Video of Gonzaga's student section goes viral
Prior to a pivotal West Coast Conference clash with San Francisco, Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Nolan Hickman admitted just how different the atmosphere of the McCarthey Athletic Center would be with students back in The Kennel for the first game in over 45 days. The last game the students were in attendance was Dec. 11 against Mississippi Valley State before Gonzaga's winter break.
"We've actually had a really good crowd without students. [The fans] get rowdy the same way some of the students do," Hickman said. "But you know, of course I'm not gonna put that past the students, the students got it. The students inside The Kennel, they will always have my heart."
Hickman, who has played 39 games at the McCarthey Athletic Center in his career, has shown his passion for The Kennel Club's enthusiasm and energy as an honorary member of the student section during pregame warm-ups. While his teammates run through layup lines and get stretched out, Hickman loosens up before a game just like some of his classmates do — by leading the 1,200 members of the student section in the routine performed during "The Hum"/"Zombie Nation." Like many other pregame rituals across college sports, Gonzaga's features plenty of jumping up and down, arm waving and a profound school chant that's meant as a warning cry to the visiting team to let them know what's in store.
After missing the last three games at The Kennel while on winter break, Gonzaga students returned in full force to give the Dons every last drop of fanaticism they had pent up over the last month. Every basket from the home team in the back-and-forth affair was followed by uproars and stomping that shook the bleachers underneath their feet. The roar was deafening during the Bulldogs' 17-4 scoring run in the second half, which broke a 48-48 tie and sparked enough momentum for Gonzaga to come out with a 77-72 win.
While Hickman and The Kennel Club went viral on social media for their collective energy and passion on Thursday, the students' return to campus and Hickman's love for the pregame antics was a reminder of just how important the student section is for the Bulldogs when it comes to creating a home court advantage.
Gonzaga is a staggering 275-17 inside the McCarthey Athletic Center since it opened in 2004 and has won 100 of its last 103 games there since the 2017-18 season. No visiting team from 2018-2023 walked out of The Kennel as the victors — a 75-game home winning streak that stands as the eighth-longest in Division-I men's basketball history. No team in the country had a better home winning percentage over the last five seasons than Gonzaga heading into the 2023-24 season (77-1, 98.7%).
The Bulldogs have won nine of their 10 home games this season, with the one letdown coming against San Diego State on Dec. 29, which was played right smack in the middle of the students' winter break hiatus. The Spokane community did its best to make up for the absence, but the Bulldogs suffered their first double-digit loss at The Kennel since 2012 in the 84-74 loss to the Aztecs.
Obviously, there have been several games over the years that took place during the school's winter break in mid-December and early January, but few such games have had the magnitude of the one against a San Diego State squad that is poised to make the NCAA Tournament after finishing as the national runner-up last season. Certainly, there are more caveats to scheduling than just consideration for students, but it was certainly odd that such an important nonconference game was being played on Dec. 29.
Over the last five seasons, the most notable nonconference opponent the Bulldogs hosted without students in attendance, besides San Diego State this season, was Eastern Washington in 2019. Outside of the Eagles, which finished 124th in KenPom that season, the next best team was Montana last season; the Grizzlies ranked 164th in KenPom. All other opponents that visited The Kennel without a student section were ranked in the 200s and even 300s on KenPom.
Students already pack The Kennel for those "tune-up" games against sub-200 KenPom teams, mainly in part because most high-major programs don't want to play the Bulldogs in their 6,000-seat arena. Instead, Gonzaga has had to play high-profile opponents either in the Spokane Arena, like it did Kentucky last season, or Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena, which hosted the UConn game this season and the Alabama game in 2021.
When it was announced Gonzaga and San Diego State had agreed to a home-and-home series over the offseason, it felt as if the Bulldogs had finally overcome the stigma of playing in a "small" arena. But taking the student section out of the picture was just a small detail in the fine print that probably played a larger role than expected. The players and coaches have admitted to just how impactful The Kennel Club can be when it comes to creating energy.
"It's just a different vibe [without students]," said Anton Watson after Gonzaga's first home game during winter break on Dec. 20. "When we got students there's a lot more energy, but you know, we had to build our own energy. We kept telling ourselves that."
