Gonzaga’s schedule required fitting puzzle pieces together

College basketball nonconference scheduling is always a work in progress, but Gonzaga’s came together fairly late on the shot clock, err, calendar this season.

The final product: No complaints, especially with the Zags playing in the premier matchup on opening night and essentially closing day of the nonconference slate.

Gonzaga and Baylor went down to the wire — not the game, won by GU 101-63 — with discussions of possibly playing in Mexico City or elsewhere outside the U.S. before coming together for the season opener Nov. 4 at the Arena. The official announcement came in late September.

No. 14 Gonzaga and No. 22 UCLA should be Saturday’s marquee contest when they resume their entertaining series at Intuit Dome, the spiffy new arena of the Los Angeles Clippers in Inglewood, California, before conference play heats up. That one took some juggling to finalize.

In between, the Zags also faced Arizona State, San Diego State, three games in three days at the Battle 4 Atlantis, Kentucky in Seattle and UConn in New York City.

“Basically, the schedule came together late this year,” said Gonzaga Athletic Director Chris Standiford, referring to the nonconference portion in general and the spacing out of four December games leading up to the Christmas holiday break. “It was dead week (prior to Kentucky) and Finals Week (prior to UConn) so it was giving guys academic space to navigate those two weeks.”

The GU-UCLA two-game series was announced in July and Saturday represents the first college game held at Intuit Dome.

“It was a common date that we could fit, UCLA could fit and the building could fit,” Standiford said.

To pull it off, the Zags adjusted their West Coast Conference opener — there are four conference games Saturday — to get the date with UCLA.

“We worked with the conference and got our bye at the front end,” Standiford said, “so I think we open with our bye and we stay down there to play Pepperdine (on Monday).”

Gonzaga typically schedules a home-and-home series against a power program, such as North Carolina several years ago, with similar dates for both meetings to match up with students being in session or on holiday break.

When Gonzaga lost to San Diego State 84-74 at the Kennel on Dec. 29, GU students were on holiday break. The Zags won the rematch 80-67 at Viejas Arena with students in session in November.

“Just scheduling is complex sometimes and that’s where the pieces fit,” said Standiford, noting that the Aztecs might have been originally scheduled for a late December date.

Gonzaga brought back the Battle in Seattle in 2021 against Alabama after a five-year break. The Zags lost to UConn at Climate Pledge Arena in 2023 in the Continental Tire Seattle Tip-Off. Kentucky edged the Zags in overtime at this season’s Battle in Seattle earlier this month.

“Seattle is so important to our program and the community embraces us so well,” Standiford said courtside prior to GU-Kentucky tipping off Dec. 7. “We really feel obligated to try and be over here as much as possible. We obviously have Seattle players and we recruit Seattle, but it’s also that there’s a lot of nostalgia, even in this building. This is where the run started in 1999 (at KeyArena, which was renovated and reopened as Climate Pledge in 2021).

“We enjoy being in Seattle and we appreciate the support from people in Seattle.”

Gonzaga’s 2025-26 schedule will include return games against Baylor, Kentucky (Nashville, Tennessee) and UCLA (Climate Pledge).

The Zags and Wildcats will square off at Bridgestone Arena, home of the NHL Nashville Predators.

“I don’t know where (the Baylor game) is going to be,” Standiford said. “It’s literally wide open. Coach (Mark) Few and coach (Scott) Drew have been really innovative. It was close (to being outside the U.S.) this season. Mexico was one of them (under consideration). Most of it was concept-level stuff that got into the logistics and once we realized the complexities of the logistics, the windows were too tight. So, we really appreciate Baylor’s willingness to come to Spokane. It’s a testament to Mark and his relationship with Scott and just how great that Baylor program has been to compete against.”