Pacific Tigers @ Gonzaga Bulldogs

Game Time: Saturday, December 1st at 5:00PM

Gonzaga will be courting a new rivalry this Saturday evening when the Pacific Tigers come into the McCarthey Athletic Center to face the perennial big dogs of their future conference. At first glance, this matchup isn’t as attractive as some of our other preseason games this year. However, with Pacific set to join the WCC for the 2013-2014 season, Saturday night’s game becomes a must see for any Gonzaga fan.  

Although Pacific may not be a household name, they have been one of the more consistent teams in the Big West for the past 15 years under Head Coach Bob Thomason. Thomason is in his 25th and final season at his alma mater, and has brought his team to the NCAA tournament four times. At one point, they were flirting with Cinderella to become the next mid-major power. The Tigers went to the NCAA tournament in three consecutive seasons from 2004-2006 with wins over Big East members Providence and Pittsburgh. The team from Stockton, CA has dropped off slightly since 2006 and hasn’t returned since, but Pacific is still a competitive team that is looking to put up a big season in Thomason’s last year before retirement. The Zags are facing a well-coached team this weekend, and in my opinion, a well-suited program to join the WCC even if they are losing their long time head coach. 

Though Pacific enters the Kennel with a 3-3 record, this team should not be overlooked. They have two quality wins over Xavier and WCC foe St. Mary’s. Two of their three losses have been close with a 5 point loss at Fresno State and a 2 point loss against Oral Roberts, a team that came into the Kennel a year ago and put up a quality fight against the Zags (GU won 67-61). Their only blowout loss was to a very strong California team in the championship of the DirecTV Classic. Look for the Tigers to try and bounce back from their 20 point loss to the Golden Bears.

    Sr. Guard Lorenzo McCloud

Pacific is a team that doesn’t have any explosive scorers, but rather a well-balanced scoring attack with 7 players averaging over 5.7 ppg. Two of these players, 6’0 Sr. guard Lorenzo McCloud (11.7 ppg, 3.5 apg) and 6’7 Jr. forward Ross Rivera (10.2 ppg) are the best options on offense. Look for Gary Bell Jr. to mark McCloud while Elias Harris and Guy Edi Landry take turns guarding Ross Rivera. Other notable players are Sr. Guard Collin Beatty and Sr. Forward Travis Fulton who both lead the team with 4.5 rpg each. Gonzaga should be able to dominate Pacific on the boards as Gonzaga has been easily beating all of its opponents in that category thus far in this season.  

This is a game that Gonzaga should be able to handle fairly easy. They outmatch Pacific in almost every category, and the depth of the Zags, proved by Thursday night’s performance over LC-State, will be difficult for any team this year.