of every practice we just practice closing out games, since everybody said that we couldn't do that earlier in the year. And I think that's been our strong suit since coach implemented it in practice, so now we just apply it to the games and it's been working out."

Huff: "If you kinda look earlier in the year some of those close games kinda got away from us and stuff so, I think we really worked on those late-game situations throughout the season and kind of got more confidence in them and used to those situations and we were able to close out games down the stretch. So I think we've really grown in that department and I think we're really excited for and ready for the moment."

"I think 'Zag time' has helped us a lot. Just having that confidence, practicing late-game situations. Obviously like Ryan [Nembhard] said, that's how basketball goes sometimes, but having that confidence down the stretch is a big thing. And just staying confident in yourself and the group has been huge. I think that's what Zag time has really given us."

Gonzaga's seniors on this potentially being their last ride together:

Gregg: "A few weeks ago we weren't a lock for the tournament, so we did have some desperation. We didn't want to go out with any regret — personally I didn't. We definitely had some desperation. We knew we had to take every game very seriously, every possession very seriously. And we worked our way in here, thankfully, so now we just have to take it game-by-game and make a deep run."

Battle: "I felt [desperation] the moment I walked through these doors. I don't want this to end. I think our story's far from over. I think the best books are usually series, so we're in a new series, a new chapter and I'm excited to see how the ending goes."

Nembhard: "It's senior year — this could potentially be your last, whatever, game or not, so there's obviously some desperation. I think all the guys are aware of that and coach Few does a great job of preparing moments like this and we're gonna be ready to go tomorrow."

Gonzaga's first-time NCAA Tournament participants on the tidbits they pick up from upperclassmen about the tournament experience:

Ajayi: "I asked Graham — he's been here twice — I was like 'what's the experience like here?' and he says, 'it's amazing, going into the gyms and just taking it all in; just believing in yourself and having confidence.' So yeah, just finding out what the guys' experiences are and trying to implement those with my experiences and make it easier for myself."

Innocenti: "They've been here many years and they know better how this program works, so they give me advice every day and I listen. They're real teammates."