No. 6/7 Gonzaga (0-0) vs. No. 8/8 Baylor (0-0)
MONDAY NOVEMBER 4TH | 8:30 p.m. | SPOKANE ARENA | SPOKANE
TV: ESPN2
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE RADIO | LIVE STATISTICS

THE OPENING TIP
– Gonzaga opens the regular season against No. 8 Baylor in the Findlay Toyota Tip-Off at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena on Monday at 8:30 p.m
– The Zags have won 18 straight regular-season openers, dating back to a 73-66 loss to Saint Joseph's in the 2003 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York City.
– In last year's season opener, Gonzaga beat Yale 86-71 at home. Braden Huff led the Zags with 19 points and nine rebounds, Ryan Nembhard played all 40 minutes and had 16 points and seven assists, and Nolan Hickman added 15 points in 39 minutes.
– GU earned a 109-52 victory over Warner Pacific in an exhibition game on Wednesday. Four Zags finished with double-digit scoring, led by Hickman with 19 points. Huff and Michael Ajayi had 14 points.
– The Zags are ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press preseason poll. GU received 1,157 points in the preseason rankings and one first-place vote.
– This is the 24th straight season Gonzaga has been ranked in the AP Poll. It's the 15th straight year the Bulldogs have been ranked in the preseason poll and the 12th straight year they've started in the top 20.
– Gonzaga joins Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina as the only programs to appear in each of the final 15 preseason AP polls.
– Last season, the Bulldogs reached their ninth straight Sweet 16, the longest active streak in the country, finishing with a record of 27-8. Gonzaga was ranked 15th in the latest AP poll.
– The Zags expanded their NCAA Div. 1 record 17 consecutive seasons with at least 25 wins. With 27 straight seasons and 20 wins, GU ranks second behind the longest active streak in the country.
– Of the 12 possible players who could return from last season, 10 are returning for the 2024-25 season, including all four starters. The Bulldogs recovered 81 percent of their goals from last season and 71 percent of their rebounds.
– The Zags return six of their top seven scorers along with 81.4 percent of minutes played, marking GU's highest retention rate in nearly 20 years. Only four other programs in the country return a higher percentage of minutes played.

Looking for the bears
— Baylor welcomes nine new faces to the 2024-25 roster and is looking to replace four of its five starters from last year's team, including two first-round draft picks in Ja'Kobe Walter and Yves Missi.
– Potential top-five draft pick VJ Edgecombe and his star-studded classmates Jason Asemota and Rob Wright should account for some of those departures.
– The Bears added veteran transfers Jalen Celestine (California), Norchad Omier (Arkansas State and Miami) and Jeremy Roach (Duke) to 71.4% scoring, 68.3% rebounding and 78.8% rebounding to replace assists.
– Roach and Omier bring Final Four experience, as Roach helped his Duke team to the 2022 Final Four, while Omier led Miami to its first-ever Final Four in 2023.
– Edgecombe is Baylor's fourth straight Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year.
– Roach was named Big 12 Conference Co-Newcomer of the Year and was selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 second team along with Omier.
– Fourth in the Big 12 preseason poll.

SERIES INFO
– Monday marks the eighth all-time meeting, seven of the previous games taking place on a neutral site and five of the meetings being decided by single digits.
– The Bulldogs won the first meeting between the programs, 77-75, on November 29, 1991 in Fresno, California.
– The Zags have won the first five meetings, but Baylor has won the last two meetings, the 2021 National Championship Game in Indianapolis and the last at the 2022 Peacock Classic in Sioux Falls, SD
– In this 2022 meeting, Adam Flagler hit two 3-pointers as No. 6 Baylor scored the final eight points of the game and beat No. 14 Gonzaga 64-63.

NEXT
– Gonzaga hosts Arizona State in the first regular season game at the McCarthey Athletic Center on Nov. 10 at 2 p.m
– It will be the first-ever meeting between the programs and the first of a home series that ends in Tempe next season.
– The Sun Devils open the regular season at home against Idaho State on Tuesday before welcoming WCC member Santa Clara on Friday.
– Arizona State was ranked No. 12 out of 16 members in the Big 12 Conference preseason poll.

