San Francisco Dons guard Malik Thomas, left, shoots against Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Michael Ajayi (1) / James Snook-Imagn Images
The Gonzaga Bulldogs square off against the San Francisco Dons in the West Coast Conference Tournament semifinal round Monday night at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. PT on ESPN2. The winner of Monday’s semifinal will advance to the championship game (6 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN) to take on the winner of the other semifinal game between No. 1 seed Saint Mary’s and No. 9 seed Pepperdine, set for 6 p.m. Monday on ESPN.
Here’s a quick preview and more on how to watch tonight’s matchup.
San Francisco head coach Chris Gerlufsen woke up Sunday morning not expecting sophomore guard Ryan Beasley to be available for the Dons’ quarterfinal matchup against Washington State later that night, as Beasley was tending to a severe ankle injury he suffered during the regular season finale against Gonzaga on March 1. The San Ramon, California, native had to exit during the first half of the Dons’ 95-75 loss to the Bulldogs, spending the rest of the night in the hospital instead,
San Francisco was already entering the WCC Tournament without All-WCC first team guard Marcus Williams, who was found in violation of NCAA rules prior to Sunday’s quarterfinal. But then 15 minutes prior to tip off, an assistant coach tracked down Gerlufsen to tell him that Beasley wanted to give it a go.
“That was music to my ears,” Gerlufsen said.
Beasley’s tune of a career-high 29 points carried his team to an 86-75 victory over the Cougars, propelling the Dons to the WCC semis for a fourth season in a row. Beasley went 10-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-8 from behind the arc, and helped halt a couple of crucial scoring runs from WSU to keep San Francisco in the driver’s seat for a majority of the night.
“That was fun for me as a spectator to just be there and support him,” Gerlufsen said. “Can’t say enough about the mental and physical toughness that he showed and our group showed. And I’m just really proud of our team; I know they want more and we didn’t just come here to win one game.”
Beasley and company will need to exhibit just as much, if not more, mental fortitude Monday when they go toe-to-toe with a Gonzaga team that beat them by an average margin of 16.5 points during the regular season. Gerlufsen has yet to best Mark Few head-to-head since he was named San Francisco’s head coach in 2023; though to be fair, the last Dons coach to pull that feat off was Rex Walters over a decade ago.
Gonzaga, which has won the last 32 contests against San Francisco, came away with an 88-77 victory in the season’s first matchup behind double-double performances from Graham Ike (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Ryan Nembhard (18 points, 13 assists) at the McCarthey Athletic Center on Feb. 13. Nembhard, the nation’s leader in assists, dished out 16 dimes in the Bulldogs’ triumphant 95-75 win over the Dons at the Chase Center on March 1.
The Zags (23-8, 14-4 WCC), who earned a quadruple-bye into the semifinal round as the tournament’s No. 2 seed, would be appearing in their 28th consecutive WCC title game if they complete the season sweep of the Dons (24-8, 13-5 WCC) in what will be the fourth straight head-to-head meeting in the WCC semifinal round between the two schools. Gonzaga, of course, came out on top in the three previous postseason matchups.
“That’s the one team in the league we haven’t beaten yet,” Gerlufsen said of the Zags. “Our guys know that and it’s a little bit of a motivating factor for us. I just want to approach the game the way we approached the game tonight. When we play turned up, when we play with kind of a chip on our shoulders, and having that attack on both ends of the floor; I can live with that regardless of what the results are.”
With Williams potentially out again against the Zags, the Dons will likely lean even more on their leading scorer Malik Thomas, an All-WCC player who led the league with 19.1 points per game in the regular season. Thomas scored 25 points during San Francisco’s loss in Spokane on Feb. 13. He finished with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting in the victory over WSU on Sunday.
For the Zags, Graham Ike leads the country’s second-highest scoring offense with 17.0 points per game. The All-WCC forward had 15 points and six rebounds in the victory over the Dons at the Chase Center, while senior guard Nolan Hickman scored 17 points. Over his last five games, Hickman is putting up 16.6 points per contest on 58.5% (31-of-53) from the field and 48.1% (13-of-27) from 3-point range during that stretch.
Who: Gonzaga (23-8, 14-4 WCC) vs. San Francisco (24-8, 13-5 WCC)
What: WCC Tournament semifinal round; winner plays in championship game Tuesday
When: 8:30 p.m. PT/11:30 p.m. ET | Monday, March 10
Where: Orleans Arena | Las Vegas
TV: ESPN2
Spread:
Moneyline:
Total: 153.5 (Over -115/Under -105)
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