Mark Few: Gonzaga 'given a pretty good lesson' after blowout loss to Michigan

Few discussed the good and the bad from the Players Era Festival on Monday

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

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs looked borderline unstoppable through the first seven games of the season, picking up a ranked win over Alabama and a massive blowout win over Maryland to begin the Players Era Festival.

Then everything came to a grinding halt on Wednesday against the Michigan Wolverines, who blasted the Zags by a whopping 40 points - the worst loss in coach Few's career.

Few talked about the good, and the bad, from the team's trip to the desert with Greg Heister on Monday's episode of The Mark Few Show.

"It was an interesting week down in Vegas," Few said. "It was very productive up until the last two hours. And then we were given a pretty good lesson on what it takes to win at the top top level this year in college basketball. So in a lot of ways that was a good message and we have to take it and hopefully learn from it and move forward."

Gonzaga went down 13-3 in the opening minutes on Wednesday and never recovered, with an 11-0 run by Michigan late in the first half effectively burying the Zags before the final 20 minutes were even played.

Michigan's massive frontcourt trio of 6'9 Yaxel Lendeborg, 6'10 Morez Johnson Jr, and 7'3 Aday Mara wreaked havoc on Gonzaga's interior all night long, holding All-American candidate Graham Ike to just one point on 0-9 shooting and limiting the Zags to just 42.3% (22-52) from inside the three point line.

Nov 26, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Michigan Wolverines forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) drives while defended by Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Emmanuel Innocenti (5). | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Gonzaga turned to the perimeter, hoping momentum from the team's hot shooting performance against Maryland the day before would carry over to the championship. No such luck, as the Zags shot a dismal 3-22 from three, while the Wolverines - who themselves had struggled from deep coming into the game - shot a scorching hot 13-27.

"Their three point numbers were almost identical to ours [coming into the game] and for them to come out and hit that amount of threes that early, from every position on the floor, really was a big key," Few continued. "They hit us with both barrels at the start and we did not do a good job of responding. We did not do a good job of competing through that and just lost our way."

Gonzaga had just two players - Braden Huff and Tyon Grant-Foster - score in double figures against the Wolverines, each finishing with 14 points.

The excellent defense the Zags displayed earlier in the season did not seem to impact Michigan either. While Gonzaga did register nine steals, and forced 14 turnovers, the Wolverines were lights out when they did get shots up - finishing a whopping 60% from the field and 48% from three, with nearly everyone posting an above-average line offensively.

Gonzaga does not play again until Friday, Dec. 5, against Kentucky, which itself suffered a frustrating loss to a Big Ten school earlier this year when Michigan State beat them 83-66 in the Champions Classic. Both teams will look to prove they are still among the true contenders in college basketball, while working to put previous bad results in the rearview mirror.

"We have to take the good and the great from the first two games," Few continued. "And then [we] learned some hard lessons from that last one."