A BEAR OF AN OPENER
– No. 8 Baylor is the highest-ranked team the Bulldogs have opened a season with since beating No. 6/5 Kansas at Ft. defeated in 2020. Myers tip-off, 102-90.
– Gonzaga ranks 1-3 all-time in regular season openers. GU beat No. 6 Kansas in 2020 but fell 73-66 to No. 17 St. Joseph's in New York City in 2003. In 2001, GU lost to No. 2 Illinois 76-58. No. 8 Kansas defeated the Zags 80-66 in the 1998 regular season opener in Lawrence.
– The Bulldogs are 15-50 against top-10 opponents all-time and 15-43 less Mark Few.
— Gonzaga has lost its last three matchups against top-10 opponents, dating back to a 79-76 win over No. 7 UCLA in the 2023 Sweet 16 in Las Vegas.

Successful start to the season
– The Zags have won 18 straight regular-season openers, dating back to a 73-66 loss to Saint Joseph's in the 2003 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York City.
– GU has won 33 consecutive regular-season home openers since a 73-65 loss to Boise State on Dec. 7, 1988.
– Gonzaga has won all 18 regular-season home openers at the McCarthey Athletic Center and all 24 regular-season home openers below Mark Few.

PICKS IN THE ARENA
– Gonzaga has a 13-6 all-time record at Spokane Arena since it opened in 1995.
– In the 2022-23 season, GU earned an 88-72 victory over Kentucky at Spokane Arena. The Top 5 match drew 12,333 fans, the largest crowd ever for an event in Spokane Arena history.
– Last season, Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 86-60 in the CCF Classic at Spokane Arena in front of 12,015 fans.

Gonzaga men's basketball history at Spokane Arena
11/24/95 Washington State L 67-72 (OT)
11/30/96 Washington State L 62-75
12/8/98 Washington W 82-71
11/29/99 Washington State W 73-63
02.01.01 New Mexico L 80-81 (OT)
01/06/01 Prairie View W 93-50
12/22/02 Eastern Washington, win 67-64
11/24/03 Georgia, win 82-76 (OT)
12/31/03 Eastern Washington, win 70-49
12/21/04 Eastern Washington, win 83-70
12/19/05 Eastern Washington, win 75-65
02/17/07 Memphis L 77-78 (OT)
02/07/09 Memphis L 50-68
12/12/09 Davidson W 103-91
02/05/11 Memphis L 58-62
11/26/11 Western Michigan, won 78-58
12/10/14 Washington State W 81-66
11/20/22 Kentucky W 88-72
1/4/24 Pepperdine W 86-60

IKE AND NEMBHARD ON NATIONAL GUARD LISTS
– Graham Ike And Ryan Nembhard have been named to the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy preseason watch list for the 2024-25 Naismith Trophy Player of the Year.
– Ike was also named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches' preseason watch list for NABC Division I Player of the Year.
– There were 50 players on Naismith's preseason watch list, while there were 20 on the NABC list.
– Both awards will be announced the week of the 2025 Men’s Final Four.

BULLDOG TRIO ON NAISMITH LAUNCHES FIVE LISTS
– Michael Ajayi, Graham IkeAnd Ryan Nembhard were all named to their respective position preseason watch lists.
– Ajayi was named to the Julius Erving Award Watch List, given to the best small forward in the country.
– Ike was named to the watch list for the Karl Malone Award, given to the best power forward in the country.
– Nembhard was named to the Bob Cousy Award Watch List, given to the best point guard in the country.
– Gonzaga is one of 11 programs with three or more players listed. (Arizona 4, Alabama 3, Arkansas 3, Duke 5, Baylor 3, Indiana 4, Kansas 4, North Carolina 5, Texas 3, UConn 4)