Gonzaga’s big week begins with LMU, which won at Kennel last season

The biggest West Coast Conference week of the season thus far for Gonzaga arrives early and there’s plenty of interesting storylines.

The Zags face their third game in six days with a quick turnaround against Loyola Marymount in a rare Tuesday matchup. LMU, as a 15-point underdog, pulled off a 68-67 upset last January that snapped Gonzaga’s 75-game winning streak at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The Lions’ top scorer, Dominick Harris, was in Gonzaga’s program for three years before transferring to LMU, about 90 miles from his hometown of Murrieta, California.

And then there’s the first of two regular-season games against rival Saint Mary’s on Saturday. Can the Zags (15-5, 6-1 WCC) stay focused on fifth-place LMU (10-11, 3-4) with their showdown looming against the first-place Gaels (16-6, 7-0)?

“This is a hard hat week, man,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said on his weekly TV show. “Probably two of the most physical teams that we’ve played all year.”

First things first. The Zags, who overcame issues offensively and defensively in Saturday’s 82-73 road win over Pacific, square off against an experienced, deep LMU squad that has lost to Saint Mary’s twice by a combined nine points, including a 70-65 setback Saturday in Moraga.

“It’s a lot, we’re kind of grinding through a lot of stuff,” Few said of the third game in a six-day span facing both the Zags and Lions. “Hey, we have to rest up and we have get ready for a really physical game. That’s how Loyola plays, they played that way last year and they play that way this year. We have to match their physicality.”

“Recovery, recovery, recovery,” Hickman said of the days leading up to LMU. “Hot tub, cold tub, we’re going to have to do a lot of that. Three games in six days isn’t a joke, but we’re going to figure out a way.”

Loyola Marymount clipped several GU streaks last season, including a 93-game winning streak against unranked opponents, a 116-game winning streak against WCC foes not named BYU and Saint Mary’s and a 100-game winning streak against Quad 2, 3 and 4 foes.

“Oh yeah, for sure,” said Hickman, asked if there is additional motivation after losing at home to LMU a year ago.

Loyola Marymount was No. 99 in the NET and a Quad 3 opponent when it shocked the Zags last season, ending a 25-game losing streak in the series. Gonzaga crushed the Lions 108-65 a month later in Los Angeles. The Lions are currently No. 165 while GU is No. 31. LMU is 8-1 in Quad 4 games but just 1-10 vs. Quad 1, 2 and 3.

The 6-foot-3 Harris, who scored 29 points in 230 minutes in 38 games as a Zag in 2021 and 2023, is bidding for All-WCC honors with his team-leading 14.7 scoring average and conference-best 58 3-pointers and 43.3% accuracy.

Harris and fellow transfers Will Johnston (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), 7-1 Lars Thiemann (Cal), Justin Wright (North Carolina Central) and Justice ‘Juice’ Hill (Murray State) have combined for 58 starts and 51.8 points per game.

Fifth-year forward Keli Leaupepe (9.9 points and 5.3 rebounds) and senior forward Alex Merkviladze (11.0 points, 6.5 boards) lead five returning players. Leaupepe, a preseason All-WCC selection, is in the top 20 in scoring and rebounding in program history.

Nine Lions average double-digit minutes and six have posted at least one 20-point game.

The Lions’ three WCC wins are against Pepperdine, Portland and Pacific, the teams currently occupying the WCC’s bottom three spots. Their four losses are to Saint Mary’s (two), Santa Clara and San Francisco, all three in the upper half of the standings. The 90-74 setback against San Francisco was LMU’s most lopsided loss of the season.