How to watch Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. Kentucky Wildcats: TV channel, preview for men’s college basketball game

Posted by Admin December 7, 2024 Basketball

The No. 7 Gonzaga Bulldogs are set to venture across the state for a highly-anticipated clash with the No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Saturday.

The battle of 7-1 programs marks the fourth all-time meeting between the Zags and Wildcats, who’ve met in each of the past three seasons (including Saturday’s game) as part of a six-year nonconference series that the two schools arranged in August 2022. Mark Few and company came out victorious in the last two meetings, as they beat the then-No. 4 team in the country, 88-72, in Spokane in 2022 and then pulled off a thrilling 89-85 upset over the No. 17 team at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, last February.

About two months following that game John Calipari traded in his Wildcat blue for cardinal red, as the future Hall-of-Fame coach and close friend of Few’s announced he was leaving Kentucky to join SEC rival Arkansas in April. That paved a path for former Wildcat player and ex-BYU coach, Mark Pope, to make his return to Lexington and helm the men’s basketball program.

Luckily for college hoops fans, the change in leadership didn’t break up the scheduling agreement Gonzaga and Kentucky had put together under the previous regime. Part three of these two nationally recognized programs features two coaches who are well familiar with one another and have rosters teeming with experience. Not to mention, two high-potent offenses are set to take the floor.

The Wildcats (92.9 points per game) and the Bulldogs (90.4 points) rank among the top five scoring offenses in the country through the first month of the season. Gonzaga is No. 2 in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom. Kentucky is 13th in that category and converts 601.% of its 2-point attempts, 10th-best in the country.

A total of 10 players enter the matchup averaging double-figures in scoring for their respective teams. Wildcats senior guard Otega Oweh paces his squad at 16.0 points per game on 54.2% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range. San Diego State transfer Lamont Butler chips in 12.9 points on 55.1% from the floor, while Dayton transfer Koby Brea lights it up from behind the arc to the tune of 60.5% on 5.4 attempts from 3-point range per game.

For the Zags, senior Graham Ike (13.8 points), sixth-year guard Khalif Battle (13.5 points) and redshirt sophomore Braden Huff (13.5 points) lead a balanced offensive attack that rarely gets in its own way. With senior guard Ryan Nembhard at the helm, Gonzaga boasts the fifth-lowest turnover rate in the country (12.9%) and ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.12). Through eight games, Nembhard’s 86 assists are the most in the sport.

On the other end of the floor, both teams rank among the top 25 in defensive efficiency and have been stingy about giving up 3-point opportunities. The final result could weigh heavily on whichever frontcourt is able to dictate the flow of the game through the paint.

Saturday’s game also marks a homecoming for Seattle area natives Michael Ajayi and Nolan Hickman. Ajayi, a Kent native, attended Kentwood High School, located about 28 miles south of Climate Pledge. Hickman played at Eastside Catholic in Sammamish, which is about a 40-minute drive west of Seattle, before finishing his high school career at Wasatch Academy in Utah. Gonzaga assistant coach R-Jay Barsh is from the Tacoma area and has coached in just about every gym at both the high school and JUCO levels across Pierce County and King County.

Pope is also making a return to the Pacific Northwest, where he started his college basketball playing career at the University of Washington (1991-1993) before he transferred to Kentucky, where he won a national championship with the Wildcats in 1996.