Gonzaga’s first meeting with LSU brings a roster full of familiar names and a frontcourt challenge that could test the Bulldogs right away.
Mark Few’s team will see Will Wade’s Tigers on Saturday afternoon at the Spokane Arena, and while the programs have never met before, the coaches know each other well. Gonzaga knocked off Wade’s McNeese squad 86-65 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
Both teams enter unbeaten, but LSU’s early numbers come with some context. The Tigers have rolled past New Orleans, Texas Southern, and LA Tech by 43, 41, and 40 points, respectively. Those are eye-catching margins, though those opponents are currently ranked 285, 330, and 265 at KenPom.
The biggest reason LSU has looked so dangerous is the backcourt. Gonzaga fans will recognize Donovan Dent and Skyy Clark, who played together last season at UCLA. The Bulldogs beat that UCLA team 82-72 at Climate Pledge Arena, a game in which Dent posted 12 points, 10 assists, and three blocks, while Clark finished with eight points and five rebounds.
Dent has taken off for LSU. Through three games, he has 25 assists and only three turnovers, plus ten steals and seven blocks. Clark’s start has been quieter by comparison, as he’s averaging 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 31 minutes per game while shooting 1-16 from three.
That pairing gives LSU one of the more seasoned backcourts around, and it matters because the rest of the roster is still coming together.
One of the Tigers’ key additions is wing scorer Abdi Bashir Jr., who averaged 20.1 points per game at Monmouth in 2024-25 and put up 13.2 points while shooting 44.4% from three last year at Kansas State. This season, he’s hitting nearly 38% from deep on 9.7 attempts per game, and that kind of shooting can force Gonzaga’s defense to stretch. That puts extra pressure on Isiah Harwell and/or Davis Fogle to stay locked in on the perimeter.
LSU’s front line is a different story entirely: inexperienced in college basketball, but huge. Only one of the Tigers’ rotation bigs, Kentucky transfer Mo Dioubate, has CBB experience. The others arrived from the international game.
The headliner so far has been 18-year-old Croatian Michzel Ruzic, a 7-foot, 235-pound center who is averaging 15.7 points and 7.3 rebounds through three games. He has gone 20-for-21 on two-pointers, with most of those baskets coming as dunks or lay-ins at the rim.
LSU also has Saliou Niang and Brice Dessert. Niang, a 6-foot-7 forward from Senegal, was drafted No. 58 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 NBA draft out of Trento in Italy, but chose to start his college career at 22. He has already posted double-doubles in two of LSU’s three games and is averaging 11.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 3.3 steals.
Dessert is a 6-foot-11, 255-pound French big man who is 23 years old. He spent last season with Anadolu in Turkey and previously played for Strasbourg in France, where former Zag Ben Gregg is entering his second professional season.
That group of Ruzic, Dioubate, Niang, and Dessert gives LSU a frontcourt that should rank among the toughest Gonzaga sees all season. At the same time, the Tigers have yet to face a team of real note, which leaves some uncertainty about how that size will hold up.
For Gonzaga, the response starts inside. Massamba Diop, Braden Huff, and Izan Almansa will be central to the matchup against LSU’s size and physicality.
Almansa missed the home opener against New Mexico State with a calf injury, and Gonzaga needs him healthy and ready for major minutes. His experience and rebounding matter even more if Diop runs into foul trouble against a team that gets to the line often.
Another matchup worth watching is Donovan Dent against Xaivian Lee, two of the best fifth-year senior point guards in the country and two players Gonzaga was strongly connected to this offseason. Lee ended up in Spokane, and how he fares against Dent figures to be a talking point for Gonzaga fans no matter how Saturday goes.
Gonzaga and LSU tip at 12:30 PM PT on Nov. 14 at the Spokane Arena, with the game set for USA Network.
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