Gonzaga reportedly opening 2022-23 season on Nov. 7 vs. North Florida

Gonzaga will have more than a week between its men’s basketball season opener and the first marquee matchup of the 2022-23 nonconference schedule.

The Bulldogs will open Mark Few’s 24th season as coach on Nov. 7 at home against North Florida, according to a report Thursday evening from CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein.

With the exception of the COVID-impacted 2020-21 season, Gonzaga has held its season opener at home every year since 2003-04, when the Bulldogs lost to Saint Joseph’s in the Coaches vs. Cancer game held in New York City. The 73-66 defeat also marked GU’s last loss in a season opener.

The season opener becomes the sixth known game/tournament of Gonzaga’s 2022-23 schedule and the second home game.

Nine days after playing North Florida, the Bulldogs will visit Texas in Austin for the second part of a home-and-home series that started last year in Spokane. Gonzaga will play in the PK85 from Nov. 24-27, meet Baylor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for a neutral-site game on Dec. 2, host Washington on Dec. 9 and travel to Birmingham, Alabama, to play Alabama on Dec. 17.

The North Florida Ospreys went 11-20 last season, including a 7-9 record in the ASUN Conference. North Florida lined up a challenging nonconference schedule last year, playing games at Texas Tech, Kentucky, Florida State, Texas A&M, Arizona State, UCLA, Florida and Grand Canyon.