The Gonzaga women are working on their transition game.

More on Joel Ayayi, Anton Watson’s breakout performance and coach Mark Few lining up a guest speaker when the team was in Indianapolis in December.

Gonzaga’s single-game, season and career record book are going to require some serious editing and the school will have to make room for a new entry authored by do-it-all guard Joel Ayayi. He was everywhere and seemingly in the middle of everything that unfolded in Gonzaga’s 116-88 rout over Portland on Saturday at the Chiles Center. The French native was so efficient, he produced what is believed to be the first triple-double in school history – with 17 minutes left in the second half.

Difference makers and turning point from Gonzaga's game against Portland on Jan. 9, 2021.

Even in this most unusual of college basketball seasons, the success Gonzaga consistently enjoys can get a little, well, boring might not be the right word but it’s apt.

As first-place showdowns go, this one didn’t live up to expectations.

Follow along here as the Bulldogs play the Pilots in Portland.

As surprises go in college sports, few were bigger than last year’s University of Portland women’s basketball team.

Hello, it’s early January and Gonzaga is preparing to play its first road game of the season. Yes that’s odd, but it seems to fit the unusual tenor of a season being staged in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The best of the bunch is Ahmed Ali, who started 24 games and averaged 7.3 points at Washington State in coach Ernie Kent’s last season (2019). The well-traveled, 5-foot-11, 170-pound guard sat out last season at Hawaii due to injuries before transferring to Portland.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few is on board with former Portland coach Eric Reveno’s idea to make election day Nov. 3 a mandatory off day for NCAA student-athletes.

Gonzaga’s 16-game WCC schedule includes single-game matchups with Portland and Loyola Marymount and two-game sets with the remaining seven schools.

Haylee Andrews scored 18 points, including her second-straight game-winner in the final minute, and Portland captured the West Coast Conference automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in more than two decades with a 64-63 overtime win over San Diego

It all seemed so easy, like an extension of warm-ups but with a lot more cheering.

Offensive MVP, defensive MVP and key moment from Portland’s 70-69 win at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

What happened in the first quarter only played a small role in the final result and after Gonzaga sputtered in the second and third, the Bulldogs put themselves in a challenging position to start the fourth – ultimately losing to fourth-seeded Portland, 70-69, and squandering a spot in Tuesday’s championship game.

Gonzaga relinquished a 20-point lead built in the first quarter and the top-seeded Bulldogs couldn’t overcome fourth-seeded Portland for the third time this season, losing 70-69 at the Orleans Arena.

That old saw about how tough it is to beat a team three times in one season? The Gonzaga women don’t want to hear it.

Action from the Gonzaga vs. Portland women's WCC Tournament semifinal game on Monday, March 9, 2020, at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Gonzaga women were stunned by the Portland Pilots 70-69 in the semifinal round of the WCC tournament in Las Vegas.