NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates 
Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs begin the 2026-27 season on Monday, taking on the Boilermakers of Purdue in a top tier opening night showdown.
Purdue is one of the very few teams that have never lost to Gonzaga, with a pair of NCAA Tournament wins in 2000 and 2024 and multiple other victories – including in the Maui Invitational in 2023 and the PK85 in Portland in 2022.
Advertisement
Now Gonzaga draws a very young and inexperienced Purdue roster, which lost superstars Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Oscar Cluff from last year’s team and is replacing nearly all of them with internal options.
Below is a look at three keys to victory for Gonzaga to open up the 2026-27 season:
1. Establish Braden Huff in the paint
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Braden Huff. | Photo by Myk Crawford
This Purdue team doesn’t have the dominant interior presence of a Zach Edey, or even Oscar Cluff. Sure, the Boilers have 7’3 center Daniel Jacobsen, who averages 1.2 blocks in 12.9 minutes per game, but the rest of the frontcourt is unproven defensively – and Jacobsen is prone to foul trouble, averaging 5.8 fouls per 40 minutes last year.
Advertisement
That presents a problem against Gonzaga’s Braden Huff, who enters his fifth season as one of the most efficient low-post scorers in the entire country. Huff averaged 17.8 points in 25.4 minutes per game last year, and dropped 19 points with 11 rebounds in an exhibition loss to Arkansas.
While he’s never been a great free throw shooter, if Huff can bait Jacobsen into early foul trouble, it gives Gonzaga a massive advantage – and if he instead is guarded by his longtime childhood friend Caden Pierce, well, Huff has plenty of experience scoring on him as well.
2. Push the pace against Purdue’s young backcourt
Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Isiah Harwell (1). | Photo by Myk Crawford
Purdue plays slow, slow, slow basketball under Matt Painter – especially the last decade or so. The Boilermakers finished outside the top 300 in KenPom’s adjusted tempo metric in…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/3-keys-gonzaga-finally-beat-202543883.html
Author :
Publish date : 2026-10-31 20:25:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
