Gonzaga’s exhibition against Western Oregon comes with a direct line back to Mark Few’s earliest coaching days. Western Oregon’s new head coach, Ryan Orton, is the son of Doug Orton—the high school coach who hired Few for his very first coaching job at Creswell High in the mid-1980s. Few ran the freshman team under Doug Orton, and that connection is what ultimately brought this game onto Gonzaga’s schedule. It’s a nod to a shared coaching lineage more than a competitive matchup.
On the floor, Western Oregon is rebuilding from the bottom. The Wolves went 5-23 last season and finished 2-16 in the GNAC, struggling offensively and cycling through lineups in search of stability. Division II teams rarely challenge Gonzaga physically, and this one won’t either. The real intrigue lies in Gonzaga’s rotations, pace, and on-court chemistry with just one short week until the season opener against Texas Southern.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Oct 27 at the McCarthey Athletic Center, with the game airing on KHQ and streaming regionally through SWX. Radio coverage and live stats will be available through Gonzaga’s standard broadcast outlets
Here are a few storylines to keep track of…
1. Tyon Grant(ed) Waiver?
The most pressing storyline in Zagville has nothing to do with Western Oregon and everything to do with a courtroom in Spokane. Tyon Grant-Foster’s injunction hearing is scheduled for Monday afternoon, just a few hours before tipoff, and the ruling will most likely determine whether he is eligible to play this season. The timing creates a strange backdrop for the exhibition, with fans more plugged into legal filings than lineups.
Grant-Foster has battled through obstacles few athletes ever face, and the NCAA has delayed this process far beyond reason. There is a slim possibility that, if things are resolved quickly, he could suit up against Western Oregon. Whether that happens or not, this hearing has become the emotional center of Gonzaga’s preseason. The exhibition is a preview of the roster, but the hearing is a referendum on one player’s right to be part of it.
2. Can Davis Fogle Do It Again?
Davis Fogle looked like the best player on the floor in Gonzaga’s first exhibition, finishing with 18 points in under 21 minutes and showcasing a polished mid-range arsenal, advanced footwork, and a scoring instinct that popped immediately. Nothing about his performance felt tentative or developmental. He looked ready.
Tyon Grant-Foster deserves to play because he is an elite talent who has fought through more adversity than any player in the sport. Steele Venters brings shooting this roster cannot afford to leave on the bench. Yet if Fogle delivers another dominant outing against Western Oregon, it becomes very difficult to limit his role. The storyline is not who loses minutes. It is how quickly Gonzaga might have another star on its hands.
Mark Few used Jalen Warley primarily at the four in the Northwest exhibition, and it worked. Warley defended, rebounded, facilitated, and played with a physical maturity that immediately elevated the second unit. His ability to guard bigger wings and initiate offense from the high post gave Gonzaga a completely different look in the frontcourt.
But Warley is not a true four. He has guard skills, ACC experience in the backcourt, and the versatility to check perimeter scorers. Against Western Oregon, the question is whether Few experiments with him at the two or three and tests his ability to anchor the defense from the wing. Gonzaga needs an elite stopper on the perimeter. Warley looks ready to claim that role.
4. The Point Guard Arms Race
Gonzaga has two point guards who could not be more stylistically opposite, and that is exactly what makes this rotation so fascinating. Braden Smith controls tempo with precision, keeps the offense organized, and plays with a veteran understanding of pace and spacing. Mario Saint-Supery thrives in disruption. He hunts gaps, turns broken plays into scoring chances, and changes the rhythm of the game with sheer audacity.
The question is not who starts. It is how Mark Few layers their skills together. Will Saint-Supery be trusted to run his own unit, or will he share the floor with Smith in an off-ball role to apply pressure on both ends? If this exhibition is treated as a test case, the backcourt could be the most fluid position group on the roster. The styles clash on paper but could blend into one of the most dynamic guard duos Gonzaga has had in years.
5. Can Ismaila Diagne Stay on the Floor?
Ismaila Diagne completely altered Gonzaga’s defensive identity in the Northwest exhibition. His length shut down driving lanes, his presence on the glass was overwhelming, and he looked like a true rim deterrent the moment he checked in. In just 15 minutes he grabbed eight rebounds and changed multiple shots at the rim.
He also picked up three fouls in that same stretch. Diagne’s ability to stay on the floor will determine how fresh Graham Ike and Braden Huff remain throughout games. If he can manage his fouls, Gonzaga can rotate three high-level bigs and maintain the most dominant frontcourt in the country for all 40 minutes. If he cannot, the Zags lose their defensive safety valve and their margin for error tightens quickly. This exhibition offers another early read on whether his discipline can match his impact.
6. The Innocenti Variable
Emmanuel Innocenti did not see the floor in the Northwest exhibition due to a minor injury, leaving his role in the rotation completely undefined heading into this matchup. Few has praised his defensive instincts and physicality, and there is a clear path for him to come off the bench as a stopper on the wing. The question is how much offensive responsibility he will be trusted with and alongside which guard he functions best.
Innocenti’s value lies in his ability to change games defensively without disrupting the offensive flow. If he proves he can keep the ball moving and stay connected within the system, he becomes a critical piece in perimeter-heavy lineups. This exhibition should offer the first real glimpse at how Few plans to use him and who shares the floor with him when it happens.
This game will not tell us how good Gonzaga can become, but it will show how ready they are to begin that climb (and who we can expect to be part of it). Western Oregon offers the kind of low-stakes opponent where experimentation becomes insight and where individual flashes begin to form a picture of what this team might look like when the games start to really matter. The storylines are plentiful, the depth is real, and the stakes—while unofficial—are meaningful for every player fighting to carve out a role. The season arrives in one week. This is where the momentum starts.
