BYU and Gonzaga first played on December 16, 1949, at a neutral court holiday tournament in California.[6] The two teams would not meet again until March 19, 2011, in the third round of the NCAA tournament, as a BYU team led by National Player of the Year Jimmer Fredette advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Fredette scored 34 points and the Cougars defeated the Zags 89–67, the largest BYU win in the series to this day.[7] The following season, BYU left the Mountain West Conference and joined the West Coast Conference for the 2011–2012 season.
Conference foes
Since the Cougars joined the WCC, Gonzaga has compiled a 24–6 record against BYU. However, BYU is one of few teams to win multiple times at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane over the last decade,[8] with three consecutive wins at the Kennel in 2015, 2016 and 2017 (the first two were later vacated by the NCAA due to a scandal involving BYU guard Nick Emery). BYU was the only team to beat #1 ranked Gonzaga during the 2016-17 regular season in which Gonzaga earned its first trip to the Final Four and National Championship game.[9] The Cougars triumphed 79–71 over the 29–0 Zags, overcoming an 18–2 deficit in the game's opening minutes and a 12-point second half hole. BYU's Eric Mika led the way with 29 points and 11 rebounds to hand undefeated Gonzaga its lone loss of the regular season on senior night.
In 2020, on Senior Night at the Marriott Center, No. 23 BYU knocked off No. 2 Gonzaga 91–78 in front of a sellout crowd. As the final buzzer sounded, delirious fans rushed the court for a jubilant celebration — just weeks before the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That was the most recent Cougar win over the Bulldogs.
In the final WCC campaign for BYU, Julian Strawther etched his name into the rivalry's lore when he knocked down the game-winning 3-pointer in the Zags’ 75–74 win in Provo. Gonzaga won the return game 88–81 in Spokane, finishing 9–3 at the Kennel against the Cougars. Those three losses were the most inflicted by a WCC opponent since BYU joined in 2012; fellow WCC powerhouse Saint Mary's is 2–9 and all other conference programs are 1–75 on the road against the Zags during this period.[10] This is the last scheduled regular season meeting, as BYU prepares to move to the Big 12 Conference next season. Both programs and their respective head coaches have expressed interest in continuing the rivalry in non=conference play; Gonzaga star Drew Timme emphasized the importance of the series: “I think it’s a special rivalry. And one that should continue even past them leaving the conference,” he said. “I think it’s something that we should do home-and-homes forever. … I feel like it’s developed into such a great rivalry.”.[9]
Rival Accomplishments
The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs.[11][12]
