TIMME’S TIME

Rasir Bolton, Nolan Hickman and Julian Strawther fueled GU to the key road wins.

On Jan. 14, Gonzaga made 17 threes, the second-most under Few, and Malachi Smith scored a season-high 27 points with seven three-pointers in a 115-75 win over Portland. A pair of back-toback impressive individual efforts followed on the road. At Pacific, Timme scored a career-high 38 points, making a conference season-high 17 shots from the field. At Portland, Strawther scored a career-high 40 points with eight threes. It was the most points by a Zag since 2016.

If there is a Mount Rushmore of Gonzaga Greats, Drew Timme would most certainly need to be on it. The native of Dallas, Texas, made Spokane his over the last four years, rewriting the Bulldog record books, making thousands of fans with his contagious personality.

A three-time All-American selection, Timme finished his Gonzaga career as a consensus First Team All-American in 2022-23. He was a Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award Finalist, along with Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award National Player of the Year Finalists.

coach because he was tough. And they talk about butting heads. We didn’t butt heads that much. He’s tough. He loves to compete. I love to compete. We get it... It’s been quite a ride. I hope everybody remembers him for the great competitor he was and just the awesome player he was.” the past four seasons, going 58-4 in West Coast Conference play with four league regular season titles and four WCC Tournament titles.

In his senior season in 2022-23, Timme became GU’s all-time leading scorer and ended with 2,307 points. His 896 career rebounds rank fourth and his 115 blocks are eighth all-time in program history. He was named the 2021 Karl Malone Award winner.

“I’m just so thankful that the program and the place took me for who I was,” Timme said. “They didn’t ask me to be anybody but myself. And just so appreciative for the program and just the people, the fans that just watched me grow up and just become the man I am today. And I’m forever in debt for Gonzaga, just the love I have for just everyone that helped me and made this journey so special and so fun. I just don’t think I could ever repay that.

Mark Few and Drew Timme each exhaled and gave each other a celebratory hug on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln sitting in the North San Diego Bay. The Zags just rallied and then held off a buzzer-beating shot from Michigan State to win the 2022 Armed Forces Classic, 64-63, in front of 1.48 million viewers on ESPN — the largest audience for the event since 2016.

A Top-5 clash inside the Spokane Arena on Nov. 20 was another key building block early in the season. The first of a six-game series with Kentucky broke the all-time attendance record at the Spokane Arena as 12,333 people watched the Bulldogs roll to an 88-72 victory. A trio of Zags finished with 20-point performances in the win.

After beating Washington for the seventh straight time on Dec. 9, Gonzaga picked up its second win this season over a No. 4 ranked team beating Alabama. In front of a sold-out crowd of 15,847 fans in Birmingham, Ala., the Bulldogs led for 31 minutes and won 100-90. In the second half against the Crimson Tide, the Zags scored 53 points, shot 74.1 percent from the field (including 66.7 percent from three-point range), and scored 1.43 points per possession. Six Bulldogs finished in double-digit scoring. GU forced 21 turnovers and made 12 steals. The Crimson Tide ended up cruising to the SEC title and earning the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Zags’ first three road games of the West Coast Conference season were unforgettable. In a thrilling three-game slate, all victories, Gonzaga trailed by 12 at San Francisco, 14 at Santa Clara and 10 at Brigham Young. The Bulldogs were behind 50-38 at the 18:36 mark of the second half at USF, and 68-58 with 4:56 left at BYU. Late heroic shots from

Following an overtime setback at Saint Mary’s, GU reeled off 12 straight wins, including a 108-65 victory at Loyola Marymount. The Bulldogs never gave the sold-out crowd a chance to get into the game jumping out to a 15-4 lead at the first media timeout, which stretched to 32-10 by the second media. Gonzaga went on a 20-0 run in the opening half and led by 40 points at halftime, 68-28.

In front of a raucous packed Kennel on Feb. 25, the Zags clinched a share of their 11th straight conference regular season title with a 77-68 win over No. 15 Saint Mary’s. GU closed the regular season with a 104-65 win over Chicago State on Senior Night. It was the eighth 100-point game of the season for the Bulldogs, a new program record. The Zags led by

Timme was the West Coast Conference Player of the Year in 2021-22 and 202223. He led the West Coast Conference averaging 21.4 points per game and shooting 61.6 percent from the field this season.

“I think he’s one of the greatest college players in this modern era,” Mark Few said of Timme. “If you look at how much he’s won during his career, and he’s won at the highest level. He’s produced...He’s a bigger-than-life character. Like he said, he was himself the whole time here. It was a blast to coach him. He was easy to

The Dallas, Texas native has scored more points than any other Zag in the NCAA Tournament (301), while grabbing the most rebounds as well (110). In his 13 NCAA Tournament games, he made 121 of his 202 shots from the field, both the most in program history.

Timme helped GU qualify for four NCAA Tournaments and has been a key piece to three straight trips to the Sweet 16, two Elite Eights, and an appearance in the national championship game. The Zags have won a national best 121 games over

“And while this ride might not have ended how we wanted it to, it’s more about the journey, the relationships, the good, the bad, the ugly. That’s what makes these things so emotional is how much you put into something. And I’d do anything for Gonzaga. I always will. This isn’t a goodbye; it’s a see you later. I always want to be around the program, Coach. It’s a special place. It’s a special program. And I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. I loved it here.” as many as 44 points, scoring 62 in the second half. Gonzaga shot 60.7 percent from the field, including 23-for-31 (74.2 percent) in the second half.

