Kentucky, Baylor, possibly Duke? Players highlight Gonzaga's biggest non-conference games

Oct. 16—Drew Timme called it a "gauntlet," a three-week, seven-game stretch when Gonzaga could clash with four foes in the top 10, two possibly in the Top 25 and potentially six Quad 1 contests.

It begins with Michigan State in the Armed Forces Classic in San Diego on Nov. 11, a road game against Texas on Nov. 16 and a date with Kentucky at the Spokane Arena on Nov. 20.

Next comes the PK85 in Portland over the Thanksgiving holiday with an opener against Portland State, followed by Purdue or West Virginia and a finale against Duke/Florida/Xavier.

Then it's off to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to face Baylor on Dec. 2.

"What is it, three weeks straight of just bang, bang, bang, bang," Timme said. "All of them are exciting for different reasons. Obviously, the Baylor game, Kentucky, Michigan State's going to be crazy playing on an aircraft carrier."

Timme has history with several of those programs. Baylor limited the All-American forward to 12 points and handed Gonzaga an 86-70 loss in the 2021 national championship.

The 6-foot-10 forward torched Texas for a career-high 37 points last season in the Kennel. Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe captured player of the year honors last year and joins Timme as a leading candidate for the award this season.

Should Duke and Gonzaga collide at the PK85 on Nov. 27, it would essentially be a year to the date from last year's thriller, won by the Blue Devils' 84-81 in Las Vegas.

Those games are all on Timme's mind, but he isn't looking past Gonzaga's exhibition game against Tennessee, ranked inside the top 15 in several preseason polls, on Oct. 28 in Frisco, Texas.

"I'm excited about our exhibition game," said the Texas native, initially drawing a few chuckles from a handful of media members recently at West Coast Conference media day in Las Vegas before explaining his reasoning. "Seriously, versus Tennessee, it's 30 minutes from my house. One of the assistant coaches (Rod Clark) has been one of my long-time trainers and a mentor. What a way to start the year off.

"It's going to really test us early. It's going to be a fun game, but all the games are big."

Junior wing Julian Strawther and senior guard Rasir Bolton both settled on the showdown with Baylor, ranked No. 8 in CBS Sports Top 25 and 1.

"Just because losing in the national championship obviously is bitter, but the opportunity to play them again on a neutral court, that's going to be a really fun game," said Strawther, who entered late and hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining in GU's title-game loss. "Tensions are going to be high just because of the past."

Same goes for Bolton and Baylor. He averaged 15.8 points but went 0-4 against the Bears in his two seasons at Iowa State with three double-digit losses.

"I would say the Baylor game, too," Bolton said. "Just playing against them when I was in the Big 12 for a couple years, they beat me pretty bad a couple times. So it'll definitely be fun to try to get that game back and play them for sure."

Head coach Mark Few, seated next to the three Zags, noted that nobody mentioned the PK85. That's probably because the matchups aren't solidified, but a potential semifinal contest versus Purdue, No. 24 in the Top 25 and 1, and particularly a rematch versus Duke certainly would be highly anticipated games.

When the topic switched to a neutral-site venue or location they were looking forward to, Timme and Bolton opted for the flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego Harbor for the Michigan State game.

"The aircraft carrier, just because it's something I've never done before," Bolton said. "Especially to play in front of people that do so much for us and don't always get the recognition they deserve," Timme said.

Grad transfer guard Malachi Smith went in a different direction with Legacy Arena in Birmingham, site of GU-Alabama on Dec. 17.

"Because all my family is from the East Coast and that's the one game they'll be able to come to for sure," said Smith, who is from Belleville, Illinois, played one season at Wright State in Ohio and two years for Chattanooga in Tennessee. "A lot of my family is from Tennessee, close to Alabama."

Timme applauded Few's nonconference scheduling strategy. During Timme's first three seasons, the Zags squared off against Texas, UCLA, Duke, Alabama and Texas Tech last season; Kansas, Auburn, West Virginia, Iow and Virginia in 2020-21 (a regular-season game versus Baylor was called off due to COVID-19); and Texas A&M, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, Arizona and North Carolina in 2019-20.

"I don't think people give coach the credit for what he was able to pull off," Timme said. "I don't know how many people (would) do that because you could wind up losing all of them just as easily as you could win all of them.

"Just the no fear he has ... that we'll play anyone anywhere. That's kind of how he coaches us and how we play. That's a great mindset to have."