Who does Gonzaga play next in March Madness? Round of 32 opponent, time, date

PORTLAND., Ore - Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs had not lost a first round game in the NCAA Tournament since 2008, a streak they had no intention of seeing come to an end on Thursday in Portland.

No. 3 Gonzaga survived a poor offensive night - and some questionable late game officiating - to advance to the Round of 32 with an 73-63 win over No. 14 Kennesaw State on Thursday, thanks to a strong effort from Graham Ike and a well rounded performance from Jalen Warley. Ike scored a game-high 19 points, shooting 6-13 from the field but going a very solid 7-8 from the free throw line.

Meanwhile Warley put together his second double-double of the season, recording 12 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists in arguably his best game of 2026.

Gonzaga got sped up by Kennesaw State's pressure in the first half, missing too many good looks and settling for bad outside shots. The defense kept them afloat, but the Owls led for over 14 minutes in the first half before the Zags closed on a 10-0 run in the final 90 seconds, punctuated by a three from Davis Fogle - the team's first made triple of the night.

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Another long stretch of offensive futility plagued the Zags in the second half, with Gonzaga going six and a half minutes without a field goal - which resulted in the lead dropping to one before Emmanuel Innocenti hit a three to stop the bleeding.

But then the freshman got going. Fogle and Mario Saint-Supery scored nine straight for the Zags, with Fogle putting down two alley-oop dunks and a tough shot in the lane while Saint-Supery drilled a tough three from the top of the key. Gonzaga held on from there, although Antoine Pettway's Kennesaw State team fought until the bitter end, led by an inspired performance from freshman Amir Taylor, who scored 15 points with seven rebounds in his first NCAA Tournament game.

Gonzaga now turns their attention to Saturday, where they will play another double-digit seed after a surprise result between BYU and Texas.

Don't Mess with Texas

Gonzaga was expected to face former WCC rival BYU in the Round of 32, but will instead square off against Texas after the Longhorns knocked off the Cougars on Thursday, 79-71, just before GU's game got underway.

BYU's superstar freshman AJ Dybantsa went out with a bang, dropping 35 points and 10 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes for coach Kevin Young's team. The problem was the rest of his team combined to score just 36, while shooting 13-31 (41.9%) from the field. The Cougars got exactly zero points from their bench, and shot a miserable 4-22 from the perimeter in the loss.

That sets Gonzaga up to face former Arizona head coach Sean Miller, whom the Zags have sparred with eight times over the past 15 seasons. The Zags went 4-3 against Miller during his tenure at Arizona - which ran from 2009-2021 before he returned to his alma mater Xavier ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Gonzaga then defeated Miller at Xavier, 88-84, in the Phil Knight Invitational in 2022 in the most recent matchup between these two coaches. That gives Few a 5-3 overall record against Miller, although Miller does have the win that matters the most - an 84-61 thrashing of Gonzaga in the 2014 NCAA Tournament while he was a No. 1 seed at Arizona.

Miller has Texas in the Round of 32 in his first year with the Longhorns, after going 18-14 and 9-9 in SEC play. Texas was a near lock to make the Big Dance on Feb. 17, having won five in a row to sit 17-9 overall and 8-5 in league play. But the Longhorns faltered down the stretch, losing four of their last five to earn a 10 seed in the conference tournament - before falling in the first round to No. 15 seed Ole Miss.

The committee still gave them an at-large bid as a play-in 11 seed, and they proved they belonged with an epic comeback win over NC State on Tuesday, 68-66, via a Tramon Mark game-winner with 1.1 seconds to go.

Now having knocked out Dybantsa and BYU, Texas will turn their attention to a Gonzaga team that struggled in a physical matchup with Kennesaw State on Thursday evening. This will be a battle of two big, strong, tough squads, and will take place at 4:10 PM PT on Saturday, March 21 on TBS.