Mark Few’s Gonzaga team is back home Saturday afternoon, and the first game at the McCarthey Athletic Center in the 2026-27 season brings a few storylines that go well beyond the final score.
The Bulldogs are 1-0 after opening with Purdue, and this will be their first home game as members of the new-look Pac-12. It’s also the first of five buy games on the schedule, with Montana State (Nov.
17), Eastern Oregon (Dec. 2), Incarnate Word (Dec. 9), and Cornell (Dec. 31) still to come.
New Mexico State enters at No. 131 in KenPom, and Gonzaga is 1-0 all-time against the Aggies after an 80-68 win in 2013. On paper, this should be a much easier night than the season opener against No.
2 Purdue. But there are still a few things worth tracking when the teams tip at 2:00 PM.
One of the biggest is whether Gonzaga’s first regular-season college basketball minutes come for any of the six players on the roster who have never played in a game like this before. That group includes redshirts Parker Jefferson and Alonzo Metz, along with freshmen Luca Foster, Sam Funches, Juwan Ekanga, and walk-on Carter Nilson.
None of them got into Monday’s win over Purdue, when Few used a very tight eight-man rotation. Saturday’s matchup could finally open the door, especially if the game gets out of hand late. Jefferson looks like the strongest candidate to make his debut after putting together a strong exhibition against Lewis-Clark State, where he scored 12 points on 6-9 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
Foster and Ekanga also appear likely to see the floor, with both in the mix for the ninth spot in the rotation as long as Chauncey Wiggins remains ineligible. Funches, Metz, and Nilson may have to wait for garbage time, depending on how the game unfolds.
Another key subplot sits inside Gonzaga’s frontcourt, where Izan Almansa has been the early headline while Massamba Diop’s role has become a real point of interest. Almansa has been better than Diop in every exhibition and regular-season game so far, largely because Diop has had trouble staying out of foul trouble.
The 7-foot-1 big man gives Gonzaga elite rim protection and size, but he has also spent too much time on the bench because of whistles. Few’s cautious approach has made some of that understandable against physical teams like Arkansas and Purdue, yet Diop also picked up avoidable fouls against Lewis-Clark State. If that happens again Saturday, it will be hard for fans not to notice.
Almansa and Huff give Gonzaga a strong front line, but Diop’s presence is still a major piece of the puzzle if this team is going to reach its ceiling. His size and shot-blocking matter, and the Zags need him available.
Then there’s Nathan de Sousa, whose first run with Gonzaga was a roller coaster. Against Arkansas, the French point guard played 33 minutes in place of Davis Fogle and went 2-17 from the field and 1-8 from three. Against Purdue, he looked much more settled in 17 minutes, taking on a smaller role and concentrating on defense and ball movement instead of trying to replace Fogle’s scoring.
That kind of adjustment matters this early. Saturday should give de Sousa another chance to handle the ball more and keep building toward the point guard duties Gonzaga may need from him later. The goal is for him to be useful without having to force shots every time down the floor.
Gonzaga and New Mexico State tip at 2:00 PM PT on Saturday, Nov. 7. The game will air locally on KHQ and stream on ESPN Unlimited.
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