Gonzaga’s Non-Conference Gauntlet Leaves Zero Room for Excuses

In a college basketball era shaped by portal turnover and NIL economics, preseason predictions often resemble astrology more than analytics. The conditions that shape March’s success now begin as early as November and December. And for programs outside the Power 5, the margins are unforgiving. A soft early schedule does not always seem dangerous at first, but by March, a résumé built on shallow footing can quietly sink a tournament seed.

Mark Few has never been scheduled for comfort. Each year, Gonzaga builds one of the nation’s toughest non-conference slates, and although it often comes with turbulence as teams begin to gel, it is never wasted when it comes to lessons learned. It is a blueprint meant to cultivate poise, demand growth, and reveal flaws in time to fix them. That same philosophy holds in 2025–26, Gonzaga’s final campaign in the WCC and possibly its most strategically constructed non-conference schedule to date.

This year’s slate features elite opponents, neutral-site tournaments, tough road trips, and timely resets. Compared to last season, it also reflects a sharper understanding of what matters most and when it must be cultivated. Gonzaga is not scheduling this year for headlines. It’s scheduled for answers.

Let’s take a closer look.

Big Names, Bigger Questions, and the Right Kind of Answers

The 2025–26 non-conference slate is designed to stretch Gonzaga’s identity early and often. Ten games. Seven top-45 opponents. Three games in three days in Las Vegas. And one final opportunity to prove that the WCC never limited Gonzaga’s ability to prepare for March. If the Zags want strong metrics, they will have to earn them early and often. If they want the kind of seeding leverage that eluded them in March, this is how they will get it.

The season opens with a punishing first week. Gonzaga will face Oklahoma, Creighton, and Arizona State, three high-major programs with very different systems. Oklahoma brings length, tempo, and guard depth. Creighton executes a pristine half-court attack that can shred soft rotations and poorly timed frontcourt help. Arizona State, rebuilt through the portal, features Pepperdine transfer Moe Odum and former Gonzaga commit Marcus Adams Jr., both of whom will arrive with something to prove. There is also the Adam Miller subplot; the recent Gonzaga signee spent the last two seasons at ASU and will now start for Gonzaga in his return to Tempe.

The toughest stretch arrives in Las Vegas. Gonzaga opens the Players Era Festival against Alabama, a team the Zags split games with in recent years. Both meetings soared past 180 total points. Maryland follows the next night, a Big Ten roster with size and a new identity under Buzz Williams. If Gonzaga starts 2–0, it will enter a top-tier pool for the following night with opponents like Kansas, Baylor, Tennessee, Auburn, Houston, Michigan, or Oregon. The third matchup will be decided by point differential and other tiebreakers, yet another opportunity for Gonzaga to establish metrics early and leverage their performance for positive results. Even if the Zags lose early, each game in Vegas carries real tournament weight.

From there, the road leads to Nashville for the latest installment of the Kentucky series. Last season, Kentucky outlasted Gonzaga in Seattle. This time, the Bulldogs will have a brand new look defensively. After that comes UCLA, perhaps the most complete team on the schedule according to preseason metrics. With top-10 buzz and Mick Cronin finally coaching a roster that fits his style, the Bruins bring size, cohesion, and a backcourt that can dictate pace. This game could set the tone for how the national media perceives Gonzaga all season.

Even Campbell, the lone buy game currently confirmed, serves a clear purpose. It allows the team to recover and refocus before WCC play begins. That kind of reset was missing last year, when a backloaded stretch of uncompetitive games prior to conference play did no favors to Gonzaga’s tournament résumé.

In every way, this schedule reflects what changed after last season. The 2024-25 team was built around offensive firepower. The 2025-26 roster leans into depth, defense, and positional versatility. The bench rotation alone could be the most disruptive unit Few has coached. Emanuel Innocenti brings elite defensive instincts on the perimeter. Jalen Warley arrives as a proven ACC defender with length and physicality. Ismaila Diagne, projected to take on a larger role in the post, flashes rim protection few Gonzaga bigs have ever shown in such limited minutes. If Tyon Grant-Foster receives clearance (and he will… right?), Few will have a 6-foot-7 wing who can guard all five spots. This team’s ceiling depends on how well it can defend when the offense sputters, something last year’s team only figured out in late January. Reaching that ceiling requires exposure to teams that force defensive execution and the physicality necessary to compete with teams outside the WCC.

Last year’s schedule brought marquee names, but the lessons came slowly. This year’s schedule demands hard truths right away. Every game will show Gonzaga something worth fixing. And the Zags will have time to fix it.

More Tests, Better Timing, and a New Kind of Team

The 2024–25 season began with a demolition of No. 7 Baylor, then drifted into inconsistency. Tough losses came. So did inexplicable ones, and by the time Gonzaga hit its stride, the résumé had already hardened. Despite excellent metrics, the seed line sagged come Selection Sunday.

This season should follow a different arc. The 2025–26 roster is defined by switchability, versatility, and defensive depth. Few will not need to rely on a single lineup to change momentum. If things go sideways, he has a second unit that can smother opponents without scoring a point. That kind of flexibility did not exist last year.

By the time the Zags had figured out how to play defense last season, the best non-conference opponents had already come and gone, and unfortunately, most of them had underperformed. Those early-season struggles against teams that turned out to just not be as good as they were supposed to be shaped the optics of the postseason in ways the Zags had no recourse for.

This year’s schedule does not offer that risk. Alabama, Creighton, Baylor, UCLA, and Kentucky bring tournament pedigree and legitimate firepower. Each of them will test Gonzaga in a different way. Each of them will force the defense to evolve and the offense to execute on the fly. From transition defense to zone recovery to closeouts in space, the stress tests will come from all angles and against teams that do very few things the same way offensively. Gonzaga does not need to win them all, but it needs to respond to them correctly and in real time.

Early Work, Late Payoff

Gonzaga’s decision to stack its non-conference schedule with elite, high-stakes matchups becomes even more critical given the timing of Mario Saint-Supery’s arrival. The dynamic guard, one of the program’s most intriguing new pieces, won’t officially join the team until September, limiting his integration window ahead of a brutal opening stretch. That places greater urgency on the rest of the roster to find chemistry quickly, especially in the backcourt, and raises the stakes for every early-season test. High-major opponents like Alabama, Creighton, and Maryland will force Gonzaga to establish rotations, communication patterns, and defensive cohesion without the luxury of a soft runway. In that context, the non-conference slate becomes less about résumé-building and more about survival training, a proving ground for the pieces already in place to shoulder responsibility before Saint-Supery finds his footing.

Last year’s team found the answers, but the timing came too late. This year’s group begins with a head start and different tools, poised with an opportunity to announce themselves as Mark Few’s strongest defensive team in years. Unlike previous years, Gonzaga’s final run through the WCC will not determine its postseason seeding. That work will take place in November and December, when a demanding non-conference slate forces the team to confront its identity early. If things go according to plan, the Zags will not spend January searching for who they are. They will be sharpening what they already know.