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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga, North Florida to meet in Dec. 7 nonconference game at Kennel

Spike, the Gonzaga mascot, tries to get the student section excited during a second-half time out, Wed. Oct. 30, 2024, at the McCarthey Athletic Center. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

Gonzaga will be up against a quick turnaround after traveling to Nashville for one of the marquee games of the nonconference schedule.

Roughly 48 hours after facing Kentucky in a neutral site game at Bridgestone Arena, the Zags will be back on the court to face North Florida in a Dec. 7 game at McCarthey Athletic Center.

Gonzaga has yet to release its nonconference schedule in full, but the North Florida game was confirmed on Tuesday when the Ospreys unveiled their nonleague slate. A tipoff time and television details will be released at a later date.

The meeting with North Florida becomes the fifth and possibly last known home game on Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule, which also includes dates with Texas Southern (Nov. 3), Creighton (Nov. 11), Southern Utah (Nov. 17) and Campbell (Nov. 17). The Zags are also facing Oklahoma in a Nov. 8 game that will be held in downtown Spokane at the Arena.

It’ll mark the second meeting with North Florida, which competes in the ASUN Conference and will be under the direction of interim head coach Bobby Kennen, who took over for Matthew Driscoll when the Ospreys’ former coach left to become an associated head coach under Jerome Tang at Kansas State.

Driscoll, previously at UNF for 16 years, was the program’s coach when the Ospreys traveled to Spokane for a nonconference game on Nov. 7, 2022. Paced by Drew Timme’s 22 points, Gonzaga went on a 26-0 run in the first half and pulled away for a 104-63 victory.

North Florida is replacing five players and five double digit scorers from a team that finished 15-17 overall last season and 8-10 in ASUN play. The Ospreys’ top returning scorer is guard Kamrin Oriol, who averaged 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 2024-25.

Gonzaga-Oregon game confirmed

Fans of Gonzaga and Oregon can officially plug two important dates into their calendar.

Weeks after initial reports of a nonconference meeting between the Zags and Ducks surfaced, both schools confirmed a Dec. 21 date at Portland’s Moda Center in separate news releases.

It was also announced that tickets for the highly anticipated game would go on sale Sept. 11. According to Oregon’s athletics website, general admission seats will be available for $39.50 through Ticketmaster.

“This is a good nonconference game for our fans, especially for those in the Portland area,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said in a news release. “Playing in the home of the Trail Blazers is always special and we look forward to this matchup with Gonzaga.”

The schools have met 27 times, but only twice since Gonzaga’s Mark Few – an Oregon alum – took over as GU’s head coach in 1999. Prior to this year, Few has never scheduled a nonconference game against his alma mater, with both of the previous meetings taking place in tournament formats.