After the Gonzaga players had returned to the changing room after they had withdrawn a 20-point victory against Loyola Marymount last Thursday, it probably only took a minute or two to spread about another result of the West Coast Conference .

San Francisco 65, Saint Mary’s 64.

Many of their long -term goals are still within reach for all topics, setbacks and head scrapers who suffered the ZAGs in the first two months of the conference game.

Rather not completely out of reach.

When Gonzaga lost to Saint Mary 62-58 two weeks ago, it opened a gap between the ZAGs and the Gaels at the head of the WCC eight games.

The home win of USF against Saint Mary’s has opened the door so that it has not been so far, and the Gaels WCC led to two games, while at the same time giving gonzaga the last three weeks of the regular season of Gonzaga.

“We would like to win the conference if this is available,” said Gu Sophomore, Braden Huff, after a 78:61 win on Saturday at Pacific. “When Saint Mary’s loses another, we have a chance. That is our goal. “

USF has done Gonzaga a favor, but the ZAGs may want to hold back on the sending of gift baskets or bouquets.

USF (20-6, 10-3) still has control over second place, half a game in front of Gonzaga (18-7, 9-3) and in position in order to harm Gu’s chances, a top To earn two seeds and bye at the WCC tournament if the meeting on Thursday can win between the teams in the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The Dons know just like everyone who is easier to say than done.

While other WCC teams gonzaga have picked up in recent years and have ended decades of droughts in some cases, USF has not made the same performance.

The Dons have been neglected in their last 30 attempts and have lost 35 games in Spokane since 1989.

The ZAGs have survived a few close calls in recent years, two of the last six competitions with five or fewer points. The game on Thursday will be the first of four on the route against top 4 toilet teams that could test the recent defense adjustments from GU and/or the ability to carry out in scenarios in late game.

“Good team. We obviously played her a few times last year, ”said Gonzaga Point Guard Ryan Nembhard. “You have many similar guys, so we always know that it will be a fight, a hard group of boys and try to do our best, so it’s fun.”

USF, the last WCC program, which was not called Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s to beat a NCAA tournament ticket, returns a line-up, the 2023-24 all-WCC all in the conference.

The Dons run four deep in the guard, with the top goal scorer of the WCC, Senior Malik Thomas (19.2 points per game), a group with Marcus Williams (14.4 ppg), Freshman Tyrone Riley IV (9.6 ppg ) and reigning newcomer to the year Ryan Beasley (7.6 ppg) from the bank.

“I think they are really, very good,” said Gonzaga coach Mark Few. “These two guards, Thomas and Willams, are old, they are hard, they are sporty, they score on all three levels. They are just a hard, experienced team that can really be guarded very well and can be simply, very explosive at the offensive end.

“This year you have added a pick-and-pop ‘5’ that really opens the ground more. He is 7 feet big and that makes it even more difficult to control these guards. “

Carlton Linguard Jr. is the 7-foot, 225 pound center, which gives the Dons a different look on the preliminary for a year after having based on the goal creation and the re-bumper production of Jonathan Mogbo, who now has a rookie with the Toronto Raptors. The UTSA transfer is 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds and has become more and more important for Chris Gerkensen’s team because the Dons Veteran striker Ndewedo Newbury lost to a leg injury in December.

USF was the second best defense of the WCC and only delivered 66.9 ppg, but the Dons did not confront with a post-tandem that is comparable to Gonzagas Graham Ike and Huff. Ike scored 46 points and last year went from the free-wire line in two regular season meetings with USF 18 out of 19. Huff has published 31 combined points against LMU and Pacific.

The practices of Gonzaga were largely defensive since the Bulldogs reached the rock floor at this end of the floor and three consecutive WCC teams made it possible to shoot 50% or better from the field two weeks ago.

The numbers have improved, whereby GU is only 59 ppg in the last four games, but the test on Thursday should be the first of four during a WCC gantlet at the end of the season, which will determine the legitimacy of the defensive progress of the ZAG.

“We knew that we were better than the way we played, especially in this route,” said Huff. “So we only stick to a higher standard whether it was there or not because we still have big things in front of us.”