Report: Gonzaga, Oregon to meet in Dec. 21 game at Portland's Moda Center

Aug.

12Two of the West Coast's most prominent college basketball brands will reportedly meet in a nonconference game a few days before Christmas .Mark Few will face off against his alma mater for just the second time when Gonzaga plays Oregon on Dec.

21 at the Moda Center in Portland.

The matchup, featuring two teams projected to open the season ranked in the Top 25, was reported by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.A tipoff time and television details will be determined at a later date, but the Oregonian reported that the Big Ten has broadcast rights, suggesting the game will air on FOX or FS1.It'll mark just the fourth meeting between the Pacific Northwest schools in the modern college basketball era and the first game on the mainland since 1983.

Gonzaga's last two meetings with Oregon came in 2019 at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas and in 2000 at the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu.

The Zags lost 70-64 in Hawaii before winning a close call two decades later in the Bahamas, outlasting the Ducks 73-72 in overtime to reach the Battle 4 Atlantis championship.It'll be the first time the Zags meet the Ducks outside of a tournament format under Few, a Cresswell, Oregon, native who attended the Eugene school and obtained his degree in 1987 two years before joining Dan Fitzgerald's staff at Gonzaga as a graduate assistant.Few matching up against his alma mater for only the third time will be among the storylines to follow as the matchup draws closer, but it won't be the only one.Oregon center Nate Bittle, a reigning All-Big Ten Third Team selection, was once a Gonzaga recruit who listed the Zags among his final nine schools and took an official visit in 2020.

Few's staff also recruited junior guard Jackson Shelstad, who was heavily considering Gonzaga before choosing the Ducks over the Zags and his other finalist, UCLA.Bittle and Shelstad project to be the top players for an Oregon team that came in at No.

17 in CBS Sports' way-too-early Top 25 And 1 poll published on June 2.

Gonzaga, which returns frontcourt standouts Graham Ike and Braden Huff, was ranked No.

21 in that same poll.Both Gonzaga and Oregon bowed out of the 2025 NCAA Tournament in the Round of 32.

Playing at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Dana Altman's Ducks notched a first-round win over Liberty before losing to former GU assistant Tommy Lloyd and Arizona 87-83 two days later.

The Zags routed Georgia in an opening-round game in Wichita, Kansas, before losing to No.

1 seed Houston in dramatic fashion.Gonzaga has never missed the NCAA Tournament under Few, advancing to two national championship games.

The Zags could've faced Oregon in the first of those, but the Ducks lost to North Carolina in the Final Four before the Tar Heels outlasted GU in the title game.

Altman has 780 career coaching wins and a 532-370 record at Oregon, missing the NCAA Tournament just three times since 2012.Oregon is expected to be the last of the heavyweights Gonzaga is expected to see during a loaded nonconference schedule.The Zags are facing Oklahoma at the Arena (Nov.

8) before hosting Creighton (Nov.

11) and traveling to Arizona State (Nov.

15) before playing three games in three days at the Players Era Festival.

GU will play Alabama (Nov.

24), Maryland (Nov.

25) and an opponent still to be determined (Nov.

26) at the Thanksgiving-week tournament in Las Vegas.

December's slate includes three neutral-site games, against Kentucky in Nashville (Dec.

5), against UCLA in Seattle (Dec.

13) and against Oregon in Portland (Dec.

21).Gonzaga has played a number games at the downtown arena used primarily by the NBA's Portland Trailblazers, most recently visiting for the 2022 Phil Knight Legacy.

A No.

1-seeded Zags team played two NCAA Tournament games at the arena earlier the game year, beating Georgia State and Memphis to advance to the Sweet 16..

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