Texas Longhorns and Gonzaga Bulldogs face off in top 5 matchup

The No. 5 Texas Longhorns and No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs will face off Saturday night in a nationally televised top five match up. 

The Longhorns head to Spokane 1-0 after beating Houston Baptist 92-48 Tuesday. The Bulldogs also enter the contest 1-0 after beating Dixie State 97-63. 

GameDay Facts

No. 5 Texas (1-0) at No. 1 Gonzaga (1-0) Saturday, November 13 at 9:30pm Central.

Gonzaga is 3-0 against Texas all-time. The last time the two programs played, the Zags beat Texas 76-71 in overtime in 2017.

Gonzaga’s home venue is the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spoke, Wash. The 6,000 seat facility is sold out. 

The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Head coaching match-up

Chris Beard is in his first season at Texas. He has a career record of 143-60 at the Division I level. Beard is 4-0 in NCAA Tournament Round of 64 games. Beard is 10-4 in the NCAA Tournament. His teams have advanced to two Elite Eights and one Final Four in six seasons as a Division I head coach.

Mark Few is in his 23rd season at Gonzaga. He sports a career record of 630-124. The Bulldogs have played in the NCAA Tournament every season Few has been the head coach. Few has a career record of 34-20 in the NCAA Tournament with two Final Fours and two national championship game appearances. Gonzaga has advanced to four Elite Eights and nine Sweet 16s under Few. Few had a 16-15 record in March Madness prior to the 2014-15 season. Gonzaga sports a 18-5 record the last five NCAA Tournaments played.

Opportunity to make program history

The Texas Longhorns will take the court with the opportunity to beat the AP’s No. 1 ranked team for the first time in program history. Texas beat UCLA early in the 2007-08 season when the Bruins were No. 1 in the coaches poll. 

Texas will be without Disu

Junior power forward Dylan Disu is progressing and is expected back on the court soon. Soon does not mean Saturday, however. Disu is participating full contact after being cleared this week. That full contact is four-on-four work in the half-court at practice along with all skill work. He’s not taking part in five-on-five full-court action yet. That is expected in the very near future. 

Texas’ starting lineup vs. Houston Baptist

PG Marcus Carr, 6-2, senior (10 points, 3 rebs, 7 assists)

SG Courtney Ramey, 6-3, senior (14 points, 2 rebs, 2 assists)

SG Andrew Jones, 6-4, senior (11 points, 5 steals, 2 assists)

F Timmy Allen, 6-6, senior (8 points, 6 rebs, 1 assist)

PF Christian Bishop, 6-8, senior (10 points, 3 rebs, 2 blocks)

Key reserves on Tuesday night

PF Tre Mitchell (10 points, 5 rebs, 2 blocks) 

SG Jase Febres (8 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist)

PG Devin Askew (4 points, 4 assists) 

F Jaylon Tyson (11 points, 3 rebs)

Gonzaga starting lineup vs. Dixie State 

PG Andrew Nembard, 6-5, senior (5 points, 3 rebs, 3 assists)

SG Rasir Bolton, 6-3, senior (15 points, 3 rebs, 3 assists)

SF Julian Strawther, 6-7, sophomore (17 points, 10 rebs, 2 steals

PF Chet Holmgren, 7-0, freshman (14 points, 13 rebs, 7 blocks, 6 assists) 

PF Drew Timme, 6-10, junior (11 points, 4 rebs, 1 block)

Key reserves Tuesday night

PG Nolan Hickman, 6-2, freshman (11 points, 2 rebs, 2 assists) 

SG Hunter Sallis, 6-5, freshman (9 points, 2 rebs) 

PF Anton Watson, 6-8, junior (5 points, 3 rebs, 7 assists) 

Gonzaga has struggled from deep

One aspect of the Bulldogs that will be interesting to monitor this season is three-point shooting. Through two exhibition games and the season opener, the No. 1 ranked team in the country is shooting just 31.9% from three. That includes six of 21 in the season opening win over Dixie State.

The Zags shot 37% from three last season. Mark Few lost three starting guards that are all in the NBA off the national runner-up squad. Corey Kispert, Joel Ayayi and Jalen Suggs combined to make 163 three’s at 40.1% last season. 

Some Context and Three Keys from Tim Preston

It didn’t take too long for Chris Beard’s new Texas basketball regime to face their first marquee matchup as they travel to Spokane, Wash. to face the Zags.

As it stands, it’s a top five contest with No. 1 ranked Gonzaga coming off a national title appearance and the No. 5 ranked Longhorns.

Will those early November rankings mean anything when the game starts? Will those rankings hold for either team as the season progresses?

We’ll see. Still, I’m really excited about a chance to see what a Chris Beard coached UT can do against the best non-conference opponent we’ll play (by a ton) this year.

Gonzaga is More Kentucky Basketball than Boise State Football

For those casual hoops fans out there, make no mistake, Gonzaga basketball is not a Cinderella story.

Not anymore, at least.

Dan Monson leading the Zags to a regional final with Richie Frahm and Matt Santangelo was 22 years ago(!!!) and, while those teams were fun to watch and a great story, they bear little resemblance to the current Zags.

Here’s a recruiting list of players who will line up against Texas in this game:

Drew Timme – 4 star

Andrew Nembhard – 5 star

Julian Strawther – 4 star

Nolan Hickman – 4 star

Hunter Sallis – 5 star

Chet Holmgren – 5 star

And that’s before you think about a guy like Rasir Bolton who transferred to Gonzaga after averaging 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists as a starter at Iowa State.

Every player listed above has NBA aspirations and plenty of them will likely make it and have long careers.

Waiting on Disu

If this game was played Saturday, Nov. 20, I might well choose a different winner.

As it is, Texas is missing maybe its most talented player as Dylan Disu is just getting back to full contact from off-season knee surgery.

His absence will be difference making.

Three Keys

1. Bishop and Mitchell. Can they hold up? They’ll both be giving up a size and athleticism advantage against Gonzaga’s big men, and there’s not really anybody on the bench to come in and help them should things go poorly. Case in point, Texas struggled to a paltry +1 rebounding margin against Houston Baptist. If the Longhorns struggle against the Zags, they could get outrebounded by 20. Christian and Tre will have to be solid for Texas to have any chance at all and it wouldn’t be surprising if the frontcourt differential is a stark one.

2. Texas’ Backcourt. Gonzaga replaced an NBA backcourt from last year. And, sure, they replaced it with a new backcourt of probable NBA players, but that process still takes time. Texas has four guys who can really handle the ball in their backcourt and six guys who can really move the ball. Shooting against HBU was awesome. Texas will need more of that. Can the guards give 60+ points and shoot 40% or above from deep? If so, the game is winnable. If not…

3. Rotation. Beard has done a great job of divvying up minutes in the exhibition and first game of the season. Does that continue? What will we see for guys like Askew, Tyson, Cunningham and Benson? Gonzaga isn’t incredibly deep, either, but will Beard choose freshness and energy or will he mostly trust his “best” players? We’ll get our first glance soon.

Did We Just Become Best Friends?

In a recent phone conversation with Gerry, he asked me what I thought of Texas’ prospects this season.

After a bit of trademark rambling, I concluded… “I think this is a team that could win a lot of games 80-72. My question is, if that happens will Beard…”

At which point Gerry finished my thought “Combust.”

Yup.

Anyways, something to think about, I suppose.

Thanks for reading, friends.