Gonzaga, Tennessee exhibition game: “Everyone’s just excited to play someone else”

October is a quality month in the sports world with NFL and college football, the World Series and the beginning of NBA and NHL seasons.

College basketball is making a rare public appearance on the October schedule when second-ranked Gonzaga and No. 11 Tennessee meet Friday in an exhibition contest in Frisco, Texas. It won’t be like past seasons when teams staged closed scrimmages in October and the NCAA frowned on coaches and players if they talked publicly about what happened on the court.

Friday’s outcome obviously doesn’t count in the win-loss column, but it’s an appealing matchup of top programs in front of fans at Comerica Center – roughly 30 minutes from Drew Timme’s home base in Dallas – and a pay-per-view audience with proceeds benefiting the McLendon Foundation.

“Those (closed scrimmages), you always have these great plans and then they get competitive and they just turn into a game anyway and you just try to win the game pretty much,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “And then we’re not supposed to talk about it. The beauty of this is opening it up to everybody and everybody gets to look at it and I hope (fans) do via the pay-per-view.

“That’s going to be a fun, exciting way to open up maybe some avenues down the road.”

It’s no surprise it’s GU and Tennessee squaring off since Few and Tennessee counterpart Rick Barnes are close friends.

“That was just kind of us putting it together,” said Few, who hopes to see more of these charity exhibitions in future seasons. “First putting it together because we thought it would be great just to get your guys excited to do it. To play against that elite-level athlete, defensive pressure and high-level guys … and then you’re ready to go once our regular seasons starts, which we all know is going to be ridiculously hard.”

It’s a welcome break for players and coaches from the preseason grind. It should give the Zags an idea of where they stand prior to their Nov. 7 season opener and a string of marquee matchups in the first month of the season.

“This is my fourth year doing this,” senior forward Anton Watson said. “October is a long month of just scrimmages and practices. Everyone’s just excited to play someone else. I think we’re sick of beating each other up in practice.”

New role for Hickman

Sophomore Nolan Hickman is among several returning players expected to assume a bigger role with Andrew Nembhard now cashing NBA checks.

Hickman appears to be in line to replace Nembhard at starting point guard.

“I’m definitely much higher in my confidence, game wise and physical wise I definitely took a larger step than last year,” Hickman said. “I feel like coming into freshman year I had no experience of course, but not only that, my body didn’t perform as much as it is now. I’m where I want to be at my weight (listed at 180 pounds). I feel like I’m good to go.”

Hickman will face high-level guards throughout the nonconference schedule. Tennessee features Santiago Vescovi, a preseason first-team All-SEC pick, second-team selections Zakai Zeigler and wing Josiah-Jordan James, and Indiana State transfer Tyreke Key.

“He’s been really rock solid,” Few said of Hickman. “He’s had a nice fall. He’s really made a big jump from last year to this year. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with him. He’s had to log a lot of minutes in practice.

“It’ll be fun and interesting to see (Friday). They’ve got Vescovi, an older, tough, veteran type of guard, really super smart. And Zeigler is just quick on quick. There’s going to be some really good challenges for Nolan right from the jump.”

Zags No. 2 in USA Today poll

Gonzaga will open the season No. 2 in the USA Today coaches’ poll. It’s the same spot the Zags occupied in the Associated Press preseason poll released earlier this week.

No. 1 North Carolina, which lost to Kansas in last year’s title game, received 23 first-place votes and 778 points. Gonzaga had five first-place votes and 759 points.

The top six in both polls is the same: UNC, Gonzaga, Houston, Kentucky, Kansas and Baylor. The only difference in the top 10 is at 7 and 8 where the coaches have UCLA and Duke and the AP poll has Duke and UCLA. Creighton and Arkansas round out the top 10.

Saint Mary’s finished outside the top 25 but received eight points.