The Gonzaga men’s basketball team hosts Warner Pacific, an NAIA school from Portland, Oregon, in its final exhibition game before the start of the 2024-25 regular season.

The Bulldogs lost their first exhibition game to USC 96-93 last week in Palm Desert, California. Arkansas graduate Khalif Battle led the way with 20 points, while five Gonzaga players scored in double figures. The scoring outburst wasn’t enough to defeat a hot Trojans team, however, as USC shot more than 65% from the field in the second half to hold off a feisty Bulldogs team that nearly pulled off an 11-point rout in the final minutes. would have made up for the deficit.

Mark Few and Co. used the exhibition format to experiment with rotation patterns, as 11 different Bulldogs lined up for the exhibition game against the Trojans.

“We mixed guys in and out,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said after the game. “I was just trying to get certain minutes for the guys, Nolan played well… that’s what you gotta do in a tournament, man. “We’ll figure it out. That’s going to change over the course of this year, we’ve got a lot of guys that are kind of all… huddled together, in the same (tier), not head-to-shoulders on top of each other. So there will be a lot of that.”

The Bulldogs welcome a Knights squad that returned just five players from last season’s 5-23 squad that finished next to last in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. However, four of those holdovers finished in the team’s top six in scoring, led by junior guard Matt Solomon. With 18.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in the 2023/24 season, the 1.90 meter tall graduate student received honorable mention.

Here are the live updates from Wednesday night’s exhibition at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

FIRST HALF:

Gonzaga 49, Warner Pacific 22 (3:36): While the Knights went almost four minutes without a basket, the Bulldogs took full advantage of a few additional opportunities on turnovers and went on a 15-0 winning run.

Gonzaga 40, Warner Pacific 22 (6:38): The Zags turned up the pressure even more to force the Knights into consecutive turnovers, which led to an easy dunk for Ajayi in transition, followed by a not-so-smooth finish from Nembhard. The senior guard failed to land the one-handed flush smoothly, although the ball still reached the bottom of the net.

Gonzaga 29, Warner Pacific 19: Ike got his second basket of the night in transition as the Bulldogs’ defense clamped down with a full-court press to unsettle the Knights.

Gonzaga 21, Warner Pacific 17 (11:57): A few live-ball turnovers led to easy baskets for the Knights, who started 4 of 9 from behind the arc after consecutive three-pointers from Terrin Dickey and Solomon. Gonzaga responded with a three-pointer from Stromer on the other end.

Gonzaga 14, Warner Pacific 8 (14:59): The Bulldogs entered the first media timeout of the half with a 6-point lead over the Knights when Hickman scored seven points early to get the ball rolling for the Zags. Matt Solomon drilled a 3-pointer out of the gate for Warner Pacific.

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