In what will likely be their first home game of the Pac-12 era, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will reportedly host the New Mexico State Aggies on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
The matchup, which was reported by Rocco Miller of Bracketeer.org on Friday evening, will be the second ever between the two programs, with the first one coming back in the 2013-14 season.
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Gonzaga won that game, 80-68, behind 22 points and five rebounds from Sam Dower, 15 points, nine rebounds, and six assists from Kevin Pangos, and 21 points off the bench from Gerard Coleman.
Gonzaga is set to take on the Purdue Boilermakers on Monday, Nov. 2, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as part of a double-header alongside Arizona and UCLA. It is unlikely they would play a game between Nov. 2 and Nov. 7, which makes this the projected home opener for coach Mark Few’s club in 2026-27 – the program’s first year in the new-look Pac-12.
Meet the Aggies
New Mexico State is entering its fourth year as a member of Conference USA, a stretch that has coincided with head coach Jason Hooten’s tenure in Las Cruces. NMSU has gone 25-29 in three years in CUSA, failing to make the NCAA Tournament all three seasons.
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Prior to that, the Aggies were in the WAC from 2005-2023, where they went to the NCAA Tournament a whopping ten times – once under Reggie Theus in 2007, five times under Marvin Menzies, once under Paul Weir in 2017, and three times under Chris Jans, who is now the head coach at Mississippi State.
However, the program had a massive scandal in between, with Jans leaving in 2022 and head coach Greg Heiar taking over for 2022-23. That season was marred by multiple significant scandals, which ultimately resulted in the season getting cancelled after 24 games, while Heiar and his staff were dismissed. The Aggies haven’t quite recovered from the damage, although Hooten has kept them around .500 the past two seasons.
NMSU has a solid transfer portal class coming in, adding Arkansas-Little Rock guard KK Robinson, LA Tech guard DJ Dudley, and Sacramento State forward Mark Lavrenov to a team that should compete near the top of the C-USA standings alongside Western Kentucky, Liberty, Middle Tennessee, and Sam Houston State.
Non-con schedule
Gonzaga’s non-conference schedule is beginning to round into form, with New Mexico State becoming the first true home game reportedly on the docket. After Purdue and NMSU, the Zags will host LSU at the Spokane Arena on Nov. 14, before heading back to Vegas for the Player’s Era Festival Nov. 24-27 at T-Mobile Arena. Their first matchup in that event will be against Kansas State.
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Gonzaga also has a road matchup set against Creighton on Dec. 12 in Omaha, and a neutral-site battle with Michigan State at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, CA, as part of the Hall of Fame Classic. The Zags will also battle Duke on Feb. 20 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit as part of an exclusive deal with Amazon.
Matchups with UCLA and Oregon are also potentially on the calendar, although neither has been confirmed as of this writing. UCLA would be on a neutral floor while Oregon would be at Climate Pledge Arena, the return of last year’s matchup at the Moda Center in Portland.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/gonzaga as Gonzaga reportedly set to host New Mexico State in first home game of Pac-12 era.
