NCAA basketball

DURHAM, N.C. – JuJu Watkins stood on the sideline inside Duke University’s Krzyzewski Center, wearing Team USA gear from head to toe. While everyone else was in uniform, though, the USC star was in an all-blue hoodie with the USA logo on the back. Instead of practice shorts, she wore matching sweatpants.

If tradition holds, Saturday’s game between No. 6 Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s will be the first of three meetings between the longtime West Coast Conference rivals this season.

Paulius Murauskas has drawn an assortment of defenders in three previous encounters with Gonzaga.

Many of Gonzaga’s key rotation players will get their formal introduction to one of the West Coast’s top rivalries Saturday night, but most already have a good sense of what they’ll be in for when the first regular-season meeting with Saint Mary’s tips off at McCarthey Athletic Center.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Washington State women’s basketball team couldn’t keep up with one of the West Coast Conference’s top teams, falling 102-71 to Santa Clara on Thursday night at Leavey Center.

Gonzaga knew it was going to be nothing short of difficult Thursday – largely because they were playing a team that has given it fits the last two years.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – After chipping away at a 20-point second-half deficit, the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team’s comeback attempt came up short Thursday in a 92-86 loss to Northern Arizona at Findlay Toyota Court.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Eastern Washington's four best players all had productive performances and the Eagles recorded their highest scoring output against a Division I opponent this season, outpacing Northern Arizona for a 93-87 Big Sky win on Thursday at Findlay Toyota Court.

GREELEY, Colo. – The Idaho men’s basketball team had a chance to stamp its place in the top-half of the Big Sky Conference on Thursday.

Gonzaga’s frontcourt still won’t be whole when Saint Mary’s visits McCarthey Athletic Center on Saturday, but the sixth-ranked Bulldogs got positive news on the injury front as they prepare for one of the most important games remaining on the regular-season calendar.

Omar. In compiling a Hall of Inflame from the annals of Gonzaga basketball, it is the first name among triggering baddies – and so identifiable that a last name isn’t really necessary. The Big O from Saint Mary’s thoroughly dwarfs any rival in this little broom closet of Zag lore – and not only because he stands 6-foot-11 and packed around some 265 pounds, proportions apt for a would-be first round pick in the WWE heel draft.

On November 16, 2010, Sean Farnham pulled up to a high-top table inside of the 3-year-old Davenport Tower in downtown Spokane after a narrow Gonzaga loss.

We connected with Steve Kroner to get a closer look on the Gaels and Saturday’s showdown. Kroner covered Bay Area college basketball for the San Francisco Chronicle for two decades. He works for Saint Mary’s as a broadcaster and a writer and still covers the other Bay Area schools as a freelancer for the Chronicle.

PULLMAN – ND Okafor does not exactly have the prettiest form on his jump shot. He doesn’t really need to, not as Washington State’s starting center, not when he’s making mincemeat of defenders around the basket and showing off an improved sense of touch from short range.

Gonzaga spent months workshopping a jumbo lineup with Graham Ike and Braden Huff before springing it on Saint Mary’s last March at the West Coast Conference Tournament.

Washington State quarterback Zevi Eckhaus has been named the Pac-12 Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the conference announced Wednesday.

Arthur Moreira and Debora dos Santos are tied together by silver linings. Dark clouds descend, but ultimately things work out to the benefit of both.

It was the 23rd field goal attempt of her young collegiate career, but Paige Lofing no doubt will long remember her first significant contribution to the Gonzaga women’s basketball team.

FRISCO, Texas – Nolan Hickman has no doubts he made the right choice to play basketball at Gonzaga.