Gonzaga rewind: Defense passes the test in season-opening win over Texas Southern
Gonzaga players and coaches deserve credit for the defensive adjustments they made toward the end of the 2024-25 season, allowing the Zags to transform from a group that was painful to watch at times into one that finished inside the top 30 of KenPom’s defensive efficiency ratings.
Only so much can be gleaned from a single game against an inferior opponent, but early signs suggest the 2025-26 Zags won’t have to spend four months building the type of defense that will be required to make a deep NCAA Tournament run.
After a 98-43 win over Texas Southern on Monday night, it already seems apparent Gonzaga’s defensive floor is significantly higher than it was last year, with no telling of what the ceiling could look like come March.
“I think I said last press conference, everyone just brings certain aspects to the game,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “They’ve just got to make sure they bring that and certainly those defensive guys really brought that.”
With more length and athleticism on the perimeter, Gonzaga passes the eye test in a way it didn’t last year, and the defensive numbers Few’s team posted on Monday would’ve matched up with any game from 2024-25, regardless of whether the Zags were facing a high-level team from the SEC or middle-tier opponent from the SWAC.
Gonzaga conceded only 16 points in the second half of Monday’s opener. That would’ve been the fewest allowed by GU in any half last season, narrowly edging the 17 points allowed both in the first half against Portland and second half against Long Beach State.
The Zags consistently forced Texas Southern to take low-percentage looks – with a few of the heaves only ricocheting off the backboard. The Tigers finished 25.4% from the field, making just 5 of 30 (16.7%) shots in the second half. Gonzaga held just one of its 34 opponents under 30% from the field last year, limiting Pepperdine to 29.2% in WCC play.
According to the model used by college basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy, Gonzaga limited Texas Southern to 0.59 points-per-possession on Monday. It was the first time since 2019 the Zags held any opponent under 0.60 PPP.
Gonzaga’s defensive activity, particularly on the perimeter, stood out against Texas Southern. Senior wing Jalen Warley came up with four steals, with two coming on consecutive possessions, while five other players had one steal apiece.
“That’s kind of what Jalen has been doing,” Few said. “He does it in practice, he did it in our exhibitions, he did it I think in Kraziness. That’s kind of what he does, he brings great energy, he doesn’t take a possession off and is definitely somebody who’s going to try to make a play on that defensive end. Very versatile, too.”
The length and athleticism GU added to its 2025-26 roster helped in other areas, too. The Zags finished with 56 rebounds and were plus-27 on the glass. Both marks would’ve been season highs for last year’s team, which totaled 50 rebounds on just one occasion. Additionally, all 11 scholarship players who logged minutes on Monday came down with at least one offensive rebound.
Fogle’s late flurry
A few hundred fans had already filed out of the Kennel by the time Davis Fogle pulled his warmups off and trotted to the scorer’s table to make his Gonzaga debut late in the second half.
The freshman wing from Anacortes entered the game at the 10-minute, 29-second mark, at a point when the Zags were leading by 35 points. The gap continued to grow with GU’s deep bench players competing against a mix of TSU starters and reserves. It was largely due to the impact of Fogle, who continued to press and attack the basket in a way that looked familiar to anyone who watched GU’s exhibitions against Northwest and Western Oregon.
Four Gonzaga players were already in double figures by the time Fogle entered midway through the second half and he became the fifth in a blur, recording 11 points in 10 minutes while shooting 5 of 8 from the field and 1 of 1 from the 3-point line.
A function of Gonzaga’s depth and experience at the wing position, Fogle’s minutes could be sparse as coaches shrink rotations ahead of games against Oklahoma, Creighton and Arizona State. Depending where he plays on the floor, the 19-year-old is either fifth or sixth in line behind a group of veteran players like Warley, Emmanuel Innocenti, Tyon Grant-Foster, Adam Miller and Steele Venters.
“We’re trying, he’s doing a great job,” Few said. “We’ve had the talk with him, he just has to share the position with a lot of other older guys. Just kind of the way it’s going. We’ll keep getting him minutes and keep developing him and we’re not afraid to throw him into these games at any time.”
Including the exhibitions, Fogle’s now scored 42 points – an average of 14 per game – in three games at Gonzaga, shooting 14 of 23 (60%) from the field while bringing down 10 rebounds.
Fogle’s shown the ability to get to the basket and create foul pressure, earning 11 free throw trips against Western Oregon. At 6-foot-7, he also has the ability to knock down midrange shots at a high clip.
“It’s just hard,” Few said. “He’s got a lot of guys and not a whole lot of separation at that position right now.”
Jefferson slated to redshirt
With a deep frontcourt that also has experience on its side, freshman center Parker Jefferson was fighting an uphill battle to carve out rotation minutes for Gonzaga this season.
Rather than play spot minutes in GU’s blowout wins, Jefferson elected to use a redshirt year in 2025-26, he confirmed to The Spokesman-Review before Monday’s opener.
It’s not a surprising development for the Texas native, who originally signed to play at Minnesota before the Big Ten program fired fifth-year coach Ben Johnson when the 2024-25 season ended. Jefferson promptly decommitted from the Golden Gophers and flipped to Gonzaga approximately one month later.
The 6-9 freshman entered the season as GU’s fourth option at the power forward/center spots, behind starters Graham Ike and Braden Huff and sophomore center Ismaila Diagne.
He’ll now take the redshirt path, something that’s not only been common for previous Gonzaga players, but successful for a handful who play Jefferson’s position.
Huff is GU’s most recent success story, but other bigs like Kelly Olynyk, Brandon Clarke and Johnathan Williams have developed through a redshirt year before going on to productive careers with the Zags.