Gonzaga schedules multi-year series with Big East team

While Creighton and Gonzaga have yet to make an official announcement, it's looking like Spokane is going to be a hub for some intriguing nonconference matchups during the first week of the college basketball season. With Oklahoma reportedly visiting town on Nov. 8, the earliest known games on the Zags' schedule are against two NCAA Tournament teams across a four-day span.

Gonzaga could schedule a game with another opponent for its season-opener at some point in the near future — Nov. 3 is technically the start date for the 2025-26 regular season. Four of the Zags' six known standalone matchups have locations and dates, though return games against Arizona State and Baylor are still in need of finalizing. Matchups against Kentucky (Dec. 5 in Nashville, Tennessee) and UCLA (Dec. 13 in Seattle) have been confirmed, giving the Bulldogs a loaded slate of nonleague matchups against foes from the Big East, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC.

Gonzaga is also set to participate in the Players Era Festival during the week of Thanksgiving to come for a huge NIL payout against some of the other biggest brands of the sport. In addition to the six teams that played in the 2024 field — Houston, Alabama, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Creighton, Oregon, Texas A&M and San Diego State — another 10 have been added to the 2025 field, including Auburn, Baylor, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan, St. John's, Syracuse, Tennessee and Saint Joseph's. Brackets and game times haven't been released yet.

Creighton is coming off its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance under Greg McDermott, finishing the 2024-25 campaign 25-11 overall and second in the Big East standings with a 15-5 record in league play. The 9-seeded Bluejays eliminated Louisville in the first round before bowing out to Final Four-bound Auburn in the second round.

Creighton lost its top three scorers in Ryan Kalkbrenner (19.2 ppg), Steven Ashworth (16.4 ppg) and Jamiya Neal (12.0 ppg) this offseason, but McDermott and his staff have brought in quite a haul via the transfer portal to replace their outgoing talent.

The Bluejays' incoming transfer class — ranked No. 13 in the country according to EvanMiya — includes 6-foot-10 forward Owen Freeman (16.7 ppg at Iowa in 2024-25), 6-foot-5 guard Josh Dix (14.4 ppg at Iowa), 6-foot-3 guard Nik Graves (17.5 ppg at Charlotte), 6-foot-5 guard Blake Harper (19.5 ppg at Howard) and 6-foot-4 guard Austin Swartz (5.9 ppg at Miami).

Creighton is ranked No. 24 in Rothstein's daily offseason rankings, three spots behind Gonzaga at No. 21.

The Zags have won the last three head-to-head matchups against the Bluejays, including an 83-65 win in the Sweet 16 round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Creighton last visited Spokane in December 2017, when Gonzaga pulled away for a 91-74 victory behind a trio of 20-point performances from Killian Tillie (22 points), Silas Melson (21 points) and Zach Norvell Jr. (21 points).

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