Portland stuns Gonzaga as Bulldogs lose to Pilots for first time since 2014

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs did not lose a single game in December or January, but fell in their first game of February, 87-80, on Wednesday against the Portland Pilots.

It was Gonzaga's first loss against Portland in 12 years and just GU's second loss of the season after they fell to Michigan in the Players Era Championship back on Nov. 26.

Gonzaga (22-2, 10-1) looked listless right from the opening tip, going down 15-5 early and never fully recovering. They took a brief 26-25 lead after a three from Mario Saint-Supery at the 6:55 mark, but the Pilots responded with a 14-7 run to head into the halftime locker room up 39-33.

Joel Foxwell was the star for Portland, scoring 13 points on 5-6 shooting from inside the arc in the first half, before he found his outside shot in the final 20 minutes to bury the Zags. He finished with 27 points and eight assists, continuing his very strong WCC Freshman of the Year campaign.

Below are three takeaways from Gonzaga's second loss of the 2025-26 season:

1. Defense couldn't get a stop

Foxwell and the Pilots were able to get way, way too many easy looks on Wednesday, thanks to an active offense that relied heavily on pick and pops and consistent ball movement. Gonzaga's defense - which has been outstanding over the past two weeks - looked flat all night long, resulting in the Pilots shooting a whopping 59% from the field, and 44% from three.

Every time Gonzaga got a hint of momentum, Portland countered with either an open three, an and-1, or, in one case, a four-point play from Cameron Williams early in the second half.

Foxwell was able to carve the Zags up all game long. After shooting 5-6 on twos, but 1-5 from 3, in the first half, Foxwell found his outside shot down the stretch, and that made it nearly impossible for Gonzaga to get back into this game.

The Zags will need to figure out what went wrong defensively in a hurry, with a road game against Oregon State on Saturday in Corvallis, where they lost last year in OT.

2. Gonzaga got beat on the glass

It took seven minutes and 19 seconds for Gonzaga to secure their first rebound of the game, with the Pilots grabbing the first six boards in what ended up being an all-around dominant performance on the glass.

Gonzaga got doubled up on the boards in the first half, 18-9, and finished with a deficit of five, 32-27. The Zags did grab 13 offensive rebounds on the night, but finished with just 16 second-chance points. The absence of Braden Huff certainly hurts Gonzaga on the boards, but Portland ranked 255th in the country in rebounds per game coming into the contest - and there's no reason, outside of effort, that they should have gotten beat on the glass in this one.

3. Shot selection

Gonzaga has been one of the most dominant two-point scoring teams in all of college basketball this season, while shooting efficiently - but sparingly - from beyond the arc.

However, in part due to Portland's defense, the Zags ended up settling for way too many outside shots on Wednesday. While Gonzaga wasn't terrible from the arc - shooting 10-30 - they weren't able to get many good looks around the rim. The Zags shot just 16-35 on two pointers, with eight of those makes coming from Graham Ike. Jalen Warley (1-2) and Tyon Grant-Foster (2-6) weren't able to get much going around the rim, forcing the Zags to kick out and shoot contested threes throughout the game.

Gonzaga will look for answers over the next two days before heading to Corvallis to take on the Beavers of Oregon State on Saturday, Feb. 7. Tip is slated for 3:00 PM PT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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