Gonzaga suffers historic loss to Michigan in Players Era championship

The Zags' 40 point loss to Michigan was the worst in the Mark Few era

Nov 26, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few reacts in the first half against the Michigan Wolverines in the 2025 Players Era Festival championship game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

An incredibly hot start to the season for Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs came crashing down in spectacular fashion in a 101-61 smackdown at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines on Wednesday night.

The loss means Gonzaga finished second at the Players Era Festival, which will net the team $500,000 in NIL money. That is about the only good news to come from this game, which was never competitive.

Michigan jumped out to a 13-3 lead three minutes into the game and never looked back. Even when their offense stalled out late in the first half, Gonzaga couldn't do much to cut into the deficit, and an 11-1 run to close out the half more or less sealed the deal before the final 20 minutes had even been played.

Gonzaga's star player, Graham Ike, had his worst game in a Zags uniform. The big man finished with just one point on 0-9 shooting, including 0-4 from three. His lone point came at the free throw line after a flagrant foul was called.

This is one of those games that Gonzaga needs to flush and move on from - you'd rather have everything go wrong in one game than spread it out over multiple days or weeks.

Fortunately, the Zags have nine days off before their next game, which will be Friday, Dec. 5, in Nashville against the Kentucky Wildcats.

Below are three takeaways from Gonzaga's first loss of the season:

1. Three point shooting still major issue

Nov 26, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few reacts in the first half against the Michigan Wolverines in the 2025 Players Era Festival championship game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

One good game from beyond the arc against Maryland didn't fix all of Gonzaga's outside shooting woes, and that became apparent quickly against Michigan. The Zags shot an abysmal 3-22 from the perimeter in this one, with the team's starting bigs combining to shoot 0-7.

Gonzaga will be able to bully most teams down low, but in the rare games they can't, it is imperative that their outside shooters are connecting, and that was not the case on Wednesday. Steele Venters (0-4), Adam Miller (1-3), and Tyon Grant-Foster (1-3) all struggled from distance, and the team's inability to secure offensive rebounds left them empty-handed way, way too often against a great Michigan offense.

2. Not getting offensive rebounds

Nov 26, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Michigan Wolverines forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) reacts in the second half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the 2025 Players Era Festival championship game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Gonzaga had just two offensive rebounds in the first half against Michigan, a huge part of why they went into the break down 53-29. Nearly every possession ended with a missed shot - as Gonzaga only had two turnovers in the half - but they could not get those coveted second-chance opportunities, which were such a key part of the team's success in the first six games of the season.

They did better on the glass in the second half, but the game was mostly well out of hand by then.

Michigan has an unusually big starting lineup, with 7'3 Aday Mara, 6'10 Morez Johnson Jr, and 6'9 Yaxel Lendeborg, but even Gonzaga's typically strong rebounding guards made very little impact in this game on the glass. Michigan itself didn't get a ton of second-chance opportunities, but they didn't need to nearly as much after shooting 60% from the field.

3. Three games in three days is hard

Nov 26, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Jalen Warley (8) dunks in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines in the 2025 Players Era Festival championship game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

To be clear, this is not an excuse for Gonzaga's rough performance: that wouldn't make sense anyway, as Michigan also played three games in three days and did not look nearly as worn down as the Zags.

A big part of Gonzaga's early-season success has been the team's tremendous depth, and that was thought to be a positive heading into game three in Vegas. However, coach Few didn't really go into the team's extended rotation much on Wednesday until the game was well out of hand, and it was an issue against a fast-paced and very physical Michigan team.

Fortunately, Gonzaga has a little over three months until the NCAA Tournament gets underway - plenty of time to fix some of the team's issues and get everyone up to full speed to help contribute to this team in the big dance.