Unpredictable San Francisco presents similar challenge to Gonzaga in WCC road opener

Jan. 5—SAN FRANCISCO — Those that spend time tracking college basketball's trends and patterns may have a hard time trying to wrap their heads around the next team on Gonzaga's West Coast Conference schedule.

A recent five-game stretch illustrates the peaks and valleys San Francisco has traveled with first-year coach Chris Gerlufsen.

It started with a 68-63 home loss to UT-Arlington, a team ranked No. 295 in the NCAA NET rankings, continued with a 97-60 upset of No. 25 Arizona State in a game the Dons led by as many as 47 points, and culminated with consecutive double-digit WCC losses at Santa Clara and home against San Diego.

The Dons have received AP Top 25 votes this season, but also have lost three games to teams ranked lower than 160 in the NET system.

Coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998, San Francisco (11-6, 0-2) may be more unpredictable than it was last season, but No. 9 Gonzaga (12-3, 1-0) is still bracing for a potent 3-point shooting team led by one of the conference's most experienced and dynamic guards when the teams meet at 8 p.m. Thursday at War Memorial Gym.

"They beat the brakes off Arizona State, I saw," GU senior forward Drew Timme said. "I didn't watch the game, but I saw the score, obviously. They've got a lot of talent."

Stylistically speaking, there may not be two teams in the WCC that differ more than Gonzaga, led by college basketball's most productive low-post scorer in Timme, and San Francisco, a perimeter-based team that's taken at least 30 3-pointers in nine games this season.

The Dons lead the WCC in 3s attempted at 29.4 per game, and the Zags sit at the bottom at just 19.8. USF has been feast or famine from deep, making 15 of 29 (51%) on 3s in the Arizona State upset while connecting on just 16 of 57 (28%) in the two WCC losses. The Bulldogs aren't trying as many shots from deep, but they're near the top of the conference in 3-point efficiency, making 38%.

The Dons lost one perimeter shooter in All-WCC first-team guard Jamaree Bouyea but gained another in Washington State transfer Tyrell Roberts, a Sacramento, California, native who's made 133 career 3-pointers in three college stops at Division II UC San Diego, WSU and USF.

Gerlufsen didn't make many schematic changes after taking over for his mentor, Todd Golden, who was hired by Florida after leading the Dons to a 24-9 record in 2021-22. Even after losing Bouyea, Gerlufsen still has an all-conference guard in Seattle native Khalil Shabazz (15.5 ppg).

"Same kind of smart, spread you out, can really shoot 3s," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said of the Dons. "Really 3 dependent. The kid from WSU is experienced as heck. He's gotta be in his sixth year now or something.

"Pick and pop big man in (Zane) Meeks, so then that changes your coverages. They also have a big that can score in the post. Yeah, they're a handful."

Roberts, who's making 38% of his 3s and averaging 14.2 points for the Dons, said before the season he's been anticipating the Gonzaga matchup since finalizing a move to the WCC.

"I always wanted to play against them last year because I felt like they were just down the street and I was like, 'Why don't we play them?' " said Roberts, who averaged 11.4 points for Kyle Smith while helping lead the Cougars to a deep NIT run last season. "You never know how scheduling goes. But yeah, it's just going to be exciting to match up against them in league and then probably in postseason too. Looking forward to it."

The Zags have won 89 consecutive games against unranked opponents and will aim for the 25th consecutive win over the Dons . Since Timme's been at Gonzaga, the Bulldogs have beaten the Dons by an average margin of 16.1 points.

The senior is the country's fourth-leading scorer at 22.7 points per game, and his scoring average in GU's past four games against USF isn't too far off that, at 23.2 ppg. Timme needs six points to move past Adam Morrison into third on the school's all-time scoring list.

The Texas native has a personal connection to first-year Dons assistant Jay Duncan, who spent the past 10 years coaching at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"That's my boy," Timme said, "so it'll be fun to go against him."

USF's frontcourt lost All-WCC selection Yauhen Massalski, but returned 6-foot-8 forward Josh Kunen. The Dons have two other bigs who will be assigned to Timme at various points of the game: 7-1 Georgia Tech transfer Saba Gigiberia and 7-2 WSU transfer Volodymyr Markovetskyy, who's in his second season with USF .