No. 4 Gonzaga, San Diego State to test mettle in battle of powerhouses
Gonzaga and San Diego State have been considered the top programs in the West over the past several seasons.
But the evidence shows the topic also is a national one.
The No. 4 Bulldogs have the best record in the nation since the start of the 2019-20 season, and the Aztecs rank third as the two potent teams enter Monday night's epic non-conference showdown in San Diego.
Gonzaga has a stellar .878 winning percentage (151-21 record) during the stretch. Houston (.843, 150-28) is second, with San Diego State (136-34) third while winning 80 percent of its games.
The Bulldogs (3-0 this season) have reached two national championship games (2017, 2021) and the Aztecs (2-0) have been in one (2023) over the past seven NCAA Tournaments.
This will be the second contest of a home-and-home series between clubs that are slated to be part of the Pac-12 in the 2026-27 season. Gonzaga was dealt a rare home loss last season when San Diego State registered an 84-74 victory in Spokane, Wash.
"Last year, when we beat them, it was the greatest thing in the world," Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said. "I'm not so sure it's so great with them coming in here; I think they'll have a long memory. This has been a great series. We don't play them every year, but when we do it's really competitive and it's been a lot of fun.
"(Bulldogs) head coach Mark Few has been great, giving us a chance to play them home-and-home. They can schedule anybody in the country and have. ... To get them at home is a great opportunity for our fans to see a really good basketball team against a developing Aztec team. We'll see if we're ready for the next step up."
This will be the first test of the season for San Diego State. It beat UC San Diego 63-58 and Division III Occidental 100-49 in two home encounters.
Gonzaga opened the season with a 101-63 rout over then-No. 8 Baylor and followed with an 88-80 victory over Arizona State and a 113-54 pounding of UMass Lowell on Friday.
Transfer Khalif Battle scored 21 points against UMass Lowell and is averaging 17.3 points per game. Battle has drained 11 of 18 3-point attempts.
Battle previously played one season at Butler, three campaigns at Temple and last season for Arkansas, so he has seen a lot of different venues. He has been informed that San Diego State has one of the most raucous atmospheres in the country.
"It just feels good to go inside another arena and get a win and compete ultimately," Battle said. "They're going to give us their best shot, we're going to give them our best shots, so whoever is victorious is victorious."
The large margin of victory over UMass Lowell displayed that the Bulldogs weren't looking past the contest.
"We've got a good mature group here, and we all know what needs to be done before a big game," Gonzaga guard Nolan Hickman said. "This is just the showing of it."
Aztecs transfer guard Wayne McKinney III saw plenty of Gonzaga over the past three seasons while playing about eight miles to the west for San Diego of the West Coast Conference.
"It's always an up-pace tough battle against them," McKinney said of the Bulldogs. "They always have their good scout team, and they have good players that come in every year ready to go. It's always a crazy environment, whether it's at The Kennel or elsewhere. It's always going to be a dog fight."
San Diego State is awaiting word on whether it will have ailing guard Miles Byrd (ankle), who scored 20 points in the opener and then sat out against Occidental. Dutcher said Byrd likely will be a game-time decision.
