Baylor, Gonzaga to play nonconference basketball game on Dec. 2

The Baylor Bears defeated the Gonzaga Bulldogs 86–70 to win the 2021 men's college basketball title. Those two sides will meet for a rematch later this year. 

According to Jeff Borzello of ESPN, Baylor and Gonzaga will face off on Dec. 2 in a nonconference game at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The schools last played a regular-season contest in 2012 but had a 2020 nonconference game scrapped because of issues related to COVID-19.

"I'm really excited for this early-season matchup against one of the sport's premier teams," Baylor coach Scott Drew remarked. "Baylor basketball has so much respect for Coach [Mark] Few and the entire Gonzaga program, and we share the same scheduling philosophy about testing ourselves early in the season. This will be a terrific event for college basketball in one of the game's most unique venues at the Sanford Pentagon."

"We're excited to play such a talented opponent in a great venue," Few added in a Gonzaga press release. "We have tremendous respect for Coach Drew and his program. A game like this showcases college basketball and we thank Lea Miller-Tooley and the Sanford Pentagon for helping put it together."

For a piece published earlier on Tuesday, Borzello ranked Gonzaga No. 6 and Baylor No. 7 in his "way too early top 25."