NCAA basketball

By Saturday night, the Gonzaga Bulldogs looked to be feeling much better. Both on and off the court.

Gonzaga continues to gain ground in the weekly Associated Press Top 25 with its unbeaten start to West Coast Conference play.

After opening with four West Coast Conference wins as heavy favorites, Gonzaga is in the midst of the resume-enriching or resume-ravaging portion of its conference schedule. At present, the Zags are projected in the 4-6 seed range with a 2-4 Quad 1 record – home vs. 1-30 NET ranking, neutral vs. 1-50, away vs. 1-75 – with wins over San Diego State and Baylor and losses to West Virginia, Kentucky, UConn and UCLA.

The losses are starting to pile up for the Washington men’s basketball team, which fell 91-75 against No. 24 Michigan — its third straight defeat.

Gonzaga expected Washington State to try and play to its size advantage at multiple positions Saturday night, whether that meant 6-foot-6 LeJuan Watts posting up 6-2 Nolan Hickman, 6-11 Dane Erikstrup backing down 6-5 Khalif Battle or 6-10 Ethan Price working against 6-6 Dusty Stromer.

Nate Calmese’s curls hung on the sides of his face as he stared blankly at the table in front of him, thinking about his Washington State group’s 88-75 road setback to No. 18 Gonzaga, and what went wrong for his Cougars on Saturday evening.

After a tight first half, Gonzaga turned this rivalry’s first renewal in a decade into a 88-75 blowout.

From staff reports

Eastern Washington held Sacramento State to 15 points in the first half and cruised to a 65-54 victory Saturday in a men’s basketball game at The Nest in Sacramento, California.

PULLMAN – It always meant something since they’re separated by 75 miles – for pride and regional bragging rights at the very least – but the Gonzaga/Washington State women’s basketball games are now more consequential.

It has been almost 10 years since the Washington State and Gonzaga men had matched up on the basketball court. But little in college athletics is the same as it was in December 2015, the last time the schools about 80 miles apart played.

Gonzaga got a brief glimpse of what life without Ryan Nembhard might look like midway through the first half of Saturday’s rivalry game against Washington State.

Nolan Hickman picked an ideal time to snap out of a post-Christmas slump. He provided leadership, scoring, defense and ball-handling with point guard Ryan Nembhard parked on the bench with two fouls for roughly half of the first 20 minutes.

Here are three instant observations from Gonzaga’s 88-75 West Coast Conference win over Washington State on Saturday at McCarthey Athletic Center.

PULLMAN – Shortly after Washington State suffered the worst loss of its season, a home setback at home Thursday night against Pacific, coach David Riley looked exasperated. His Cougars had just lost a Quad 4 game, a serious blow to theirNCAA Tournament chances, and it came on a buzzer-beater.

Even without Washington State on the schedule, Gonzaga has managed to keep up appearances with its other rivals over the past eight seasons.

LeJuan Watts projected as a high-use player for Washington State after capturing Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors in 2023-24 while averaging 22.6 minutes per game for David Riley at Eastern Washington.

PULLMAN – Nate Calmese fell to the floor as the ball sailed toward the basket, the Beasley Coliseum crowd going quiet as the potential game-winner over Pacific hurtled toward the rim. It angled toward the iron, a tight backspin charting its path, where it caught too much of the back. It flew off the rim and back to the court, where WSU and Pacific would do overtime.

Gonzaga’s longstanding regional rivalry with Washington State should be significant to anyone with an affiliation to either school – or, for some, both schools – but it’s particularly meaningful to those who’ve been directly involved.