MBB Opens PK80 Against Ohio State
11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
No. 17/17 Gonzaga (3-0) vs. Ohio State (4-0)
THURSDAY, NOV. 23 | 9 P.M. | PORTLAND, ORE. | VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM
TV: ESPN2
RADIO: Gonzaga IMG Radio Network
LIVE STATS:
LIVE STREAM: Watch ESPN
ABOUT THE SERIES
- This is the second all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Ohio State.
- The teams met in the second round the 2012 NCAA Tournament in the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
- The second-seeded Buckeyes pulled away from seventh-seeded Gonzaga, 73-67. OSU led 39-37 at halftime, led by as many as 10 in the second half, before the Zags came within two with 3:36 remaining in the game.
- Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas both scored 18 points for Ohio State, while Aaron Craft chipped in 17 points and dished out 10 assists. Gary Bell Jr. led GU with 18 points, and Elias Harris had 16 points and seven boards.
- Since joining the NCAA in 1958-59, the Zags are 12-19 all-time versus current Big Ten members. Gonzaga defeated Northwestern in the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament in the latest matchup with a Big Ten opponent.
- The Bulldogs are 9-12 against current Big Ten opponents under head coach Mark Few.
SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES
- Ohio State has opened its season with four double-digit victories, including an 80-55 win over Northeastern Sunday.
- Jae'Sean Tate scored a game-high 24 points on a perfect 10-of-10 shooting from the field.
- Keita Bates-Diop added 19 points and grabbed a team-high seven boards with two blocks and two steals.
- The Buckeyes made 50 percent from the field and outscored Northeastern 48-26 in the paint.
- OSU beat Texas Southern, a common opponent with Gonzaga, 82-64, Thursday.
- Bates-Diop opened the season with three-consecutive double-doubles.
- Bates-Diop is averaging a team-high 19.3 points and 10 rebounds per game. He is shooting 56.6 percent from the field, including 9-of-20 from behind-the-arc. He also a team-best seven blocks.
- The Buckeyes won 17 games last season and have a new head coach Chris Holtmann.
- Tate returns for his senior season after averaging a team-best 14.3 points per game last year, along with 6.4 rebounds. He was named to the Big Ten's preseason third team.
- Ohio State was slated 12th in the Big Ten's preseason coaches' poll.
ZAGS READY FOR ELITE TOURNAMENT
- The creation of PK80 -- Phil Knight Invitational, a 16-team, early-season men's college basketball tournament honoring Nike co-founder and 2012 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Phil Knight in advance of his 80th birthday, will take place over Thanksgiving week in Portland, Ore.
- One of the largest regular-season tournaments in college basketball history, sporting a field featuring some of the top schools in the nation, played Nov. 23, Nov. 24 and Nov. 26, in the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
- Participating schools include Arkansas, Butler, Connecticut, DePaul, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Portland, Portland State, Stanford and Texas.
- Two eight-team brackets -- consisting of three games per team -- will run simultaneously in the two buildings with the crowning of two bracket champions. All games from Portland will be televised on ESPN networks.
- The Zags open Motion Bracket play against Ohio State in the quarterfinals.
- The other teams in the Motion Bracket include: Butler, Duke, Florida, Portland State, Stanford and Texas. The winner of the Ohio State vs. Gonzaga game will face the winner of the Florida vs. Stanford Nov. 24.
GIVING THANKS FOR THESE TOURNAMENTS
- Gonzaga is 31-8 under Mark Few in tournaments during the week of Thanksgiving.
- In their last six Thanksgiving tournaments, the Zags are 20-2.
- Under Mark Few, GU has won five tournaments during the week of Thanksgiving, and played in eight of the 12 tournament championship games.
