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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Zags entertain a ‘friendly rival’

The pre-game handshakes will be sincere when Gonzaga entertains Northern Colorado at 5 tonight at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The Bears are led by second-year coach Tad Boyle, a good friend of Gonzaga’s coaching staff.

“We all kind of came into the profession together – myself, (GU assistants) Ray (Giacoletti), Leon (Rice), (Texas A&M head coach) Mark (Turgeon) and Tad,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said. “Tad and Mark played together at Kansas and he was Mark’s assistant at Wichita State.”

Boyle landed the Northern Colorado job after working with Turgeon for six years at Wichita State and two years at Jacksonville State. Wichita State won 26 games in 2005-06 and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament.

Boyle is making inroads with Northern Colorado. His first team went 4-24, but Boyle brings a 5-3 club to Spokane. Northern Colorado, a member of the Big Sky Conference, won four straight games – its longest winning streak since the school was NCAA Division II in 2002-03 – before falling to Denver in its last game. The Bears had the worst RPI in the nation last season, but they’re No. 176 in the latest rankings.

“We know they’re going to be well-coached and tough-minded,” Few said.

Forward Jabril Banks averages a team-high 13.5 points and makes 65 percent of his shots, tops in the Big Sky.