No. 12 Gonzaga heads to Santa Clara for main event of WCC season to this point: ‘They pass the eye test’

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – It doesn’t profile as the biggest sporting event to take place within Santa Clara city limits this month, but good luck identifying a game on the West Coast Conference calendar generating more hype than the one happening Saturday night at the Leavey Center.

A 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) matchup between No. 12 Gonzaga (24-2, 12-1) and Santa Clara (22-5, 3-1) contains most of the necessary elements for another showdown.

Let’s start with the race for the WCC regular-season title. By virtue of playing one more game, Santa Clara is a half-game ahead of Gonzaga in the league standings despite both teams shouldering one loss and Mark Few’s team controlling the head-to-head tiebreaker with an 89-77 victory over the Broncos last month. The Zags would jump ahead of the Broncos with a victory on Saturday and another win over Santa Clara could be critical for WCC Tournament tiebreaker scenarios, should both teams finish with identical records.

The NCAA Tournament ramifications attached to Saturday’s game in the Silicon Valley are almost more significant than the WCC ones. The Zags dropped a seed line in most bracket projections after losing at Portland last week, but the Broncos are trending upward after picking up their ninth consecutive victory on Wednesday, beating Seattle U 84-72.

Santa Clara is on the brink of making its first NCAA Tournament, not only under 10th-year coach Herb Sendek, but since 1996, when longtime NBA point guard Steve Nash played for the Broncos. Some believe a top-15 victory over Gonzaga would all but secure an at-large berth while others insist the Broncos have already done enough to punch their ticket, regardless of Saturday’s outcome.

Gonzaga’s coach counts himself as part of the latter group.

“Oh man, getting eyes on them here, I thought they were a really, really, really good team,” Mark Few said. “I mean they’re an NCAA Tournament team. They pass the eye test, the way they’re playing and their metrics are right there. They definitely pass the eye test.”

The Broncos haven’t had many close calls since a 12-point loss in Spokane, beating seven of their last nine WCC opponents by double figures and averaging 86.4 points during that stretch.

Santa Clara’s offense is humming at 83.6 ppg this season and tests opponents in various ways. Two different Broncos have scored at least 30 points in a game this season, but that group doesn’t include scoring leader Christian Hammond (16.4 ppg), offering a glimpse of the depth and versatility in Santa Clara’s rotation.

Redshirt freshman forward Allen Graves had 30 points and 13 rebounds last week against Washington State and sharpshooting Villanova transfer Sash Gavalyugov erupted for 37 points, making 6 of 12 from the 3-point line, in a 103-72 victory over Loyola Marymount.

Veteran guard Brenton Knapper and sophomore center Bukky Oboye, a springy 7-foot-1 lob threat, are also among the six Broncos who have hit the 20-point marker this season.

Graham Ike and Braden Huff combined for 46 points in the last meeting, with Ike accounting for 34, just one off his career high. Huff won’t be available for the rematch with a left knee injury, but the list of priorities for Gonzaga starts on the defensive end, where Few’s team has been mostly impenetrable outside of a 40-minute stretch against Portland.

“I think just us handling (Santa Clara) the way we did up here,” Few said. “We guarded them really, really good and we rebounded the ball well and we were able to function and score against their pressure defense. They’re going to get up and pressure us probably 94 feet. They press up anytime you get a defensive rebound, they try to slow down your transition.

“We’ve got to get off that and get out – which we did great tonight – in transition, which is when we’re at our best on offense. Then we’ll have to guard. They’ve got those big wings that can go downhill but can also shoot 3’s. We’ll have to do a good job on those guys.”

Santa Clara’s biggest key will be slowing Ike, who’s become the singular focal point of Gonzaga’s offense since Huff’s injury. Ike has scored at least 20 points in six straight games, reached 30 points three times since the last matchup with Santa Clara and has an impressive track record against the Broncos, averaging 22 ppg in five games against Sendek’s teams.

Outside of Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara has been the only team in the WCC to beat Gonzaga in consecutive years. The Broncos beat the 23rd-ranked Zags 77-76 during the 2023-24 season in a game that coincided with Steve Nash’s jersey retirement. Santa Clara outlasted Gonzaga 103-99 last season with Domantas Sabonis in the building for a jersey ceremony.

“Well they’re clearly one of the best teams in the country,” Sendek told the Bay Area’s KRON4 News of Gonzaga earlier this week. “They’re explosive offensively, they’re top notch on defense, they’re very talented. You’ve got to play a complete and total game against them to be competitive.”

By Wednesday morning, only a handful of tickets were available for the nationally-televised rematch between the Zags and Broncos, according to an employee within Santa Clara’s athletic department.