The Bulldogs won their fourth consecutive WCC Tournament with wins over San Francisco (84-73) and Saint Mary’s (77-51) in Las Vegas. Gonzaga improved to 51-5 in the event under Few and appeared in its 26th straight conference tournament championship game.

In its 24th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, Gonzaga won its opening game in the event for the 14th straight season, which is the second-longest active streak in the nation, beating Grand Canyon 82-70. In the second round, the Zags trailed by as many as 10 to Texas Christian, and by five at halftime, before rallying for an 84-81 win. The victory extended the country’s longest active Sweet 16 streak to eight straight appearances for the Bulldogs.

A showdown with UCLA awaited Gonzaga in Las Vegas in the Sweet 16. The Bruins and Zags added to their epic March finishes with this season’s NCAA West Regional Semifinal. UCLA led by 13 points at halftime and seemed poised for a trip to the Elite Eight, but a second half rally that gave GU a 10-point lead with

2:40 remaining in regulation looked to be enough for the Bulldogs. The Bruins countered with a 14-3 run capped by a three-pointer to give them the lead with 14 seconds left. Timme matched the program record for most points in a NCAA Tournament game with 36, but it was Strawther that made his mark in the Zag March memories. The junior’s long three just over half-court with seven seconds on the game clock that put Gonzaga ahead for good. The West Coast clash drew 6.13 million viewers on television.

The Zags ran into the eventual national champion UConn in the West Regional Final. It was GU’s sixth Elite Eight appearance, with five coming in the last eight tournaments. The Bulldogs have the most wins in the tournament since 2017, going 20-5, Kansas is next at 16-4. GU’s 25 wins in the tournament since 2015 are also the most, with Villanova and North Carolina second at 21.

Playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules, the Bulldogs won 31 of their 37 games. Gonzaga clinched the program’s eighth 30-win season, with the previous seven being in the last 10 years, while also clinching its 16th straight 25-win season, which is now the NCAA Div. 1 record.

For the fifth straight season, the Zags led the country in scoring at 86.1 points per game, and for the fourth consecutive season, GU led the nation in field goal percentage shooting 52.1 percent from the field in 2022-23.

The Zags’ 132 straight AP Poll appearances top the nation, with Houston second at 63. The Bulldogs’ 132 consecutive appearances in the Top 25 is 12th all-time in the poll’s history. Gonzaga is the only program in the country to appear in every AP poll since 2017. The Zags have finished in the Top-10 in each of the last seven final AP polls, the only program in the nation to accomplish that feat.

“We’ve just got a tremendous run of great players like these guys,” Few said following the Elite Eight game. “They’re winners. We’ve had a great run of winners. As I told them in the locker room, I mean, personally, I think this is 24 years of being a head coach, I’ve never had a team get this much better over the course of a year. I mean, from where we were in November to where we were two hours ago was just an incredible journey and a bunch of fun, because they were coachable and willing to work and willing to do what we asked them. So they deserve all the credit.”

A Morning Of Memories

After a nine-year wait, ESPN’s premier college basketball show, College GameDay returned to the McCarthey Athletic Center on Feb. 25. The Zags’ top-20 matchup with Saint Mary’s was the showcase game, and the sixth time GU was a part of the show.

Nearly 4,000 fans woke up for the 7 a.m. start time of the show. It was easily the largest crowd the show had this season.

“It was the best crowd of the season by far,” Davis said. “Not to disparage the others, but it was the biggest and the loudest. And it’s the best one in the last several years. I mean, we’re appreciative to everybody that comes out. They really come out in support and show out, and that’s what these guys did.”

The crowd began to take shape at 6 a.m. when the doors opened for hundreds of students who had been in line for more than an hour.

As they began to pour in, the first couple of dozen flocked to the front row behind the GameDay desk.

The student section overflowed into neighboring sections before the general public piled around the students 15 minutes later.

Gonzaga clinched a share of the program’s 26th West Coast Conference regular season title, and for the 11th straight season, later that night with a win over Saint Mary’s.

The NCAA’s ‘Name, Image, Likeness’ (NIL) policy now allows all student-athletes to explore new opportunities and maximize their personal brand. The Zags Collective embraces this in a way that is uniquely Gonzaga: driven by values, commitment to service, and a tradition of considering the needs of the community and the world. The NIL policy allows studentathletes to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit and pursue new opportunities that elevate their personal brand and increase exposure to causes, companies, or organizations they care about.

With General Manager Nate Brown and former GU basketball great Matt Santangelo leading the charge, Zags Collective is a fan-driven and alumni-led NIL collective for Gonzaga University student-athletes, alumni, and fans. The mission of Zags Collective is to inspire and grow our student-athletes as well-rounded people, to support the charities and nonprofits we partner with, and improve the community. The

Zags Collective amplifies an avenue that supports Gonzaga student athletes’ community engagement and helps them give back in impactful ways by aligning their passions with the needs of local nonprofit organizations.

Zags Collective is a third-party organization, not affiliated with Gonzaga University. However, Zags Collective’s leadership is comprised, in part, by Gonzaga University alumni and former professional athletes dedicated to creating a program that exclusively benefits the student-athletes, fans, and businesses in the community.

First it was ESPN Senior Director of Communications Bill Hofheimer, who tweeted 15 minutes into the program that it was, “Hands down, the best College Gameday basketball crowd of the year.”

“The best atmosphere we’ve had. You guys were tremendous,” Gameday personality Seth Greenberg said.

Rece Davis, the show’s host, followed that by echoing the same sentiment after he took a few photos with students and fans.