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Gonzaga-Purdue season opener gets official tipoff time

Gonzaga is 0-5 all-time against Purdue, with three losses coming since 2022
Andy Patton|
Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few.
Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. | Photo by Myk Crawford

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Gonzaga Bulldogs

The Gonzaga Bulldogs will begin the 2026-27 season, their first in the new-look Pac-12, squaring off against the Purdue Boilermakers at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as the first of two men's basketball matchups in the Hall of Fame Series.

The game was officially announced by Gonzaga in late February, and it was revealed on Thursday that this matchup will tip off at 4:30 PM PT on Nov. 2, according to a release from the Hall of Fame Series.

Arizona and UCLA, former longtime rivals in the Pac-12, will be the headliner at 7:00 PM PT, while a pair of women's games will take place between Stanford and Arizona at 10:30 AM and UNLV and USC at 1:00 PM.

Tickets can now be purchased through T-Mobile Arena's official ticketing website. The games will be broadcast on TNT.

"We're incredibly grateful to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for the opportunity to open our season in such a premier event," said coach Mark Few back in February, per release from the school. "The Hall of Fame represents the very best of our game, and it's special for our program to be part of something that celebrates college basketball at the highest level. We have tremendous respect for Purdue and for the outstanding program Matt Painter has built — his teams are always tough, disciplined and well-coached. Opening the season against an opponent of that caliber in Las Vegas will be a great challenge and an exciting way to start the year."

History vs. Purdue

Purdue is 5-0 against Gonzaga over the past 28 years, making them one of the very few teams with an undefeated record against coach Few. Purdue first beat Dan Monson at Gonzaga in 1998 in a preseason NIT event, before Few suffered his first loss to the Boilers in the Sweet 16 in 2000.

Over 20 years passed before these two teams met again in 2022 in the PK85 and again in the Maui Invitational in 2023, two close losses suffered at the hands of two-time Naismith Player of the Year Zach Edey.

Edey and the Boilers knocked out the Zags in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, nearly 24 years to the date of their first NCAAT win over Gonzaga.

Three of Purdue's five wins over Gonzaga came with Edey, and now the 7'4 big man is off in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies - while the Boilers also saw a trio of elite seniors in Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn all graduate this past season.

The team will still present a nice early-season challenge for Few and this Gonzaga team, although the benefit of having three key returning starters in Mario Saint-Supery, Braden Huff, and Davis Fogle should help a lot on opening night.

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Andy Patton
ANDY PATTON

Andy Patton is a diehard Gonzaga fan and alumnus who has covered the Bulldogs extensively since 2021. He hosts the Locked On Zags podcast and co-hosts the Locked On College Basketball podcast, bringing years of experience covering Gonzaga, the West Coast and college basketball nationally. Andy also covers the Arizona Wildcats for Arizona Wildcats On SI, where his longtime familiarity with former Gonzaga assistant and current Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd provides a natural connection between two of college basketball’s premier programs. Andy has worked in sports media since 2017, with experience covering nearly every major sport. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for USA TODAY from 2017–21, where he also spent time covering the USC Trojans and Oregon Ducks, and previously served as lead writer for College Sports Wire. He has also covered the NBA, NHL and MLB for various TEGNA outlets, including KREM in Spokane, 12News in Phoenix and KING 5 in Seattle. A 2013 Gonzaga graduate, Andy now lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife, daughter and dog.

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