Gonzaga’s move into the Pac-12 hasn’t changed the way Mark Few builds a schedule. If anything, the Bulldogs are still leaning into the same old formula: stack the calendar, chase elite competition, and make sure the team is hardened before March arrives.
That approach is showing up again in the numbers. College Basketball reporter Andy Katz ranked the 10 best non-conference schedules heading into the 2026-27 season, and Gonzaga landed at No.
- The Bulldogs were behind UConn, Duke, Michigan State, Illinois, and Arkansas.
The catch is that Gonzaga still doesn’t know exactly who will be available when the season starts. Davis Fogle and Braden Huff are back, and they’ll be joined by Arizona State transfer Massamba Diop, Houston transfer Isiah Harwell, and freshmen Luca Foster and Sam Funches. But five players remain in eligibility limbo with the NCAA: Xaivian Lee, Chauncey Wiggins, Javon Bennett, Izan Almansa, and Nathan de Sousa.
That uncertainty makes the non-conference slate even more demanding. Gonzaga opens with Purdue on Monday, Nov. 2, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a tough first step no matter how the roster shakes out. LSU follows on Nov. 14 at the Spokane Arena, though the Tigers are also dealing with their own roster questions.
Then comes the Player’s Era Festival in Las Vegas, where the Zags get a three-game stretch that should tell them plenty. They start with Kansas State on Nov. 24, then face either Baylor or Alabama on Nov. 26, and finish on Nov. 27 against one of Creighton, TCU, Miami, or defending champion Michigan.
December doesn’t exactly ease up. Gonzaga will meet UCLA for the seventh straight season on Dec. 5 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
After that comes the team’s lone true road game, a Dec. 12 trip to Omaha to face Creighton. The month closes with another California stop, this time against Tom Izzo and Michigan State on Dec. 19 at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs.
The Bulldogs also have two non-conference games set for 2027. They’ll take on Oregon in the Battle in Seattle on Jan. 30, then face Duke on Feb. 20 in Detroit.
Duke and Michigan State are two of the four teams ranked ahead of Gonzaga on Katz’s list. Arkansas, meanwhile, is scheduled to host Gonzaga in an exhibition on Oct. 25 at Bud Walton Arena.
This is the way Gonzaga has always done business. The Bulldogs have long loaded up on non-conference games to collect enough Quad 1 and Quad 2 chances to offset the lighter grind of WCC play. The Pac-12 should help with that balance, especially with Utah State and San Diego State offering the kind of high-level competition that can sharpen a team for the tournament.
And even with a few softer spots in the league, the Bulldogs should face fewer traps than they did in the WCC. That, in turn, should leave Few’s group better prepared for another run in March.
In Other News...
Gonzaga Women Suddenly Have A Roster Crunch Before Pac-12 Debut
Gonzagas womens basketball roster has taken another notable turn as the program prepares for its first season in the Pac-12. Ines Bettencourt has been officially added for the 2026-27 season after being granted a temporary restraining order for a fifth year of eligibility, giving the Bulldogs another piece to sort through as they balance a group of ten returners with three newcomers. The team has already announced jersey numbers, and Bettencourt will wear No. 0.
The timing matters because the opener is already on the calendar, and this is the kind of late roster development that can shape how a staff handles its preseason planning. Gonzaga is building toward a new league chapter with a mostly familiar core, but the addition of Bettencourt adds one more layer to a roster that is still settling into place before the first game arrives. [Read more 🡒]