NCAA basketball

It took the better part of 32 minutes, but Gonzaga finally shook off a feisty Loyola Marymount squad that suited up just six scholarship players due to multiple injuries. Clinging to a one-point lead, Gonzaga rattled off 15 consecutive points and closed with a 19-3 spurt to pull away for a 91-74 West Coast Conference victory Thursday at Gersten Pavilion.

Jeff Linder uses three categories to quantify the nature of a player’s relationship with basketball.

PULLMAN – On an overcast day last month in the Bay Area, Wayne Hunter worked with Washington State players on their defense. The Cougars were one day away from facing California and star guard Jaylon Tyson, so the WSU assistant wanted to make sure his team knew how to defend Tyson.

With seven regular-season games left in the Big Sky season, Eastern Washington can create more distance between itself and the rest of the field with a pair of home games this week against two of the hottest teams in the conference, Idaho State and Weber State.

Bad news for the Gonzaga women’s basketball team’s opponents this week. Standout senior forward Yvonne Ejim returns after missing a pair of games last week – two dominating wins by the Zags.

Arizona remains on top after sweeping the difficult Mountain trip.

Just in time for the West Coast Conference stretch run, Gonzaga has an extra bounce in its step after securing a significant road win over Kentucky last Saturday.

Dominick Harris, the former Gonzaga guard and current leading scorer for Loyola Marymount, occupied the key matchup space two weeks ago but his status is uncertain for Thursday’s GU-LMU game due to a knee injury. Keli Leaupepe, an accomplished fifth-year forward, would probably be next on the list but he’s sidelined with a torn plantar fascia. That leaves three candidates with similar stats: point guard Justice “Juice” Hill (10.6 points, 4.1 assists), guard Justin Wright (11.0 points, 47.6% from the field) and forward Alex Merkviladze (11.3 points, 6.6 rebounds).

Through it all, one thing the affable big man has never forgotten is how much love and support he’s received and continues to receive from the Gonzaga family, both during his time in Spokane, while he was rehabbing from his injury and now, in his rookie season.

This hasn’t been a peaceful year for Thompson. At its peaks, Thompson plays like he did in Utah — as an evolved version of himself that can lay low on nights he doesn’t have his legs, but keeps defenses preoccupied as a threat to pop off into a scoring frenzy on a dime. In its valleys, Thompson grows visibly upset that he’s not always the bonafide second option, the go-to closer and scorer he was before his two major injuries.

The process could take days, if not weeks, but Kliavkoff’s catastrophic tenure is ending.

It was confirmed last week that the Gonzaga women’s basketball team is quite good without its top scorer and rebounder. This much was already confirmed: The Zags are exceptional with senior forward Yvonne Ejim.

Former Gonzaga guard Dominick Harris suffered a knee injury last Wednesday in the first half of LMU's road loss to San Diego and didn’t return. He missed Saturday’s home loss to Pepperdine and his status is “doubtful” for the Gonzaga-LMU rematch on Thursday at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles.

When Jeff and Shelly Jones adopted their third son, Jeff made a promise to that baby boy’s birth parents.

PULLMAN – These days, the best news for Washington State might be that there’s no news.

From staff reports

Maybe voters in the Associated Press Top 25 poll just needed to see what the Gonzaga women's basketball team could do shorthanded.

With Selection Sunday a mere five weeks away, the Hotline is prepared to offer an early forecast. March 2024 is beginning to look a lot like March 2010 for the Pac-12.

A month from now, Gonzaga's 89-85 victory at Rupp Arena on Saturday could be viewed as a huge catalyst for the Bulldogs' 25th straight NCAA Tournament bid.