Over the last 25 years, Gonzaga has not encountered many imperative games during the regular season.
Nevertheless, the Bulldogs could find themselves in a pivotal situation as they face No. 17 Kentucky in Lexington, Ky., this Saturday, especially if they want to extend their string of NCAA Tournament appearances, which dates back to 1999.
While the Bulldogs (17-6) still have the opportunity to secure an automatic berth by winning the West Coast Conference tournament, it is not guaranteed, given their two-game deficit behind first-place Saint Mary’s following a 64-62 loss to the Gaels last Saturday.
Following the setback, Gonzaga, which fell out of the Top 25 for the first time since 2016 three weeks ago, bounced back with a 96-64 triumph over Portland at home on Wednesday, marking their sixth win in the last seven games.
Braden Huff, a freshman post for Gonzaga, delivered an impressive performance coming off the bench, scoring 25 points, while Anton Watson contributed 20 points on a 9-of-11 shooting from the field.
“It just takes some time, high emotion, and there was a lot put into that thing,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said of overcoming last Saturday’s setback. “Sometimes you just have to let them recover and heal. I say this all the time. The last loss of the year in the NCAA Tournament, players come back faster than anybody, it takes like 24 hours. Staff, it takes a little bit longer, and fans never recover.”
Gonzaga players echoed that sentiment.
“We use it as fuel,” center Graham Ike said following the loss to Saint Mary’s. “We come back on Monday, we get better from it and continue to grow.”
On the other hand, the Wildcats (16-6) managed to shake off a rough patch of three losses in four games by securing a commanding 109-77 victory against Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday.
Antonio Reeves showcased an outstanding performance, sinking six 3-pointers and scoring 24 points for Kentucky, while Rob Dillingham added 20 points.
Justin Edwards and Jordan Burks both achieved career highs with 17 and 13 points, respectively, and Aaron Bradshaw and Zvonimir Ivisic contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.
“It’s just getting our mojo back, coming off the two (home) losses,” Reeves said. “It’s devastating, but we just stayed in the gym, stayed focused as a collective group.”
Kentucky played Tuesday without starting point guard D.J. Wagner, who missed his third consecutive game due to an ankle injury. Starting forward Tre Mitchell was also sidelined with a back issue, and coach John Calipari indicated that he anticipates their return “in a week or two,” making it unlikely for them to play against the Zags.
The Wildcats’ last two home games concluded with a 94-91 overtime loss to Florida and a 103-92 defeat to No. 5 Tennessee.
“I’ve done this a long, long time,” Calipari said. “The ups and downs of this — that’s what it is. It’s just, at Kentucky, the ups are like, don’t sleep for two days. And the downs are, ‘I’m gonna kill everybody. Everybody needs to leave.’ That’s what it is. But if you’re gonna coach at Kentucky or play at Kentucky, you better deal with it. Because it is not changing. And I imagine it’s been that way for 50 years.”
This will be the second consecutive season that Gonzaga and Kentucky have faced each other, with the Bulldogs prevailing 88-72 on Nov. 20, 2022, at the Spokane (Wash.) Arena.
