Aug. 24—Gonzaga will take a short hiatus from West Coast Conference play in early February for a blockbuster nonleague matchup against Kentucky.
One day after CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported that the Bulldogs and Wildcats would meet in January or February, as opposed to November and December when nonconference games are traditionally held, Kentucky revealed that the matchup will take place on Feb. 10 at Rupp Arena while announcing its full nonconference schedule.
A tipoff time and television network details for the game have yet to been announced.
The Bulldogs have another busy, competitive nonconference schedule lined up this fall, with games at the Maui Invitational, an Elite Eight rematch with UConn in Seattle, a rivalry game at Washington and a matchup with San Diego State at Spokane Arena.
BYU’s exit from the WCC opens up a week for the Zags during the conference calendar, allowing Gonzaga to make the cross-country flight to Lexington during the second week of February.
The placement of the game also gives Gonzaga an opportunity to play a quality top 25 opponent roughly one month before the NCAA Tournament. Both teams were ranked inside the top-20 of ESPN’s latest way-too-early preseason poll, with the Bulldogs checking in at No. 7 and the Wildcats at No. 17.
The departure of BYU from the WCC eliminates two to three games against a fellow top-50 opponent from Gonzaga’s schedule and although the conference has improved in recent years, sending three teams to the 2022 NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs and Saint Mary’s are projected to enter the 2023-24 college basketball season as the WCC’s only top-100 programs.
Gonzaga and Kentucky agreed to a six-year series last fall — the first of those games taking place on Nov. 20, 2022, at Spokane Arena. The Bulldogs rolled to an 88-72 victory over former national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe and the Wildcats.
Gonzaga returns two players who started in the game — guard Nolan Hickman and forward Anton Watson — while Kentucky brings back just one in Antonio Reeves. The Feb. 10 date could be advantageous to a young Wildcats team that may start up to three freshmen this season.
The Zags and Wildcats will continue the series with a neutral-site game in Seattle during the 2024-25 season before playing in Nashville in 2025-26, Spokane in 2026-27 and Lexington in 2027-28.
The last time Gonzaga broke up its conference schedule with a nonleague game was 2016 when the Bulldogs lost 69-60 at Southern Methodist. The season prior, GU played a John Calipari-led Memphis team on Jan. 31 in Spokane, winning 82-64.
